Emirgan Park

Overview

Every April, a hillside on the Bosphorus turns red, yellow, purple and white. Millions of tulips bloom in long, curving beds, around ponds and waterfalls and below three wooden pavilions built for an exiled Egyptian ruler. For dates and the other festival parks, read our guide to the Istanbul Tulip Festival. This is Emirgan Park, a large park on the Bosphorus and the heart of the city’s tulip festival. With a guide, join our Bosphorus museums tour.

So come in spring if you can. Even outside tulip time, however, the park is a green stop above the strait.

Emirgan Park on the Bosphorus

To begin with, the park lies in Emirgan, in the district of Sarıyer, on the European shore of the Bosphorus. It climbs a walled hillside of about 47 hectares (117 acres), with two ornamental ponds, waterfalls, lawns and more than 120 species of plants. Among them, for example, stand coast redwoods, Lebanon cedars, Japanese cedars and old stone pines.

History of Emirgan Park

From cypress forest to a Persian commander

In Byzantine times, the slope was covered with cypress trees. Later, in the 16th century, the land went to an Ottoman official, Feridun Bey. In the 17th century, Sultan Murad IV gave it to Emir Gûne Han, a Persian commander who had surrendered his castle and followed the sultan to Istanbul. Over time, his name became Emirgan.

The exiled Khedive

By the late 1860s, the estate belonged to Isma’il Pasha, the Khedive of Egypt. After he lost his throne, he lived here in exile until his death. There, in the park, he built three wooden pavilions, which still stand today. Finally, in the 1940s, the estate passed to the city of Istanbul.

What to See in Emirgan Park

The tulips

The tulip, actually, is a symbol of Istanbul, and it even gave its name to an era of Ottoman history, the Tulip Era of the early 18th century. In the 1960s, the park planted a tulip garden to revive that tradition. Since 2005, also, the city has held an international tulip festival here every April, when the beds bloom in waves of color.

The three pavilions

Next, the Yellow, Pink and White Pavilions are named after their colors. The largest, for example, the Yellow Pavilion, is a wooden chalet built between 1871 and 1878 as a hunting lodge and guest house. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, all three were restored and opened as cafés and restaurants.

Ponds and waterfalls

Finally, lower in the park, two ponds with fountains, waterfalls and small stone bridges make a cool corner on a hot day. Also, ducks and swans glide between the reeds.

How to Visit Emirgan Park

Getting there

In general, buses run along the shore road from Beşiktaş, and taxis are easy to find. The main entrance is on the shore road in Emirgan, and no ticket is needed. Across the road, by the water, stands the Şerifler Yalı (a waterfront mansion on the Bosphorus), one of the old Bosphorus yalıs of the European shore.

Seeing it with us

In spring, we add Emirgan Park to our Bosphorus villages tour, together with the Sakıp Sabancı Museum and Bebek, or drive north to Sarıyer and the Sadberk Hanım Museum.