In this age of social media, traveling has become so straightforward and convenient for everyone. The terms such as ‘hidden gem’ and ‘off beaten track’ no more make any sense to me as there is barely any place left on the planet, which has not been shared on social media or Instagram to be precise. However, just like this accessibility to everywhere has made life easy for the travelers, on the other hand, it has costed a huge price for the locals living in these places.
Balat Istanbul is one of the many ‘Instagram finds’, which has now become a popular tourist spot in Istanbul. However, unlike the other tourist places, Balat in Istanbul is not a tourist attraction but a residential area where real locals of Istanbul lives. The area rose to popularity due to the colorful houses in Balat, which suddenly became everyone’s favorite place to get that best shot for the gram the moment their pictures were circulated on social media. Though there is nothing so wrong in exploring all the nooks and corners of a city or clicking pictures of it, however, it should be done with some ethics at the least, especially if the place is a residential area like Balat in Istanbul.
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How To Get To Balat in Istanbul?
Here is a map of Balat, so save the coordinates if you plan to visit the colorful houses of Balat while in Istanbul.
There is no direct tram connection to Balat from the touristy center of Sultanamet and Eminonu. However, there are two alternate ways to reach the colorful houses of Balat.
- The fastest way to reach Balat without much walking or hassle is to take a taxi to Balat.
- If you would like to use the public transport instead, you can take a tram to Eminonu and then walk to ferry terminal at Karakoy. From Karakoy, take a ferry directly to Balat.
Wall art in Balat The Rainbow Stairs of Balat
What Made Balat Istanbul Every Tourist’s Favorite Place?
Balat in Istanbul is located in the non-touristy neighborhood on the European side of the city. Much like the rest of Istanbul, Balat is also built on a hill, with ascends and descends throughout the area. There is a street called the colorful houses of Balat Street which have the most Instagrammed houses completely painted in yellow, orange and blue.
Since the area has gained popularity, just a short stroll away from the colorful houses of Balat, there are streets filled with cute and tiny decorated cafes and antique shops. I absolutely loved the café streets as it is colorful and vibrant! Some of the shops are even underground but the owners have maintained and decorated them so well. The old and rusty walls of the area are beautifully painted with graffiti by the locals. Some of the graffiti is very eye-catching!
The locals of Balat seem to be quite creative people who happen to love colors. There is a flight of colorful stairs called the Rainbow Stairs, which was supposedly painted by the locals as they wanted the area to look beautiful and colorful. The municipality painted it back to the boring grey color, but the locals protested and painted the steps again. Little did they know their desire to make their neighborhood colorful would result into making it an ‘influencer magnet’ with tons of influencers and tourists hanging around and taking turns to get a picture on the stairs.
How The Popularity Negatively Affected Balat in Istanbul?
During my recent trip to Istanbul, I added Balat in my must-visit list, however, what I saw there left me really sad and disappointed. My purpose of visiting Balat was to ‘see’ the place and take a couple of pictures just for memory. Upon reaching the colorful houses of Balat, I saw tons of people, mostly women, who were getting them photographed right in the center of the road not minding any vehicle or humans or even cats!
Mind you, it is not a very wide street where all of this photography was happening. What was going on there were full-fledged photoshoots with all the angles possible. To get the perfect angle, the photographers were not minding blocking the entrance to someone’s house. I even saw an old resident struggling to park his car due to these Instagram models photoshoots. It was a weird sight and a very disappointing experience to see people forget all ethics and go crazy just to get what? A freaking picture!
This photography session was happening since before I reached there and it continued till I left the place, some twenty minutes later. Yes, that lady still didn’t get her perfect shot even after twenty minutes of continuous posing and a billion pictures until I was there.
Ethical Ways To Take While Visiting Balat Istanbul
After my sort of horrible experience in Balat, I have listed down the following ethical measures to follow if you are visiting Balat or any other residential turned tourist place in the world.
Don’t Invade People’s Privacy
Can I have an amen for this? When visiting a place like Balat, the first and foremost thing to take care of is to respect the fact that those buildings are real people’s houses and not public monuments. Taking a picture in front of it is not that big of a crime unless it is done without bothering anyone. Be mindful that your pictures should not capture any personal activity those residents must be doing. Definitely, I would never like to be a backdrop of anyone’s picture while I am mowing my lawn or sipping a coffee in my balcony. If you see those residents doing any such activity, which could be captured in your picture, just abort mission!
Don’t Block The Way
Considering the colorful houses of Balat Street is pretty narrow, for your own safety and the sanity of others passing by, please don’t pose at a spot which might block the way. Try to find a corner spot as angled pictures often turn out to be better than the centric ones. The most basic thing to do here is to just wait for the street to be clear of any cars or people and then do your business quickly. As it is not a tourist attraction but someone’s home, try to be as quick as possible. A couple of pictures will suffice for your memory log; you clearly don’t need hundreds of them at the same place.
Don’t Get Too Close To The Houses
I feel very sorry while writing this, but sadly people have completely forgotten all the basic ethics of being a tourist. In order to get a great photo, I have seen people getting as close as possible to the houses. Some of them have the audacity to literally pose right in front of the houses entrance door. This is something very absurd and I would never encourage anyone to do it. Please maintain a fair distance from the houses while clicking the pictures. Posing at the entrance door is a big fat NO!
Visit As Early As Possible
The best way to visit Balat in Istanbul is to plan your visit as early in the morning as possible. In this way, you could get empty streets and the residents might not have started their daily chores, so your visit to the colorful houses would not bother anyone.
Avoid Visiting The Colorful Houses Altogether
After my experience at the street of the colorful houses, I somewhat regretted visiting there. However, my purpose was to only explore and see the place and not take a million pictures in front of it. Nonetheless, I still felt guilty of contributing to the negative impact of tourism those locals are experiencing. There is so much more to do in Balat, things which have been built just to facilitate the tourists. It includes things like the many cafes, antique shops, and some spectacular wall art.
These are the things which are deliberately done by the municipality for the tourists, but not the houses. Those local didn’t paint their houses to be a picture background of every tourist visiting Istanbul. They are just houses painted in a bright color, nothing else, and nothing fancy. Believe me, there is no harm in avoiding visiting the colorful houses of Balat altogether.
Crowded Rainbow Stairs No tourists interested in photographing the wall art
Some Positives For Locals From Balat’s Popularity
I have discussed enough negatives which the locals of Balat Istanbul have faced; however, there are some positives as well, which have turned out to be beneficial for the locals. As mentioned already, Balat is a congested area with small alleys and streets; therefore, it can get completely impossible to take a car inside if you are on a self-driving trip.
As I struggled to find parking for myself near the cafes, I noticed local boys running valet services. A guy standing with a small desk and a chair on the corner of the street waved at me to stop as soon as I entered Balat. Upon inquiring, he told me he offers valet service. Initially, I was a bit skeptical about handing over my rented car to him but then I saw every other tourist doing the same. Well, then I knew it was completely safe to do so.
The guy handed me a receipt and I just paid 30 Turkish Lira (USD 5.3) for unlimited hours of parking. Isn’t that cool? Apparently, these guys use their personal house parking spots for valet parking. It was great to finally see the locals making side earnings from all the trouble caused to them by the tourists. I won’t be surprised if the owners of the colorful houses will also start charging a fee from the tourists to take a picture in front of their properties.
Also Read: A Photo Guide of a Day Trip To The Princes Island From Istanbul
General Tips On Visiting Balat
Balat is a cobbled street neighborhood built on a hill, which requires a sufficient amount of walking if you want to visit all the cafes, cute shops, and colorful houses. Therefore, be equipped with the following essential things when visiting Balat:
- Comfortable shoes
- A hat and sunglasses if visiting during the afternoon
- Wear plenty of sunblock
- Carry water especially in summer
- Some snacks if you don’t wish to spend money dining in the cafes
Places To Stay In Balat
Balat is a great alternative to stay in Istanbul away from the tourist crowd of Sultanahmet and Eminonu. As Balat is still not a full-fledged tourist hub, therefore, the accommodation options are fairly limited. Troya Hotel and Balat Residence are the two best places to stay in Balat.
Still confused about where to stay in Balat? Compare hotel prices and check reviews here:
If you don’t plan to stay in Balat, then your best bet is to visit the colorful neighborhood with a guided walking tour. Balat is made up of small and confusing alleys so it is very easy to get lost in the identical small streets. Book any of these guided walking tours in Balat before they are sold out!
To discover more about fascinating Turkey, how about one of my other posts?
- A Solo Female Guide of Turkey
- Things To Do In Cappadoccia WITHOUT The Hot Air Balloon Ride
- All About How To Visit The Picturesque Princes Islands From Istanbul
- A Photo Guide Of The Sufi City Of Sivas In Turkey
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That’s so sad that people don’t care about locals. It’s so disheartening, but I love that you’ve created a post on how not to be awful or insensitive.
It’s very interesting to read your approach as a person regularly capturing places. My usual rules are taking photos very early, never blocking the way, be super quiet, be respectful and do not take the inhabitants in photos!!
Thanks for posting this, you’ve covered really important points. I visited Balat and the colourful houses because I’d seen them on instagram, but also spent longer exploring the rest of the area. I was surprised at how much poverty there was in the area, because this isn’t something that is highlighted online. Of course we want pretty pictures, but you’re right that it needs to be done ethically and with a wider view of the area.
Great article! And I agree- tourism obviously has a lot of benefits but it’s so important to be respectful. Thanks!!
Beautiful! I never even heard about this place until I went to Istanbul last year! I might see it next time. I found Istanbul has a few places where travellers crowd but most of it, even the centre, is bustling with life but untouristed. This time, we walked to Suleymaniye Mosque where visitor numbers were sane, shopped in the local streets around the Spice Bazaar and took a boat to the Eyup Pilgrimage site. All places that haven’t been insta-murdered. I love blog posts about new places that aren’t on everybody’s radar
This is a really well done post! I’m going to Istanbul in April, and I really appreciate these tips. It’s so important to be respectful of others!
I am glad you found my post useful. Have a great trip to Istanbul 🙂
What a stunning place! I’m so glad to see an ethical guide to visiting. Thanks so much for sharing!
I am happy to see that not all the places like this have turned into holiday rentals stripped of there culture and community. Your advice and tips are well taken. I try to avoid over-touristed locations these days.
Great post! Sadly this is becoming a problem more often. If only people used more common sense and respect for the places they visit. It’s important to be conscious of this like you mention.
Wow such beautiful buildings! I would love to visit Balat too, but like you said – not without respecting the fact that those buildings are real people’s houses and not public monuments. Its so important!! And a huge problem in Norway too :/
I had not heard of the colorful house of Balat prior to reading your article. What a cute and yet beautiful area. It is sad that people do not respect other’s privacy and property.
Great post! Thank you for your thoughtful commentary on overtourism and how it affects locals. So important nowadays that people think about where they travel and how.
What an interesting read! I have been to Istanbul but never this area. You have made me excited 😀
It is a wonderful place to see. It has this vibrant cheerful vibe minus ‘so-called’ Instagrammers sabotaging the vibe for gazillion pictures!
really good post! Amazing how people just forget that these houses are peoples homes not just places to pose in front of
Thank you, Ashleigh. Glad you liked the post 🙂
I saw this on the popular street in Paris with the colourful houses. Some of the houses now have “no photos” signs. It’s sad when getting the best photo means you stop being a conscientious traveller.
I feel sorry for the people who are suffering because of such crazy travelers not respecting the locals. This is such an unfortunate situation
Awesome. Thank you for the great tips. I can’t wait for my trip to Turkey.
You will love it! Turkey is an awesome place 🙂
Great article! It’s such a shame that places like this have become, as you say, ‘instagram magnets’. This genuinely looks like a beautiful street but I would feel uncomfortable visiting, simply because I know I would find photo shoots happening. We saw the same thing at the Art Science museum in Singapore recently. There were lots of people – women mostly! – who didn’t mind hogging some of the installations to have what felt like a gazillion photos taken of them, while people like us just wanted to grab a shot of the artwork without someone standing in front of it. I suppose we’ll see less geotagging on Instagram because of situations like this, which is a shame for people who just want to see beautiful places around the world 🙁
Thank you for sharing your experience, Justine. It is a sad reality that traveling these days have just meltdown to taking pictures and become an Instagram sensation.