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By Root 852 0

who pays close attention to the tiniest details, has stayed in accommodations ranging from campgrounds to five-star hotels, is practically allergic to must and dust, has an exacting idea of the words “customer service,” and who has been known to rearrange the furniture in a few hotel rooms, I do think I have something valuable to share with readers. Therefore, I move around when I travel, changing hotels and arranging visits to those that are either fully booked or that I otherwise might not see. I make sure to see lodgings both moderately priced and expensive, so that readers have personal recommendations for both. Most often, I am drawn to the moderate places that also represent a good value as I’ve found that these sometimes receive the least attention. It’s never hard to find out about the budget or luxury places to stay, but the places in between—which I believe suit the pocketbooks of the majority of travelers—are often overlooked or given cursory consideration.

I also prefer to consult specialty hotel groups, assuming there is one for the destination I’m visiting. One of my favorites is the Association of Historical and Boutique Hoteliers of Turkey (historicalhotelsofturkey.org; there is also a nice booklet, but it’s available only in Turkey). This association represents unique hotels with distinct features, and all are independently owned and managed. There are sixty-one members, with forty-eight in Istanbul, many of which do not appear in any guidebooks. I also very much like Small Hotels of Turkey, founded by Sevan and Mujde Nisanyan and on the Web at nisanyan.net. More than three hundred small, charming hotels and guesthouses are featured, and they are all vetted by Sevan and Mujde, who are very committed to a good quality-price ratio. They also publish a popular annual guide, The Little Hotel Book, which may be ordered online directly from their site or from Cornucopia (cornucopia.net). Other hotel groups I like are Small Luxury Hotels of the World (currently with only one property in Istanbul, Les Ottomans; see below) and Leading Hotels of the World (also with only one property in Istanbul, Çırağan Palace Kempinski; see below).

Here is a selection of lodgings that I particularly like and that I believe will make your stay in Istanbul special:

Turing Ayasofya Konaklari, Sultanahmet (Soğukçeşme Sokak / +90 212 513 3660 / ayasofyapensions.com). This unique inn is actually made up of a row of nine individual wooden houses on a picturesque cobblestone street that is closed to traffic. The name of the street translates to Street of the Cold Fountain, one of several streets in Istanbul named for a fountain. Each “house” has between four and ten bedrooms and each has a lobby that is meant to be used for entertaining. Mine had a large sitting room, dining room, small kitchen, and bathroom, and could easily have accommodated twenty-five guests (my traveling companions and I kept joking that we were going to host a cocktail party here and invite all our new Istanbul friends—we never did, and I greatly regret it every time I think about it!). The interiors are nicely furnished in nineteenth-century Turkish style, and because each “house” has room for approximately ten people, staying here is perfect for families or friends traveling together. A few of the suites have their own private white marble hamam. An ample breakfast is served in a glass-roofed conservatory.

This wonderful inn was a pioneering project of the Touring and Automobile Club of Turkey, which took on this renovation in the 1980s. Part of this venture, but in a separate annex, is the Konuk Evi, just above the conservatory. Rooms are elegant and larger than in the row houses, and the building is a replica of an eighteenth-century wooden Ottoman house. (Another Touring Club inn that I also highly recommend is the Yeşil Ev, Green House, also in Sultanahmet. The Club also maintains the Sarniç Restaurant and Istanbul Handicraft Center, in Sultanahmet, as well as the Bebek Café, and the İskele Café and Kültür Evi Inn, both on the Princes’ Island of Büyükada.)