Çırağan Palace Kempinski Istanbul

What the classifiers highlight

Once an Ottoman sultan's palace on the Bosphorus shore, the hotel splits between a restored 19th-century building kept for special suites and banquets and a modern annex holding most of the rooms. Forbes marks its 30th year under the Kempinski flag, an infinity pool that seems to merge with the strait, and Tuğra restaurant, its marble columns and Ottoman recipes.