WARNING Some
of the venues in this directory are listed without
direct approval of the their owners or managers. Moreover,
there may be some changes with the information given here
which we have not obtained yet, although we are trying to be
as update as possible. Please use the information offered
accordingly.
Istanbul with a population about 12 million is the capital of
gay scene in Turkey. Just as Turkey is a mixture of east and
west, Istanbul is a summary of all country. Its
cosmopolite life leads to a very colorful gay life; you can
encounter quite trendy gay clubs as well as astonishingly
traditional and local ones near one another in this city.
The rich and the poor, the modern
and the old-fashioned, the intellectual and the illiterate are
all here in this city, sometimes inside one another. Queens, transvestites,
modern gays, bisexuals, lesbians, rent-boys are all
parts of this vivacious world. Since Istanbul itself is a very charming
city with its historical,
cultural and natural beauties, it won't be
exaggeration to say : If you are gay, DON'T DIE BEFORE YOU SEE ISTANBUL
Gay
Cafe Bar Istanbul
Popular Cafe Bar and Restaurant is the starting point of gay
night life of Istanbul, centrally located in Taksim, Istanbul. Visit their website for more
information, location map and contact information:
Website: Gay Cafe Bar Istanbul
BARBAHCE;
23:00 - 04:00
Address:
Siraselviler Caddesi,
Soganci Sokak, No:7 / 1, Cihangir - Beyoglu. Closed on Mondays.
Closer to Taksim Ilk Yardim Hastanesi (State hospital)
A popular and senior gay club providing an upper scale
atmosphere. Good music, safe people and neighborhood.
TEK
YON
(23:00-04:00)
Address: Mesrutiyet Cad. Tepebasi, Beyoglu.
This place is
mostly frequented by middle aged Turkish 'bears' but it is possible to see
some rent boys and young effeminate gays as well. Drag shows on various days of the week. Watch out
a few tourist hunters.
EKOO BAR ( 22:00-04:00) (Ex Hans Bar, more busy
between 23:30-04:00)
Address: Tarlabasi Bulvari No: 248 Beyoglu. It is on Tarlabasi Bulvari (Tarlabasi Avenue)
closer to Euro Plaza Hotel on the same side of the street. A more
local, and
relaxed atmosphere with less attitudes. Mix ages and various
types of gay men, bears, bear lovers and few queens as well as
gay tourists are regular attendants.
GABILE 23:00
- 05:00 (Weekends 06:00 am))
ADDRESS: Istiklal Caddesi, Yesilcam Sokak No: 7
Gabile is managed by a famous local gay matching website. They
also intend to be a popular meeting place for local and
international bear people. They offer very interesting drag
shows on Wednesdays, and various dance shows, animations on
weekend nights.
CLUB
17 : 23:00-05:00
Address: Istiklal Caddesi, Zambak Sokak No:17 (Near French
Consulate)
Mainly young gay-hustlers and some gay men who would be
interested in them. They play loud techno music from their
unbearable sound system but it is usually busy with these
hustlers. It is highly recommended to be careful with the boys you
pick up from here.
DEJA
VU (23:30-04:00)
(r-B)
Address: Istiklal Caddesi, Sadri Alısık Sokak, Beyoglu.
Mainly
rent boys and hustlers and those who are interested in them.
Underground music.
DEGIRMEN PUB 18:00-02:00
Adnan Menderes Bulvari, Horhor Caddesi, AKSARAY. Near town center.
(Aksaray is another town 10 minute taxi
ride away from Taksim square)
Although it is owned/managed by straight men, the is one of the
oldest gay venue in Istanbul. It is popular for gay
middle/working class people as well as bears, bear lovers. It
looks like a neighborhood bar.
There is live Turkish music every evening. It is also the most
"oriental" of gay bars, and much cheaper than them. SAHRA BAR
: 23:00-04:00
ADDRESS: Istiklal Cad.
Sadri Alisik Sk. NO:40 Taksim/Beyoglu.
Although it is a "trans club" (if not a typical one) it is more
piled up by rough ghetto boys who loves them. These attracts
some gay men who likes such boys. It's 4-5 storey is
usually complete full of these "hundreds of boys" on Saturday
nights. It might be very interesting just
to see but watch your wallet in there.
The more
active gay life of Istanbul is between 24:00 till 04:00 a.m .
There are a few exclusively gay day time venues in Istanbul,
that is worth listing on our website, here, which are not very
busy usually.
SUGAR
CAFE 12:00-01:00
ADDRESS: Istiklal Caddesi Saka Salim Cikmazi no: 3/A Beyoglu
Istanbul.
This small but nice gay cafe & restaurant is located on a narrow
lane on Istiklal Avenue, somewhere opposite of St. Antoine
Church. There is a sign-board of the
venue with rainbow flag colors at the
entrance of the lane (Saka Salim Sokagi)
There is free wireless internet connection in the area. The
prices are very reasonable and various foods are available from
13:00 till 22:00 o'clock. Patronized
by nice gay men, and there are no hustlers or rent boys usually.
CILEK CAFE BAR (CLUB 8) 14:00-02:00
Address: Istiklal Caddesi, Balo Sokak. No:20 Kat:3 (3rd floor)
Beyoglu.
Balo Sokak is a street connecting to Istiklal Avenue; before
Cicek Pasaji (a very famous venue housing many fish restaurants
in Galatasaray), with respect to Taksim Square.
This is a comfortable, quiet and friendly place on the 3rd
floor of the building, where you can chat with your friends, or
meet new people there. There is a lesbian manager here. In
early 2008, they decided to open it as only-lesbian night-club
at weekends, and re-named it Club 8.
BESINCI KAT ("The Fifth Floor") 09:00 03:00 Siraselviler Caddesi, Soganci Sokak, No:7/1, Cihangir - Beyoglu
(On the side street across the Taksim Ilk Yardim (State)
Hospital)
A gay friendly restaurant at the same building with Club
Barbahce on the first floor. It is a little expensive but
you can try for the sake of good food and magnificent
view to the Bosporus Channel.
COOKING ALATURKA
Address: Akbiyik Caddesi 72a, Sultanahmet, Istanbul
Tel: (90) (212) 458 5919, Fax: (90) (212) 458 5999
A very gay-friendly restaurant on a lovely street in
Sultanahmet. The owner is Dutch lady who has been living in
Istanbul for many years, who was also former manager-owner of
gay friendly Sarnich Hotel.
The concept is basically to offer a miscellaneous menu of all
authentic Turkish dishes, some Ottoman classics, some
home-cooking and some regional specialties - only for lunch.
Prices are mid-range, not very cheap, not expensive,
around 35 YTL for a menu of 4 courses for example.
In addition to the restaurant, popular cooking classes of the
owner have attracted world wide attention and have been covered
by the printed media including New York Times.
Please visit their home page for more information about the
cooking classes:
http://www.cookingalaturka.com
Cruisy Venues (Not Gay)
MC
DONALD'S TAKSIM
09:00-01:00 (NG, gl, r,) Near Taksim
Square.
Frequently attended by the gay people especially in the evenings.
BIRAHI FAST FOOD / CAFE :
09:00-24:00 (NG-gbm-r-F-B-SM)
At Taksim Square next to Mc Donald's. More gay
in the evenings and
weekends. Former Borsa Café. They make
discrimination against some Turkish people when they
discover they are gay. If you still go there be a little
discrete.
BURGER KING
TAKSIM 09:00-02:00 (Open till 04 on Fridays and
Saturdays) (NG-gbm-r-F-SM)
Istiklal cad. NO:1 Taksim (At
Taksim Square)
You can rest for a cafe and
observe the gay-related people. It's as gay as any self service
cafe could be near Taksim square. (Which means they are not serving
especially
to gay people but unavoidably attended by gays)
Although there is not a real gay-cinema
in Istanbul some heterosexual porno cinemas are frequently
visited by
some gay men. Because of Turkey's bisexual culture it's possible to have
some limited action in most of such places. In a few of them gays are
really welcomed. But still better be a little discrete , because
they are open to the public. Make sure
that you are "touching"
the right person.
RUYA SINEMASI :
Istiklal Caddesi No:128, Beyoglu
They show here very low quality and old straight erotic films,
therefore there must be a reason to go here other then watching
these movies. Back seats are more cruisy. You can walk around the rows and corridors as you wish,
although the staff sometimes pretends to be not allowing it once
in a while. But
remember everyone is not interested. After you buy the
ticket at the entrance, you are expected to pay the staff inside
some more tip (such as 1 YTL) for showing you your seat,
although they do not usually bother to show your place. Please
do not make fuss about it, thinking they are ripping off the
tourists, because it is a ritual all cinemas in Istanbul applies
to everyone.
DILBAZLAR SINEMASI :
Istiklal Cad, Beyoglu. First left from Sadri Alisik street which is
across from the Aga Mosque on
Istiklal Street.
You may meet some people, if you can find a chance from a group
of gay men going there regularly.
GUNES SINEMASI :
Cakiraga Mahallesi, Kurkcubashi Kulhan Sokak, No:5, Aksaray.
(From
Aksaray to Yenikapi take the right turning from Police
Headquarter. Climb up the steps. It's on left.)
Senior Gunes Sinemasi is located under a building, which you
would think is a regular family apartment from a distance. The
movies are newer and better here with respect to Cinema Ruya.
They show straight porno movies. The venues is not very clean
and well kept. same as Ruya. Limited action is possible.
AYDIN SINEMASI :
Millet Caddesi, Findikzade-AKSARAY (on the main road
from Aksaray to Findikzade.)
Hamams
(Turkish Baths) have played a very
important role in the history of Turkish gay
life.
During Ottoman Empire period, they
were maybe the main places for cruising. There are many miniatures
illustrating gay-relations in hamams, which
might even be astonishing for the people of today's modern age. Most
of the baths/hamams listed at our page are historical buildings. But they are not reflecting the glory
of the past unfortunately. They are not in a good situation and
not so clean. Hamams are among the victims of so called modern
western culture.
GAY SAUNAS IN ISTANBUL:
GAY BATHHOUSES IN ISTANBUL:
There is not any gay exclusive Turkish Bath (hamam or hammam) in
Istanbul. But there are few bath houses the gay men would go
very often, which are actually not the good samples in terms of
basic amenities and architecture. The owners and managers of
them do not want to be disclosed on internet websites and keep
sending us e-mails for that, although they want the gay clients
probably for economic reasons only. That's why we decided not to
list them anymore on our website. Actually, hamams are today
touristy and nostalgic venues for local people as well and they
are a little disappointing for gay tourists with respect to what
they expect to see.
In Istanbul there are no
gay-excusive beaches. In fact there are clean beaches left near
city center, any more. There are few beaches where it's more
likely to meet gay-related people. These are...
KILYOS beach. Along the Black Sea at European side. 1
hour away from city by public transportation.
SILE
("shile") Beach. Along the Black Sea at Asian side. More
than 1 hour away from the city center.
ADALAR
(Princes Islands) Small islands near the city. They are four
islands. The native inhabitants of these islands
are mostly non-Muslim minorities. The big one (Buyuk Ada) is the most active one. Regular
ferryboats from Eminonu/Sirkeci on the
European side and Kadikoy
or Bostanci at the Asian side. The
same ferryboat stops at all islands. It takes half an hour/45
minutes by
ferry-boat.
Cruising
areas are where gay people should be more careful and selective
with the people they might meet.
In such places it is very possible to meet bad
guys, besides real gay men or bisexuals. Especially be careful
if they propose you to have sex outside, in desolate places.
Taksim Park, Behind Mc Donald's, the
part of the park closer to the sea. It is not a safe place
for foreigners especially. Do not go to the desolated places
down the park with anyone and do not carry valuable things and
money on you.
Taksim Square, near Mc Donald's.
Istiklal Caddesi Since this street connects
Taksim to most of the gay locals, you can see many
gay-related people on your way.
Fatih Park
The Park at Sarachane. Be
careful, don't carry your valuables on you.
There are always pick pockets around. (Stop at Sarachane when you go to Aksaray from Taksim.)
Ortakoy
Coast. The town Near Besiktas ("Beshiktash") by the Bosphorus. The coast area near the mosque
is very busy and there's a vivid night life. 15 minute from Taksim
with a taxi. (It takes more during rush
hours). Mostly cruisable on Sundays in summer.
Sultanahmet Park. The small park opposite from
Park Hamam behind the tramcar station.
Kadikoy , The parks near the ferryboat
stations and the town square.
Bostanci Coast (AYOR) At Asian side.
Easy to go to Bostanci from Kadikoy or from Taksim by cabs. From
Kadikoy cabs are starting from behind the police Station. From
Taksim Its near AKM building (The Concert and Exhibition
Building named Ataturk Cultural Center)
The clubs of transvestites and
transsexuals are mostly in Taksim-Beyoglu. Almost all
of them are sex-workers. The clubs they go are also managed mainly for this
purpose. There are
also some houses they use as a kind of
illegal brothel. Many of them hitchhike along some high-ways for
prostitution. Transsexuals can have woman I.D. legally.
HENGAME : 02:00 -04:00
Istiklal Caddesi Sahne Sokak No: 6 Taksim. Across The
Galatasaray Lisesi (High school). On the street next to Cite de
Pera (Cicek Pasaj). It's Mainly transsexuals and some gay. One of the
good ones.
1001 PUB MARILYN : Siraselviler Caddesi, Near Dilson
Hotel (Known as 1001, "binbir")
The most well-known trv.bar. Very
close to Taksim Square
VAT 69 : TarlabasiBulvari, Opposite from Club Prive
VAT 69 ll : Istiklal Caddesi, Imam Adnan Sokak
EGE 96 : Istiklal Caddesi, Imam Adnan Sokak
Recently Popular
CABARE 33 : Istiklal Caddesi, Imam Adnan Sokak,
PINK BAR : Istiklal Caddesi, on your right from first left from Imam
Adnan Sokak
KOSK
:
Istiklal Caddesi, Mis Sokak,
SAHRA BAR
:
See Pubs Istiklal Caddesi, Sadri Alisik sk
