Hagia Sophia is a working mosque, and since January 2024 foreign tourists pay to visit it: €25 (roughly £21) for a route through the upper gallery, with the ground floor reserved for worship. It is open every day, but the visitor route shuts around prayer times and for about two hours over Friday midday prayers. Dress modestly, go early, and budget 45 minutes to an hour inside.
Built as a cathedral in 537, converted to a mosque in 1453, run as a museum from 1934, and reconverted to a mosque in July 2020. That last change is the one that matters for your visit. The main floor is now a carpeted prayer hall; tourists are routed up a stone ramp to the upper gallery, where you look down on the nave and get close to the surviving Byzantine mosaics (the Deesis Christ is up here).
Two further things to know for 2027. First, Hagia Sophia is in the middle of the largest restoration in its history. Since 2025 the main dome has been under a temporary cover and a steel platform with scaffolding sits inside on the four main piers so that worship and restoration can carry on at the same time. Expect some of the dome and upper mosaics to be obscured. Second, the ticket also covers the Hagia Sophia History and Experience Museum in the old madrasa buildings next door, a digital, walk-through history show. It is worth 30 minutes if you have paid anyway.
| Who | Price | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Foreign visitors (adult) | €25 (about £21) | Covers the upper gallery route and the History and Experience Museum |
| Turkish citizens aged 8 and over | 50% of the full price | ID required |
| Turkish citizens under 8 | Free | The official page lists this concession only for Turkish children; ask at the desk about foreign children |
| Anyone entering to pray | Free | Separate mosque entrance; ground floor only, no gallery |
| Museum Pass Istanbul / Müzekart | Not valid | The official listing states Müzekart is not accepted |
The price is set in euros by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and is listed on the ministry’s museum portal, muze.gov.tr. You can pay by card at the desk in lira at the day’s rate or buy online through the same portal. Online tickets are the simplest way to avoid the queue at the ticket windows, which in summer can be 30 to 60 minutes long by mid-morning.
Because the ticket is not part of the Museum Pass, add it to your sightseeing budget separately. Our Istanbul Museum Pass guide runs through what the pass does and does not include, and Turkey travel costs 2027 puts the €25 in context against everything else you will spend.
The official listing gives visitor hours of 09:00 to 20:00, box office closing at 19:00, seven days a week. In practice the visitor route closes for a short period around each of the five daily prayers, and for a long stretch on Friday from late morning until after the midday congregational prayer, roughly two hours in total. Prayer times move with the sun, so the exact windows shift through the year. Check the day’s times for Istanbul on the Diyanet prayer-times site before you go.
As a rough guide for 2027: in summer, midday prayer in Istanbul is a little after 13:00 and afternoon prayer around 17:00; in winter midday is nearer 12:00 and afternoon around 14:30. Plan to arrive at least 90 minutes before a prayer or 30 minutes after one.
Tourists and worshippers use different doors. The paid visitor entrance, ticket desks and turnstiles are signed “visitor entrance” and sit beside the Hagia Sophia History and Experience Museum in the old madrasa buildings, not at the main prayer-hall doors facing the square. Staff will point you to the right line; if you want to enter the ground floor to pray, say so and you will be sent to the mosque entrance instead. Bags go through an X-ray and you pass turnstiles. Large suitcases are not allowed.
This is a mosque and the rules are enforced at the door.
The same rules apply at the Blue Mosque opposite and at every other mosque in Turkey. Our things that surprise visitors to Turkey page covers mosque etiquette in more depth.
Allow 45 minutes to an hour for the gallery, plus 30 minutes for the History and Experience Museum if you do it. Then walk across the square to the Blue Mosque (free, also closed at prayer times) and down to the Topkapı Palace entrance, which is five minutes away past the Hagia Sophia fountain. Together they make a full day; our 3 days in Istanbul itinerary shows how to space them out.
Take the T1 tram to Sultanahmet and walk two minutes. From the airport, the M11 metro to Gayrettepe then M2 to Vezneciler and a 15-minute walk, or the Havaist bus to Sultanahmet, both covered in our Istanbul Airport to the city centre guide. If you are coming from Sabiha Gökçen, see Sabiha Gökçen to Istanbul. Load an Istanbulkart and the tram costs a fraction of a taxi.
Only if you are entering the ground floor to pray. Tourist visits, which use the upper gallery, cost €25 for foreign visitors. There is no free tourist access to the nave as there was before 2024.
No. The official muze.gov.tr listing states the Museum Pass (Müzekart) is not valid. Buy a separate ticket online or at the desk.
No. The restoration that began in 2025 is being done around worship and visits. The dome is covered externally and there is an internal scaffold platform, so expect partial views of the dome and some upper mosaics in 2027, but the gallery route and the mosaics at gallery level remain accessible unless a specific stage of work closes a section. Check the ministry portal before you go.
The official listing grants free entry only to Turkish citizens under eight. Ask at the ticket desk for foreign children; do not assume a concession.
Around an hour, including security, shoe removal and the gallery route. Add 30 minutes for the History and Experience Museum and allow extra for queues between 10:00 and 14:00 in summer.
Topkapı Palace guide · Istanbul Museum Pass: is it worth it? · Grand Bazaar guide · Things to do in Istanbul
Prices and rules checked on 8 November 2026 against official sources and change often; always confirm before you travel. Sources: muze.gov.tr (Hagia Sophia History and Experience Museum listing), ayasofyacamii.gov.tr, Diyanet prayer times, Milliyet, 28 August 2026 (restoration status).