Amy Adejokun
Section editor
A set of four buildings from the 20s, the Merit Antique is a hotel full of history. It is also the most charming and comfortable place in the Laleli district, in the old town, a few tram stops from Sultanahmet.
The Merit Antique is situated in Laleli, in the old town, about ten minutes by taxi from the historical sites of Sultanahmet. The airport is 11 miles from the hotel. Allow about 20 minutes for transfers.
The rooms, which are newly carpeted, are not very large. They all have air-conditioning and a bathroom with bath, hairdryer, and toilet. For your comfort there is also satellite television, a telephone with direct line, and a small mini-bar. Room service means you can eat in your room 24 hours a day (snack menu).
Opened in 1988, the Merit Antique is a set of 4 buildings built in the 1920s to house families that were victims of the 1918 great fire, which destroyed all the wooden houses in the Fatih quarter. These buildings were designed around large courtyards that are today covered and laid out as a lounge, winter garden, conference room and restaurant. In the corners of these courtyards, the large spiral staircases have been preserved. The side streets which separated the buildings have also been covered with Plexiglas archways and serve as communal areas. In one of them there are panoramic lifts that go up to the 4th floor of the hotel where there are 267 rooms, 6 studios and a presidential suite. The health club has a small pool, a sauna, a Jacuzzi, two gym machines and a UV lamp.
The hotel has 3 restaurants: a Turkish and international one, a Chinese one, and a kosher one. The copious breakfasts are served as buffets in one of the covered streets, in the Turkish restaurant, which is open all day from 7 am to 11 pm. You will find all sorts of meats, crepes, scrambled eggs, hard boiled eggs and helva (a Turkish dessert). The menu has a wide range of Turkish and international dishes. The Chinese restaurant, in an interior courtyard, is run by a Tibetan chef! The dinner menu offers a choice of 8 starters, 8 soups, 7 mains and 6 fish dishes. The kosher restaurant is also only open in the evening. It is one of the few kosher restaurants in Istanbul. You can also eat in the patisserie/pizzeria (7 am to 11 pm) or have a drink at the bar from 5 pm.
Given the layout of the 4 buildings that make up the hotel, many of the rooms overlook internal courtyards or covered passages. They are therefore quiet but dark. For your comfort, you may choose the rooms overlooking the street (on the upper floors to escape the traffic noise) or, even better, the Deluxe rooms, which are in the corners of the buildings and are therefore larger and brighter than the others.
sauna, (paying), beauty salon
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