Basilica Cistern in Istanbul, Turkey

Have a Splendid Time at the Basilica Cistern

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Best time to visit
Apr - May, Aug - Oct
Ideal Duration
6-7 Days
Visa
On Arrival
Starting from
Rs. 23,520

Website

visitistanbul.org/
  • Ideal for friends
  • Beach
  • Nature

Basilica Cistern, Istanbul (Turkey)

Cistern is basically a public tank built for storing and supplying water to the inhabitants of the city. Earlier, these cisterns were made up of many materials. Istanbul is one such place where one can find a number of cisterns. One of the most famous cisterns is the Basilica Cistern. The Basilica Cistern is known as one of the largest cisterns in Istanbul due to which it attracts lots of visitors every year.

History of Basilica Cistern

The Basilica Cistern was built during the reign of Emperor Justinian 1. As per the history of Basilica Cistern, it had been damaged too during wars and attacks but even after that, it was reconstructed by the emperors. The magnificent cistern looks no less than an ancient temple built under the sea. The Basilica Cistern eve has its own share of history and legends. The name Basilica was given as the cistern was built upon a huge Basilica during the 3rd and 4th centuries. There are several legends which are attached to the Basilica Cistern. It is said that around 7000 laborers were required to build this magnificent cistern. One can even find water in here though in a small quantity. Fish can still be found as they help in keeping the water in the cistern clean. Even after so many destruction and reconstruction, Basilica Cistern has not yet lost its charm and attracts lots of visitors every year.

The Basilica Cistern now holds a lot of importance for the Istanbul tourism. Basilica Cistern is even added in many itineraries and is visited by tourists from all around the globe.

Interesting Facts about Basilica Cistern

With an estimate of more than 80 underground ancient cisterns, Basilica Cistern is the largest cistern in Istanbul.

The giant structure is supported by 336 Corinthian style columns.

This famous Istanbul underground cistern is 65 meter wide and 143 meter long, and has the capacity of holding  up to 17.5 million gallons of water.

This attractions also houses an artificial lake of the size of two hugely sprawled fields.

This popular attraction is also referred to as ‘the Sunken Palace’.

There are many sculptures too which can be viewed in this beautiful cistern. The sculpture of Medusa head is one of the most famous sculptures due to its life like structure and the designs that are carved in the sculpture. There are many such places that would fascinate you about this place.

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Istanbul Packages Reviews

Read on to find out why our customers love us!

Pankaj's 10 days trip to Istanbul

It was our first time dealing with Travel Triangle and their network of Indian travel agents. We booked a family trip to Turkey which was fabulously organised and we came back with amazing memories. We would certainly use Travel Triangle again for our future holiday needs. Thank you for taking the stress out of planning and arranging such a comprehensive 5 cities with 3 domestic internal flights, 13 days holiday! Too many to list but personal favourite was the ATV sunset tour in Cappadocia which was amazing with breathtaking sunset view in Rose valley.

Pankaj Bhakta London

Sunil's 10 days trip to Istanbul

We booked 9 nights and 10 days all inclusive tour for four person for TURKEY from FLY HIGH GLOBAL tour company. We are very delighted and satisfied with the services they provided during the tour.Their prices for the package were transparent and most competitive.Selection of hotels,flights ,coaches,domestic flights,transfers,English speaking guides were excellent.However we feel lack of Indian food.Their services and response of phone calls were good and quick.We would definitely recommend FLY HIGH Global for Turkey tour. Thanks a lot for wonderful trip. Sunil Kumar Gupta

Sunil Kumar Anupshahar

Ram's 7 days trip to Istanbul

Dear Travel Triangle / Lykke Travels / Corbieco Travel Team, At the outset let me thank you all for the nicely arranged and executed Turkey Tour from the 07th of August to 13th of August. ☺️ The domestic flight tickets were booked as per our requirements and the Pick-up / Drop from the Airport to Hotel and Vise-versa was very well arranged, the vehicles were very good as well.

Ram Prabhakar Chitewale Madhya pradesh

Christobelniranjani's 9 days trip to Istanbul

Good: Abishek and Kanwaljeet Singh coordinated my trip. They were very supportive throughout. The tours in Istanbul, Capadoccia were great. Private transfers were excellent. Improve: expensive, private transfer team could speak english, could improve flexibility of tour options. I booked visa on own and sent it for confirmation to the team and it was confirmed a week ago. However, 2 hours before the trip i was told the visa had an issue and charged 6300 for instant visa. This could have been handled better

Christobelniranjani Chennai

Nishantsood's 7 days trip to Istanbul

Hi Travel Lykke team, Our trip to Turkey was one to remember. We had lots of fun and awesome memories to take back. Thanks for making all the arrangements for us. Here’s a detailed feedback of the trip so that you can improve upon a few things in an otherwise great itinerary. ANTALYA: Prime Hotel was a very good one with perfect location along seaside. Rooms were good with a great restaurant giving full panoramic view of the seaside. It also had a good swimming pool. Pamukkalle tour- had a great experience of mesmerising limestone landscapes with very good photo opportunities. Guide was good. Antalya city tour- overall very good tour . But somewhat cut short as we were tagged along big Indian family who were travelling with small kids. They did not cover the full tour as the family wanted to go to hotel and the guide also didn’t take our consent because we wanted to see old town also mentioned in our itinerary. But we were dropped back to the hotel along with the family. Guide was very good otherwise. CAPPADOCIA: ATV tour- our pick up was 1 hour late. We missed 1 valley as the tour had already started when we reached. But otherwise tour was very good. We were taken to other 3 valleys with breathtaking views of caves . Time was around 1 1/2 hours. It was an adventurous experience riding the ATV. Hot air ballooning- This was the highlight of our tour and we were lucky that the flight was not cancelled on our day. Really once in a lifetime experience to remember to enjoy. Totally recommended. The ballooning company was good. Green tour: Again we were tagged along the big Indian family for whom we had to wait one hour outside their hotel to start the tour as they were not ready. Wasted a lot of time. Otherwise the tour was very good with good guide. Azure cave hotel- very good hotel with good location ISTANBUL: Bosphorus dinner cruise- Very good with good entertaining local folk dances. Two continent tour- The places we went were good but the arrangement of transport and guide was not at all good. There were 2-3 tours going on along with our tour in the same bus. We had to change bus 2-3 times and had to wait for people from other tours as well as the bus arranged for everyone was same!! This was not what we expected which ruined our tour. Boat ride was not good as it was routine govt. operated boat which stopped at 2-3 stations. It was a very average experience. Nippon hotel- very small rooms being a 4 star hotel. Location was good but staff in restaurant were trainees with no experience in serving. All the airport transfers were very good. Very limited options for vegetarians. RECOMMENDATIONS: - Please do not tag couples along with big families especially who are travelling with kids. - The tours should be in one bus/ vehicle only and only one tour should be at a time to avoid wastage of everyone’s time. If you don’t have many people in the same tour we don’t mind paying a little extra for a private tour. - Timings for pick up should be fixed and maximum wait time should be 10 minutes so that others time is not wasted due to a few people. Some guides were strict and that is a good policy. We hope you make these suggested changes for an even better experience in future. Thanks once again.

Nishantsood New delhi

Maneesh's 5 days trip to Istanbul

I flew to Turkey through Fly High Global. The trip was quite well planned. We didn't have any tours booked on days we were flying which helped us to have ample rest even though the internal flights within Turkey were delayed by few hours. Abhishek customized Hotels according to our choice. We liked agent's service for processing of our visa and helping us with itinerary. Turkey was a memorable trip and all thanks to Fly High Global for making it memorable Hot air balloon trip and the view from Roma cave hotel in the morning

Maneesh Mohan Bangalore

Alina's 6 days trip to Istanbul

Yes but we missed 2 break fast , that should be avoided Every was fascinating and interesting, enjoyed a lot

Alina Akhtar Lko

Vinaya's 6 days trip to Istanbul

My trip went without any hiccups, it was very well organized, and pickups were on time. I felt that the guides should have been more informative.

Vinaya Chandra Bengaluru

Gneeshma's 8 days trip to Istanbul

We had a pleasant experience by choosing travel triangle to plan our trip. You guys have done a great job with the itinerary and accommodating any modifications suggested by us. We never faced any issue throughout the trip. Kudos to the team for their swift response even at odd hours due to time zone difference. Overall, we are immensely pleased with how our trip went and will surely recommend Travel Triangle in our circle. Thanks!!

Gneeshma Bangalore

Nazia's 7 days trip to Istanbul

Thank you team for making our holiday memorable. Special thanks to Rohit and the whole Turkey team for fabulous service and support.

Nazia Shaikh

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FAQ's of Istanbul

Read on to find out why our customers love us!

Rebuilt by the Byzantine Emperor Justinian, this structure was constructed under beneath a large public square, called the Stoa Basilica, and thus derived its name from that place. However, this cistern got recognized by Gyllius when he came to Istanbul to conduct research.

During the Byzantine period, emperors used to built numerous cisterns to store water during crisis, especially wars. And, this attraction was one of them. The attraction came in picture when Pitrus Gyllius discovered it in 1545.

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