The easiest way: skip-the-line ticket
Book online, keep the ticket on your phone and head straight for the entrance. The ticket includes an audio guide, so you know what you're looking at as you wander between the columns.
Istanbul: Basilica Cistern Fast-Track Entry and Audio Guide
Go straight in through the fast-track entrance and explore with an audio guide on your phone that tells the story of every corner.
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With a guide
If you'd like the story behind every corner, from the Medusa heads to the Hen's Eye Column, pick a guided visit. Skip-the-line entry is included.
Basilica Cistern Guided Tour & Blue Mosque Audio Guide
A guide shows you round the cistern, and you get an audio guide to visit the Blue Mosque afterwards.
Check price & dates on GetYourGuide (opens in a new tab)Istanbul: Basilica Cistern Skip-the-line Entry & Guided Tour
Skip-the-line entry and a guided visit that brings the columns and the Medusa heads to life.
Check price & dates on GetYourGuide (opens in a new tab)
Official prices and opening hours
The cistern is open every day in two sessions. The day session runs from 9:00 to 18:30 and costs 1,950 Turkish lira for foreign visitors. The evening session runs from 19:30 to 22:00, with its own ticket at 3,000 lira. The cistern closes between 18:30 and 19:30 to get ready for the evening session. Children under 7 go free.
Official tickets are sold at the ticket office.
Seeing it with Hagia Sophia?
Hagia Sophia is 150 metres away. If you're visiting both, a combined ticket saves you bookings and queues: see Basilica Cistern, Hagia Sophia and Topkapi.
Common questions
What does the skip-the-line ticket include?
Fast-track entry to the cistern on the day you choose, plus an audio guide on your phone.
Can I buy a ticket at the ticket office?
Yes, at the entrance on Yerebatan Street. With an online ticket you go straight in.
What is the evening session?
A second session from 19:30 to 22:00, with its own ticket, to see the cistern at night.