Muslim-friendly Istanbul in three days

Istanbul rewards a plan that puts the mosques first, because the city was built around them and because the alternative — a checklist of sights with prayer fitted in around the edges — is tiring and slightly insulting. Three days is enough if you do it in the right order.

Day one — the old city, on foot

Start at Hagia Sophia, go early. Then the Blue Mosque across the square, then the Süleymaniye, which is the one most people skip and the one most people remember. It sits on a hill over the Golden Horn with a courtyard that is quiet even in August.

Prayer: the Blue Mosque and Süleymaniye are both working mosques and both close to visitors around prayer times. Build the day around the timetable rather than fighting it.

End at the Grand Bazaar or, better, the Egyptian Spice Market, and eat somewhere with a view of the water.

Day two — the Bosphorus and the other continent

Take the ferry, not the tour boat. The public ferry from Eminönü to Kadıköy costs a fraction of the price and crosses between continents, which is the point.

Three days in Istanbul gets you two continents, four empires and food you will think about for a year.

Kadıköy is the food neighbourhood: fish, meze, and a market that locals actually shop in. It is also where you find the city that is not performing for visitors.

Back on the European side, evening prayer at a neighbourhood mosque rather than a monument — the city is at its best in the half hour before Maghrib.

Day three — Ottoman Istanbul properly

Topkapı Palace in the morning, and the harem section if you want the part everyone talks about. Then the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts, which is small, quiet and the best explanation of the Islamic world's decorative tradition anywhere in the city.

Finish in Fatih or Eyüp — the conservative, visibly religious neighbourhoods — for dinner. It is the Istanbul that Evliya Çelebi would recognise.

What to eat, and where

Breakfast is an event in Turkey: cheese, olives, honey, kaymak, bread, tea. Do not have it in the hotel.

Simit from a street cart. Balık ekmek by the Galata Bridge. Islak burger in Taksim. Kumpir in Ortaköy if you are still hungry.

Halal is the default here, but ask at restaurants that also serve alcohol. We use Muslim-owned places or places with no alcohol licence at all.