If you haven’t entered any dates, the rate shown is provided directly by the hotel and represents the cheapest double room (including tax) available in the next 60 days.
Prices have been converted from the hotel’s local currency (EUR704.00), via openexchangerates.org, using today’s exchange rate.
Whether you turn to the left, turn to the right (or even if you’re not an ‘ambiturner’), Vakko Hotel & Residence is ooh, bop fashion. The well-dressed Nisantasi stay is as stylish as its neighbours (no mean feat, considering that includes Prada and Chanel). The dressed-to-kill suites have a tasteful neutral palette (obviously): black is conspicuously absent, overlooked in favour of cream, dusky pink and lots of chic white marble. Naturally, there’s a several-storey department store inside, just in case your current sartorial status is lacking – it also sells pâtisserie for sugary shopping sustenance.
Double rooms from £664.33 (€774), including tax at 10 per cent. Please note the hotel charges an additional local city tax of 2% per booking prior to arrival.
More details
Rates don’t include breakfast (from €30).
Also
The hotel is unfortunately not accessible for guests with mobility issues.
At the hotel
Free WiFi throughout, gym, butler service, contactless check-in. In rooms: tablet-controlled lighting modes; kitchen with a wine rack, espresso machine and dishwasher; TV with Netflix, Disney and Amazon Prime; free bottled water; surround-sound system; mini and maxibar; Technogym workout kit; clothes steamer; and bespoke bath products.
Our favourite rooms
Each suite at Vakko Hotel & Residence is really more of an apartment with a kitchen, living area and marble bathroom – for a continuous view over the Nisantasi real-life runway below so you can channel André Leon Talley from on high, book one of the suites with a terrace (the Room or a Studio Residence).
Spa
The marble-lined spa has a whopping 98 different treatments on offer, incorporating ayurveda, deep-tissue and aromatherapy techniques. Treatments can be taken in-room too.
Packing tips
By all means pack an empty suitcase and fill it with Vakko concept store’s curated merchandise and Nisantasi’s finest threads.
Also
If you’re planning on keeping up your workout regimen on holiday, there are handy Technogym kits in your cupboard, with a handy app to track your progress and 23-minute programmes that even the most exercise-resistant could find time to schedule.
Children
Vakko Hotel & Residence is technically adults-only, but children over the age of 12 can be accommodated on request.
Sustainability efforts
The hotel is so committed to being sustainable, it publishes an annual report into its efforts – which include but are not limited to monitoring energy consumption, sensible sourcing and dealing with waste efficiently.
Out on the café-style seating on the pavement for some street-style scouting.
Dress Code
Off the rack (gasp) probably isn’t going to cut it…
Hotel restaurant
Vakko Atelier is as stylishly turned out as everywhere else in the hotel, with a fashionista-approved, French-leaning menu of croques and clubs, burrata, carpaccio and mains such as sea-bass with fennel and a dill and lemon sauce. And if you want someone else to use the kitchen in your suite for you, you can request the services of a private chef. Breakfasts are crafted by master bakers, who also put together pancakes, pain perdu and oeufs Benedict.
Hotel bar
The classic cocktails don’t follow any trends, in favour of timeless elegance in the form of a beautiful negroni.
Last orders
Breakfast is served from 7am all the way until 4pm, so late risers and serial snooze-hitters don’t need to worry about missing out. Breakfast and lunch segue into one, but official lunch hours are 11.30am to 6pm. Dinner service is between 6pm and 11pm.
Room service
All of the dishes from the restaurant’s menu can be delivered to your room until 11pm, after which point it’s a more restricted series of snacks and sandwiches.
Vakko Hotel & Residence is in the super-stylish Istanbul neighbourhood of Nisantasi (it’s so fashion, there’s a Prada store directly opposite).
Planes
Both of Istanbul’s major airports are within a hour’s drive of the hotel. Transfers cost from €100 one-way.
Trains
The city’s main rail station Istanbul Sirkeci Terminal is a 15-minute car journey away. Transfers from this hub cost €100 as well.
Automobiles
You won’t need wheels to get around the city from this fashionista-footwear-friendly perch, but if you have come by car, you can stash it away – valet parking locally costs TRY500 for 24 hours.
Worth getting out of bed for
Vakko Hotel & Residence is in Istanbul’s well-dressed Nisantasi neighbourhood, so it’d be rude not to try and up your trend levels at least once – the city’s designer district is right outside (and a Prada boutique is directly opposite). That’s after you’ve explored the multi-storey concept store within the hotel, of course. If your wardrobe could use a little lift, the hotel can arrange for Turkish Gok Wans/Trinny and Susannahs* to come to the rescue with personal shopping, tailoring and ‘wardrobe organisation’ (*delete according to age). Each room has a handy city guide ready for guests to reference – use it wisely to plot your Istanbul itinerary, whether you want to stockpile spices at the Grand Bazaar, sail down the Bosphorus (or pop across to Asia) or visit architectural masterpieces such as the Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque.
Local restaurants
Turkey may have given the world doner kebabs, but things get a little more refined on Istanbul’s food scene, especially if you’ve made a reservation at Araka, which is named after a pea, but serves so much more (if it’s in season); request in advance if you’d like to try the tasting menu. Arkestra is set in a restored villa, with an open kitchen and seating out on the pergola, and a menu dealing in signature French and Asian dishes. And if you’ve overdone it on the kebabs, try Antica Locanda for Italian cuisine, including a parade of pizzas, washed down with Turkish or motherland wines.
Local bars
A 250-year-old building is nothing special in Istanbul, but it’s a nice place for some drinks at least – Olden 1772 is in an old inn built in that very year, with a long list of cocktails and good music for anyone sticking around after their Anatolian dinner. Or join the local crowd overflowing from Efendi, a bijou bar in Nisantasi.
Every hotel featured is visited personally by members of our team, given the Smith seal of approval, and then anonymously reviewed. As soon as our reviewers have returned from this haute-couture hotel in Turkey and unpacked their designer threads and silk scarves, a full account of their city break will be with you. In the meantime, to whet your wanderlust, here's a quick peek inside Vakko Hotel & Residences in Istanbul…
If you’re all dressed up with nowhere to go, runway-ready Vakko Hotel & Residences is here to give your life some direction, namely to Nisantasi in Istanbul. The hotel has good style in its DNA, dahlings – and not just because of its neighbours in the city’s most fashionable quarter. The suites and apartments each have pale wood, natural stone and a palette of creams, soft greys and pastel pinks. Nisantasi is calling to shop until you drop, but there’s a concept store within the hotel to browse first, whether your list consists of homeware, clothing, a signature Vakko scarf or some pretty pâtisserie (the hotel may be à la mode all the way, but that doesn’t mean carbs are banned). Of course, there are lots of fashion-forward services on hand, from a steamer in your room to ensure everything is crisp and fresh, to personal shopping and a butler on hand to unpack for you. It’s all talk and plenty of trousers.
