Nightlife and Entertainment

RIDDIM

An internat, ional city such as Istanbul needs a comfortable place to remind us that there's more music out there than techno and rock; and the new Riddim Cafe & Bar is just what we've been missing. Riddim is the cool place for reggae and world beat music, and some of the best mixes of Caribbean, African, and Latin can be heard here. Resident rasta Osman, one of the coolest people in town, has brought his unique sound to the heart of Beyoglu and nothing will ever be the same again! Previously the pulse of Pupa, Osman has created a tropical island flavor with a bamboo hut for a DJ more..

type:	Istiklal / Beyoglu
World66 rating:	[rate it]
address:	Buyukparmakkapi Sok. No:8/1

Babylon

photo by: nilgün1966

Babylon in Tünel has got to be the most rocking place to go for entertainment these days. Tucked away in a tiny side street behind Istiklal, its reputation as an excellent venue to see an alternative international or home-grown act is increasing daily. Bands such as Baba Zula, Istanbul Blues Kamp, anyasi, Badmarsh and Shri, Trevor Watts, Erik Truffaz and Cheikh Lô have graced the stage at Babylon to a full house almost every time. Each month a rich programme of entertainment is designed to reach out and touch everyone who loves alternative music, the arts, and performance with more..

type:	Istiklal / Beyoglu
World66 rating:	[rate it]
address:	Tünel

Ortakahve

Until now, the only places in Istanbul you’ve been able to smoke a nargile pipe have been in hidden little alcoves and gardens scattered around the Beyazit area, and a couple of places down by Dolmabahçe Palace. Now, just opened up in Beyoglu is a little place called "Ortakahve" which is a different take on the age-old concept of the traditional kiraathanesi - coffee shop.

Traditionally, amply-moustached men gathered together in dark, smoky rooms to exchange local gossip and the political opinions of the day while smoking apple tobacco from nargile - water more..

type:	Traditional Turkish
World66 rating:	[rate it]
address:	ORTAKAHVE - BÜYÜKPARMAKKAPI/TEL SOKAK No:4 - BEYOGLU

Jazz Cafe Istanbul

Concert Flyer
photo by: Asli Gurman

In the center of Istanbul, between the history and contemporary music. Jazz Cafe established in 1982 by Mete Gurman and Cengiz Sanli, is one of the first jazz clubs to have settled Turkey. It is at the request of many musicians, customers of the restaurant, that they decide to transform the European basement bar into a Jazz Club. All the stars of jazz play at the Jazz Cafe: Bulent Ortacgil, Erkan Ogur, Maffy Fallay, Onder Focan....

type:	Gay and Lesbian
World66 rating:	[rate it]
ClosingTime:	04.00
url:	www.jazzcafeistanbul.com
address:	Istiklal Avenue. Hasnun Galip Street. No:20 Beyoglu
tel:	+90 0 212 245 05 16
email:	posta@jazzcafeistanbul.com

Exen Dance Club

Ok, so it's another Saturday night in Taksim, you want to find a different place and you don't want to be sophisticated - you want to ‘rock 'till you drop.’ Check out Exen, the dynamite new club that recently opened on Siraselviler. It's jam packed on weekends with babes, hunks, and trying-their- hardests, and with good reason. Exen has one of the finest sound systems around, and some of the best live acts pump it out Wed. thru Sat. until late. Özlem Tekin, Istanbul's bad girl, simply jams every Saturday night, with the last set starting around 2:30. The pounding, grit your more..

type:	Concerts
World66 rating:	[rate it]
address:	Siraselviler Cad. No:103/6
ClosingTime:	midnight
tel:	0212 292-2219
closingtime:	dghnhbn

Club Academia

If you can imagine dancing to blaring techno music while sipping exotic cocktails and nibbling on warm, salty, freshly made popcorn, in an underground water cistern dating back to late Roman times (500 AD), originally built by the Roman Emperor Theodosis, then you'll feel right at home in Club Academia.

As you descend into the cavernous laser-lit space, surrounded by ancient columns and three-foot thick red brick walls, a labyrinth of secret paths winds through the pillars and around the back wall until you suddenly find yourself right in the middle of the antediluvian more..

type:	Traditional Turkish
World66 rating:	[rate it]
address:	Sekbanbasi Sokak No:10, Beyazit

Magma Music Club

If you think you’ve seen everything in Istanbul, think again!! The crowd here is made up of all kinds of people, wearing all kinds of clothes, dancing all kinds of dances to all kinds of music - as long as it’s electronic. Techno sounds ‘til the wee hours. Live acts, DJ’s and loads of bizarre looking folks... Entry: 8,000,000TL. (5,000,000 before 1.00am)

type:	Istiklal / Beyoglu
World66 rating:	[rate it]

Jazz Stop

On a street with more fire than flair is a truly unique place, reminiscent of Parisian bistros and Greenwich Village haunts. When you walk into Engin Yorukoglu's Jazz Stop it's like you've left Istanbul and entered another dimension where serious music lives with a kind of subdued energy just waiting to be released. Cozy and comfortable, the Jazz Stop is the kind of place you won't want to leave. Ever!

Engin is a patriarch of the music scene here and has been creating fresh new musical interpretations with various guest musicians for over thirty years. More of an attitude more..

type:	Casinos
World66 rating:	[rate it]
address:	Tel Sok. No: 9 (at the end of Buyukparmakkapi Sokak)

YAGA BAR

Cover charge is 3,500,000TL with the 1st drink free. Starts happening after 11:00. Tel: 0212 292-2829

type:	Istiklal / Beyoglu
World66 rating:	[rate it]
address:	Siraselviler Cad. No:67/1

Coco Pazzo

Café-Bar-Restaurant - it’s the newest of the funky little places in town, it was just opened up 2 weeks ago by Ali who has high ambitions for the place. It looks great, go check it out next time you’re in Arnavutköy. It’s right near Pupa on the main road, diagonally opposite Eylül

HERCAI

HERCAI is one of the cute café-restaurants nestled among the other cafes, restaurants, bars and bookshops in Dumlupinar Sokagi. It’s near Greenhouse, a bookshop with a café and an underused seminar room, which is run by an American woman and right beside an underground looking bar called Mad! In front of it, there is a stall of bric-a-brac attended by a woman and beside it there is a blackboard announcing the dishes of the day unpretentiously in neat handwriting.

Hercai occupies the entire space of the nice little three-storied old more..

Café Crème

Café Crème has been on the corner of Cami Meydani, opposite the American hamburger chain, at Mecidiye Köprüsü Sokak No:12, Ortaköy for quite some time. Fehmi takes pride in his three floors of serene pleasantly quiet atmosphere and excellent Mediterranean cuisine with an extensive Sunday Brunch buffet every weekend. Cost: 4 900 000TL. For lunch or dinner, try the very popular Seafood Salad, the tasty special of the house, Café Crème Beefsteak or the delicious Salmon Spinach Crepe. There is also a great range of vegetarian choices on the menu. Live music more..

Kiraz Café

Kiraz Café - Has a nice, lively atmosphere. Good food. Nice people. Hidden in a quiet side street, Yeni Yuva Sokak - kind of opposite the Spar market in Cihangir. It’s the newest cafe in that part of town and looks like it’s about ready to become one of the most popular.

(((Godet)))

Revamped, refreshed and roaring to go! It’s a cool little place, nice to start the night if you’re an electro-funk fan. Dance until you drop to techno, house, and electronic music. Istiklal near Taksim.