Property
Dersaadet Hotel Istanbul is a 17-room property in Istanbul’s historic quarter. The hotel is a converted Ottoman mansion complete with parquet floors and Turkish kilim rugs. But the hotel has American attitude. The owner, Deniz Duyar, lived in New York City for many years, speaks perfect English, and strives to give each guest a one-of-a-kind Istanbul experience.

Location
The hotel is in the heart of Sultanahmet – Istanbul’s old quarter – and is easy walking distance to the Blue Mosque, Aya Sofya and Topkapi Palace. And just turn the corner out of the lobby and you’ll find yourself at a covered market where your kids can haggle their way into more junk than you have space to carry home.

Sleeps
Up to 4. Plan on one of the hotel’s triple occupancy rooms or an extra room for larger families. But the hotel is happy to provide cribs and roll-aways upon request.

Highlights
A small boutique hotel, the staff is more than happy to help direct you to kid-friendly activities – and more importantly, kid-friendly eats. Although kids can exist on chicken kebobs alone, they may not want to after a few days. An included breakfast, with traditional simit bread and other continental fare, is served each day on the roof terrace, with a beautiful view of the Blue Mosque and the Marmara sea.

Good to know
Traveling with a breast pump is always tricky. However, traveling with a breast pump to Istanbul requires an iron will and the ability to pantomime milking your own breast to large and unsympathetic airport security officials who hear the tell-tale “uhr-uhr-uhr-uhr” and think you are carrying a bomb. And make sure to bring plenty of your own baby wipes, as the convenience shop down the street from the hotel had only one brand whose odor and texture suggested that they could only have been meant for polishing chrome.

June 1st, 2008 | by Kayt Sukel