The Peninsula Istanbul, currently in opening stage, will soon be recognised as one of the world’s most beautiful and iconic luxury hotels. Robb Report Hong Kong was among the first to experience the transformation of the city’s splendid 1937 vintage cruise terminal, now linked to three other memorable buildings.
Just imagine: wake up on the European bank of the Bosphorus and look out, a few yards away, at ships of all sizes passing by. Roughly every five minutes or so, something moves left from Mediterranean to the Black Sea, or right, in the opposite direction. Straight ahead, on the other bank, is Asia. Best views in the 177-key beauty are from room 1508, the 5,100-square-foot Peninsula Suite, a duplex that offers a 360-degree vista from a rooftop terrace large enough for a wedding waltz for hundreds. More intimately, 700-square-foot rooms 3302 and 3402, in a 1910 building, have beds facing their picture windows.
Of course, being the Peninsula, this is all customer-centric. All bedrooms have Peninsula-personalised Samsung tablets, in your language, that are really easy to navigate. There are cat flaps for unseen delivery of the newest Hong Kong Business quarterly or, six days a week, The New York Times. Electronic dryers await your manicure, though downstairs is a super spa, which naturally has plenty of hammam.
More exercise? Walk up and down the private 300 yards of Bosphorus bank, admiring the 250 exotic trees imported from all over by a Swiss landscaper. Standing proudly among the foliage are some memorable sculptures, headlined by Richard Hudson’s 12-foot Tear sculpture, polished mirrored steel. This is already a selfie cert but try taking a shot people-free.
Other selfies will come from the lobby lounge, the former cruise terminal that could be a clone of The Peninsula Hong Kong’s lobby. In a few weeks’ time, certainly before UEFA’s Istanbul takeover in June, the terminal’s flat roof will be a modern Turkish destination restaurant, with a terrace groaning with pomegranate trees.
Noteworthy addenda? Hotel general manager Jonathan Crook, who has a Turkish wife, last ran The Peninsula New York. Hotel transport, ideal for whizzing to the Levent business centre 15 minutes away, includes a Maybach—and do book the airport VIP greet, which meets you at the gate to whizz you past the sometimes-lengthy immigration hassle.
All images courtesy of The Peninsula Istanbul.
