Review: Park Hyatt Istanbul – Maçka Palas

The Park Hyatt Istanbul has been refreshed and is now my favorite Hyatt property in Istanbul, with luxurious accommodations, excellent service, and several nice amenities that make it worth the splurge.

Park Hyatt Istanbul Review

I spent two nights here in late January and enjoyed my stay here far more than I thought I would. The last few stays in Istanbul I’ve chosen the nearby Grand Hyatt or Hyatt Centric or Hyatt Regency because all three are far cheaper, but at about $300/night, the Park Haytt Istanbul is well worth the splurge for its superior amenities like the delectable breakfast spread, state-of-the-art gym, and the plush guest rooms.

Check-In

I was warmly greeted and welcomed back to the hotel, though it had been several years. I was also informed that I was upgraded to a premium king with a steam room and hammam, which is exactly what I was hoping for when I booked.

Guest Room – “Premium King”

My room, 311, was very spacious, with a long entryway, buffet for the mini-bar and coffee service, desk area, sitting area, and bed.

The mini-bar was fully stocked and a Nespresso machine and hot water kettle were available.

The highlight of the room, however, was the bathroom that featured a steam room…something I used three times a day during my stay. The hammam was just a small version of a real one…and not heated…but I suppose a full hammam in a guest room would be a bit much.

There was also a large soaking tub, separate water closet, and a large sink.

This room was a pleasure to spend time in.

Food + Drink

This hotel features several food and drink outlets on-site, though not all are “part” of the hotel.

Breakfast At Nusr-Et Maçka Palas

Breakfast at Nusr-Et Restaurant is offered between 07:00 AM – 10:30 AM on weekdays and between 07:00 AM – 11:00 AM on weekends. It’s a treat: the dining room is lovely and the food and coffee is delicious. A buffet is available with baked goods, salads, cereals, fruit, yogurt, and limited hot dishes with other items available for order (order as much as you want) off an a la carte menu. Coffee is also excellent (better than the hotel’s coffee shop!).

It is located one level above the lobby next to the pool.

The Menemen (scrambled eggs, onions, green peppers, tomato) is highly-recommended:

As is the Çilbir (Turkish-style poached eggs with yogurt):

Everything was great, though, including the omelets, fresh fruit, waffles with Nutella, and French Toast (with a caramelized banana topping).

Nusr-Et is a luxury steakhouse (uber expensive I’d told, though I did not check the menu) and is not part of the hotel (i.e. you cannot charge food and drink to your room) during the evening hours.

Kalimera

The first night I ate dinner at Kalimera, the Greek-Aegean restaurant on the lobby level. What a treat this was! The restaurant not only has a Greek feel but the food brought back great memories of my time in Greece.

I began with tzatziki (served with warm fresh-baked bread, olive oil, and sea salt) and octopus meatballs (with mint parsley, and lime) that were delicious. I was also offered a cucumber and onion salad as compliment of the chef.

I ordered musaka for my main course and it was the best musaka I’ve ever had…by a longshot.

The entire bill was 920 TYL, the equivalent of about 29 USD at current exchange rates. That is a great buy as well… especially since I found Istanbul much more expensive overall than in previous years.

Kalimera is open daily from 12:00 PM to 11:30 PM.

The Coffee Shop Kapicciiiinoo

The first coffee shop of Nusret Gökçe (better known as Salt Bae, and operator of Nusr-Et) is located in the hotel…and I have to say it was one of the only letdowns of my stay. The coffee shop itself is beautiful…

But I think it was a huge error to use a La Cimbali coffee machine instead of a La Marzocco and every coffee snob would agree. It makes a difference. My flat white was fine, but this place does not make my list of top coffee shops in Istanbul.

The specaility of the house is a gold leaf coffee that costs about 4x the price of a regular cup of coffee…I probably should have ordered one just for the review, but I’m not into gimmicks like this. This café was popular with Russians, though, who do seem to like gold (and love Istanbul)…

It is open from 7:00 AM to 10:00 PM.

Lounge at Park Hyatt

Afternoon tea is served from 3:00 PM to 6:00 PM in the Park Hyatt Lounge, which is located on the lobby level.

The Wine Bar

Also located in the lobby, The Wine Bar (which also has cocktails and other alcohol) is open daily from 12:00 PM to 12:00 AM.

Cipriani Restaurant

I love Casa Cipriani in New York and was happy to see a Cipriani restaurant here (with lamb on the menu). I ended up going out to another restaurant instead on my second night, but I hope to try this place next time. While listed as a hotel restaurant, it is actually an independent venue and you will not be able to place any charges on your room.

The restaurant 12:00 PM to 11:45 PM.

Room Service

24/7 room service is available and I LOVE that breakfast is available 24/7, which is my biggest gripe at so many hotels (since I love breakfast but I also like to fast until 1:00 PM each day). I ended up breaking my fast early and eating both days in the restaurant, but Globalist members also have the choice to order from the room service menu as part of their breakfast benefit and I sincerely appreciate the ability to enjoy breakfast at any time of day.

Here’s the full menu:

Gym

Perhaps the biggest surprise of my stay was the posh gym, which had brand new TechnoGym equipment that made it so easy to ensure your form was correct when performing exercises. The gym is open 24/7.

Pool

A heated outdoor pool offers views of the city and a quiet place to relax.

Spa + Wellness

The hotel spa includes a steam room, sauna, hot tub, and Turkish hammam (a real one, unlike in the room).

Location

Located in the Nişantaşı district, the hotel is in the midst of a residential and shopping neighborhood. It’s quiet at night, but you can walk or take a taxi (taxis are cheap in Istanbul, but watch out for metering hijinks) into the center of the city.

CONCLUSION

My stay at the Park Hyatt truly exceeded my expectations and I know now it is worth the extra to stay here. I look forward to returning and this is also a placee I would not hesitate to bring my family to. The gym and the breakfsat really make this hotel stand out.

My original review of the Park Hyatt Istanbul, published on February 27, 2013, is below. Kind of fun to see what has changed over the last 10+ years.

Much has changed since my last vacation to Istanbul. Five years earlier, I journeyed to the crossroads of east and west for the first time with my younger brother. We had a great time, though our accommodation—a small hostel in the Sultanahmet district—left much to be desired. After flying through Istanbul several times on Turkish Airlines in the interim, this was my first time actually being stamped back into Turkey in several years. Going from “worst” to “first” I chose the Park Hyatt Maçka Palas for my three-night stay, where I had the chance to introduce a new person to Istanbul for the first time.

Attaturk Airport (IST) is not exactly in the heart of Istanbul and while public transportation is possible (and indeed perhaps quicker based on the afternoon traffic jam we soon found ourselves in), I opted for a taxi to the hotel because we each had bags and it was nice to step out of the airport and directly into a car. The hotel does offer car service, but it is pricey and cabs are very reasonable in Istanbul. (Just watch out for tricks)

The trip to the hotel took almost an hour (compared to under a half hour going against traffic on the way out three days later) and I was actually a bit surprised when we pulled up to the hotel and the taxi driver announced this was the property. For it didn’t look like much outside. There was no grand driveway, fountain, or large sign like the Grand Hyatt down the hill. No, this is a city hotel in the Nişantaşı quarter of the Sisli district and blends in quite well with the bustling cosmopolitan neighborhood.

But inside, a grand lobby awaits with a swanky wine bar on the left, restaurant on the right, and plenty of natural light. A bellman escorted me to the desk, where I was warmly welcomed by a young man who requested our passports and my credit card. Room rates run from about $300-450 per night for standard rooms depending on the season, with summer being more expensive. After taking care of all the formalities, he escorted us up to our third floor room, taking a moment to point out all the features of the room.

The room was really quite classical in appearance, which was at odds with the contemporary motifs I find at most Park Hyatt properties. I loved it, though. In fact, in terms of the room, I rank it toward the top of all my non-suite Park Hyatt stays. The crown molding, chandelier, and dark wood floor do make a difference, to me at least…

There were also some Hyatt Diamond goodies in the room that were appreciated—Turkish red wine, fruit, and even Turkish Delight (which I must confess I found revoltingly sweet).

Some hotel rooms at this property have saunas in the bathroom—ours did not, but the bathroom was laid out in a very effective way, with a separate room for the shower, toilet, and bathtub. The rain head shower even had a temperature control outside, where you could digitally set the temperature of the water.

The whole room was electronically savvy (like many Park Hyatt properties) with automatic curtains and dimmer switches on most of the lights. I suppose if I had one complaint it was figuring out how to use all the switches. The man who brought us up to our room did run through the switches, but a diagram in the hotel guide book would have been appreciated. Throughout the stay I would often hit numerous buttons and switches before I found the one I was looking for. Perhaps I am just a slow learner…

Even though I would act as a tourist guide of sorts for the next few days, this trip was about rest for both of us and we spent a great deal of time at the hotel. Much of that time was spent in two places—the outdoor pool and the fitness center.

First, the pool. Located on a second floor terrace next to The Terrace restaurant, you would never know there was a loud and bustling city surrounding you. Even the extremely annoying car horns I could not hear from the pool. It was so quiet, so tranquil, and so relaxing to spend each afternoon reading on the sun deck in between dips in the pool.

The fitness center was small—too small I must say. I would have liked much more resistance/strength-training equipment in it. But, it was clean and it provided more than enough equipment in the cardiovascular area. And I was on vacation after all—there was no need to spend hours in the gym each day.

I love Turkish food and I faced a tough choice when it came time to eat. Eat local each night, enjoying the Turkish food, or try out the hotel’s steakhouse, The Prime? Being that my friend is a vegetarian, we opted to eat local. There are a quite few restaurants in the neighborhood—we had a nice meal at Hünkar–but the hotel is actually in a very commercial area with more retail and chain stores than the type of hole-in-the-wall eateries I was seeking. We ate in the Sultanahmet area the next two days—I’ll have more on that in a future review.

The Park Hyatt has a morning breakfast buffet in the dining room on the lobby level (called “Lounge at the Park Hyatt”) and we opted for that each morning rather than room service. The selection of bakery goods, fruits, cheeses, meats, and cereals was more than sufficient and a menu of hot items to order was included with the breakfast, inclduding menemen, a Turkish dish of egg, onion, tomato, green peppers, and spices pictured below.

An extremely nice young hostess was present each of the three mornings to seat us—she did not remember our names or speak very good English (most of the staff do speak excellent English), but she had an incorrigible smile on her face as she escorted us to our table. That genuine friendliness meant more to me than be able to remember my name.

I go out of my way to choose Park Hyatt because the properties tend to be smaller, less crowded, the service tends to be more personal, and the rooms much plusher and with more character than a Grand Hyatt or Hyatt Regency (or most other hotels for that matter). This was the case here. Truthfully, the Grand Hyatt is in a better location (though close) in terms of getting to the popular tourist points in Istanbul, but I loved the Park Hyatt property.

As I checked out during the early afternoon lull and was escorted to the taxi, multiple members of the staff wished my friend and me a safe journey home and a hope that we would return. We will.