By Harry Nara · Last updated
- Ramazan Bayramı begins, a three day national holidayTuesday 9 March 2027
- The holiday ends and the city returns to normalThursday 11 March 2027
- Where
- Sultan Ahmed Mosque
- Tickets
- Free
- Time of year
- February to March
- Dates
- Move each year with the lunar calendar
Türkiye sets its religious calendar by astronomical calculation rather than by moon sighting, so these dates are fixed years ahead and will not move at the last minute. That is unusual, and it means you can book around them with confidence. A half day of preparation, the arife, precedes the holiday.
The strings of lights spelling out words between the minarets are called mahya, and they are an Istanbul invention rather than a general Islamic one. They are hung only for this month, they come on at the moment the fast breaks and go off before dawn, and the message changes from one night to the next. Almost no visitor knows what they are looking at. Knowing turns a pretty skyline into something you can read, and it makes the case for spending your evenings in Sultanahmet rather than anywhere else in the city.
What Ramadan actually is
Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar and the month of fasting, observed from first light until sunset. Istanbul marks it in a way no other city does. In the seventeenth century a mosque official strung oil lamps on ropes between two minarets of the Sultan Ahmed Mosque to spell out a phrase, and the practice, called mahya, spread to every imperial mosque with more than one minaret. It survives on electric bulbs today, made by a handful of remaining craftsmen, and it exists nowhere else at this scale. Around it sits the rest of the month: a cannon marking the moment the fast breaks, long tables of free food laid out in the squares, mosques full late into the night, and a city that is quietly busier after dark than it is at noon. The month closes with Ramazan Bayramı, also called Şeker Bayramı, a three day national holiday.
Where to watch Ramadan
- Sultanahmet Square, after the fast breaks. The Sultan Ahmed Mosque carries a mahya between its minarets and Hagia Sophia faces it across the square, which is where the municipality lays out its free tables. This is the single best place to be, and it is free in every sense. The square fills from an hour beforehand and stays busy well past midnight.
- Süleymaniye Mosque, for the version without the crowd. The largest of the imperial mosques, on the hill above the Golden Horn, carries its own mahya and draws a fraction of the visitors. The terrace restaurants below the complex look straight back at it. Come here on a night when Sultanahmet feels like too much.
- Eyüpsultan, for the devout version. The most religiously observant quarter of the old city, up the Golden Horn, and the one place where the month feels less like a spectacle and more like an occasion. Families arrive early and stay late. The cable car up to the cafe on the hill gives you the mosque and the water below it in one frame.
- A Bosphorus ferry at dusk. The waterside mosques carry mahya too, and a commuter ferry crossing between the continents at the right hour gives you several of them in sequence for the price of an ordinary fare. It is the cheapest good idea in this guide.
- The moment itself, wherever you are. A cannon fires, and a city of sixteen million starts eating at the same second. Restaurants that looked empty are suddenly full, the streets briefly empty, and then everything reopens at once. It is worth being outdoors for, and it is worth not being in a taxi for.
Tickets and what it costs
Nothing here is ticketed. The mahya are hung above public streets, the mosques are open to respectful visitors outside prayer times, and the tables laid out in the squares by the municipality and by charities are genuinely open to anyone, visitors included. The only real spending is a restaurant iftar, and those are worth booking because the good ones fill for every night of the month rather than for a single date. Prices rise a little across the month at the places that make a set menu of it. The bigger financial point is at the other end: hotel rates climb over the three day holiday that closes the month, because the whole country travels then.
Official information and booking: www.goturkiye.com
Getting there
Sultanahmet has its own stop on the T1 tram, which is the simplest way in and the most crowded way out. Süleymaniye is a walk up from the Eminönü end of the same line. Eyüpsultan is easiest by ferry up the Golden Horn, or by bus. The thing worth planning is the hour either side of the fast breaking, when traffic across the whole city becomes genuinely difficult for perhaps forty minutes and then clears completely. Trams and ferries keep running through it and roads do not, so this is an evening to stay off the roads.
Mistakes worth avoiding
Assuming the city shuts down during the day
It does not. Istanbul is a large secular city with a lot of visitors, and restaurants, bars, museums and shops keep normal hours throughout. You can eat lunch anywhere. What changes is the evening, which is busier, and the atmosphere, which is better.
Arriving to see the illuminations too early
The mahya are switched on when the fast breaks, not at sunset in the abstract, and they go off again before first light. Turning up in the late afternoon gets you bare cables strung between minarets and a puzzled impression of what the fuss is about. Come after the cannon.
Booking the closing holiday without knowing what shuts
The three day national holiday at the end is when the country travels. Most shops, bazaars and museums close on the first day of it and reopen for the second and third. Intercity transport sells out well ahead and hotel rates rise. It is a fine time to be here, but not by accident.
Being conspicuous about eating in the devout quarters
Nobody will say anything to you in Beyoğlu or Kadıköy. In Eyüpsultan or Fatih in the middle of the afternoon, eating and drinking as you walk reads as pointed rather than neutral. Sit down somewhere instead. It costs you nothing and it is the difference between a guest and a tourist.
Expecting the dates to move
In many countries the start is confirmed by moon sighting a day or two ahead. Türkiye calculates its calendar astronomically and publishes it years in advance, so the dates here are settled and you can build a trip around them. Do not apply advice written for somewhere else.
Other Istanbul events
Frequently asked questions
What are the lights strung between the minarets?
They are called mahya, and they spell out a short phrase in Turkish or Arabic that changes from night to night. The tradition began in Istanbul in the seventeenth century with oil lamps hung on ropes between two minarets of the Sultan Ahmed Mosque, and it is still made by hand by a very small number of craftsmen. Only mosques with at least two minarets can carry one, which in practice means the imperial mosques.
Do the mahya stay lit all night?
They come on at the moment the fast breaks in the evening and are switched off before first light, when the next day of fasting begins. So they are lit through the whole night and dark through the whole day, which is the opposite of what most people assume.
Can non-Muslims eat at the free iftar tables?
Yes. The tables laid out by the municipality and by charitable foundations are open to anyone who sits down, and being a visitor is not a barrier. Arrive before the cannon, sit, wait for it, and eat when everyone else does. It is one of the most generous things any city does for strangers.
Will restaurants and museums be open?
Yes, throughout the month, on normal hours. Istanbul does not close for it. The exception is the three day holiday at the end, when most shops, bazaars and museums shut on the first day and reopen on the second and third.
Is it a good time to visit Istanbul?
It is one of the better ones. The weather is cold and the days are short, so it is a low season for prices and queues, and the evenings have something going on that the rest of the year does not. The one caveat is the holiday at the end, when transport fills and rates rise.
Which mosque has the best illuminations?
The Sultan Ahmed Mosque is where the tradition started and it faces Hagia Sophia across a square laid with tables, so it is the obvious answer. Süleymaniye is the better photograph and much the calmer evening. Both are free and they are twenty minutes apart on foot.
Sources
- Presidency of Religious Affairs, religious calendar
- Go Türkiye, official tourism board
- Ministry of Culture and Tourism
Dates on this page are checked against the organiser’s own listing and confirmed through 2028. Written and maintained by Harry Nara.