Whether it’s Turkish Rugs or carpets or other rugs and carpets from Afghanistan or Pakistan you’re looking for in Istanbul, this is the guide for you. I must have spent a couple of days walking around all the shops you can buy Turkish Rugs in Istanbul so have a pretty good idea of where and where not to buy Turkish Rugs in Istanbul.
First up, avoid the Grand Bazaar at all costs, unless you want to get severely ripped off. Like any tourist trap, this place will charge you much higher prices than most other areas. The Grand Bazaar itself is rather unspectacular and full of what I can only describe as crap. Sure, it’s worth a visit to have a look, but don’t expect to find any bargains here.
Anyway, about a 15 minute walk from the Grand Bazaar, and a 5 minute walk from Sultan Ahmet Tram Station, you’ll find a street with Turkish Rug wholesales, who usually sell in quantities to large overseas companies and many supply the shops in the Grand Bazaar. It’s easy to get to if you have Google Maps. I went into about 5 or 6, but there’s a few more. Forget about all of them, because the best service and the best prices for Turkish Rugs Istanbul are at a place called Saruki Hali.
This is a small little shop, we actually got introduced to this shop by a much larger shop across the road. Not sure exactly what the deal is between the shops, but there’s some cooperation between them. As an example, for a 3×4 sq. carpet, Saruki Hali’s final cost was almost half what a lot of other shops started with. There were a couple of other Turkish Rugs shops that were in the same ball park, but this was the cheapest. Having said that, to get that I had to have the carpet shipped from Afghanistan and saved a considerable amount of money by doing that.
You can take smaller rugs home, they’ll be about 10kg though and are rather bulky. When I first went in there was an elderly friendly guy in there who doesn’t speak much English, but he had his sons come in who are really friendly and speak good English. They’ll really take care of you and although the shop is small, they have a good selection of Turkish Rugs, rugs and carpets from Afghanistan and a few other places.
As a guide to what the prices are like compared to buying Turkish rugs in Hong Kong, a similar rug here would have been almost double the cost, and that would be at a 40% discount. In this particular case I’m talking about a rug shop in Horizon Plaza who sells “discounted rugs”. The shop in Horizon Plaza is alright, the guys are friendly enough and the prices aren’t ridiculous. Anyway, if you’re in Istanbul and looking for Turkish Rugs, Saruki Hali is the place I recommend. You can find it on our Google Map of Istanbul here.
The rug arrived 3 days after they shipped it and was exactly what I had ordered and paid for in the shop, so don’t be concerned about not getting the one you wanted or having problems with shipping. Ahmed did exactly as promised and this is the first shop I’d head to if you’re looking to buy Turkish rugs in Istanbul.
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