“Compact Bargain”

The Dara Hotel is located conveniently near the Hippodrome area of Sultanahmet. It is a modest hotel, at a modest price. The rooms are small, but bright, clean and cheery. The staff is quite friendly. Buffet breakfast is adequate. The wireless internet works better than that at most hotels in the world. It is across the street from the small Sokollu Kehmet Pasha mosque, constructed by the master architect Sinan. This means you will certainly be awakened by the loudspeakers blasting out the call to prayer. You can either take this in as part of the local atmosphere, or buy earplugs.

“Night manager has a NASTY temper”

One bad apple really does ruin the bunch. While the head manager & cook are fantastic, we had a terrible experience with the night manager. We asked him to recommend a tour for us, and he told us he would get us a discount and book it for us and then quoted us in Turkish Lira (which we double confirmed that he meant Lira). When we went to pay the tour operator, we found out the price was in Euro (which more than doubles the price with the exchange rate) AND the new price was actually 5 Euro more than what's quoted on the brochure. Instead of calmly talking to us about this as a miscommunication, the night manager immediately raised his voice and started screaming and yelling at us (no joke - his face turned bright red and he repeatedly banged his fist on the table). He called the head manager in and we were able to resolve the miscommunication, and the head manager said he could also book our airport shuttle for the next day. He quoted us in Turkish Lira, which, after this tour fiasco, we absolutely made certain he meant LIRA. Unfortunately, the next morning, we left so early that the night manager was still there, and when we went to pay him, he turned around and told us it was EURO (again!). We were so fed up we paid the inflated amount, but then as we were loading our bags, the night manager came outside and got in our face to yell at us some more. I can't in good conscience recommend this hotel because the night manager is unprofessional and has a terrible temper.