City guideIstanbul · Sat 24 – Sun 25 October
Istanbul this weekend: the Theatre Festival at AKM and the Boat Show
The Istanbul Theatre Festival’s first weekend at AKM, the Bosphorus Boat Show’s last days, a free Olive Fest at Fişekhane, a new show at Arter, Amira Medunjanin, Hayko Cepkin, Sıla and dinner at Hodan.
The weekend at a glance
Choose a pick to find it on the map; scroll down for the full story.
Saturday · 24 October
All weekend · Saturday and Sunday
Saturday
24 October
Sat 20:30
Concert · Zorlu PSM
Amira Medunjanin at Zorlu PSM
Amira Medunjanin is the best-known living voice of sevdalinka, the slow, aching song tradition of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which she sets with jazz-leaning acoustic arrangements. Songs such as Ajde Jano and Što te nema have filled halls from Sarajevo to London.
Saturday at 20:30 on Zorlu PSM’s Turkcell Platinum Stage, doors at 19:00; tickets through Passo, Biletix, Biletinial and Bubilet. Zorlu Center is on the M2 metro at Gayrettepe.
Sat 19:00
Concert · KüçükÇiftlik Park
Hayko Cepkin at KüçükÇiftlik Park
Hayko Cepkin closes his Electric tour at KüçükÇiftlik Park: eight cities since September, with the songs that made him Türkiye’s most theatrical metal singer rearranged faster and heavier, under a full light show. It is the tour’s only Istanbul date.
Saturday at KüçükÇiftlik Park in Maçka, beside Maçka Park; the venue lists 19:00, and tickets are on Bubilet. Dress for an open-air night in late October.
Sat
Concert · Harbiye
Sıla at Harbiye Cemil Topuzlu
Sıla ends Harbiye’s October run of pop nights, a month that has already had Mabel Matiz and Kenan Doğulu on the open-air stage. One of Türkiye’s biggest pop singers since the 2000s, she sings her own songs, from Acısa da Öldürmez to Yabancı.
Saturday at the Cemil Topuzlu Açıkhava Tiyatrosu in Harbiye; no start time is published yet, so check Passo, Biletix or Biletinial, where tickets are sold. Osmanbey metro is a ten-minute walk.
SatBook ahead
Restaurant · Nişantaşı
Hodan, Çiğdem Seferoğlu’s restaurant in Nişantaşı
Hodan, Çiğdem Seferoğlu’s Anatolian restaurant, left its courtyard behind the Cezayir building in Beyoğlu this summer for a bigger room on Mim Kemal Öke Caddesi in Nişantaşı. The cooking stays rooted in small producers and its kitchen garden in Beykoz: içli köfte, chard, borage and bread baked between vine leaves.
Saturday dinner; book ahead, as evening tables go first. No hours are published online, so call to confirm.
All weekend
Saturday and Sunday
Sat 20:30 and Sun 15:00235–360 TL
Festival · AKM, Taksim
Rüzgâr Ağacı, the Theatre Festival’s dance piece at AKM
The 30th Istanbul Theatre Festival opened on Thursday, and its first weekend brings Rüzgâr Ağacı (Leaning Tree) to AKM: Fernando Melo’s dance piece, made for Danish Dance Theatre in 2023 and drawn from Vilhelm Hammershøi’s interiors, danced by MDTistanbul with the Istanbul State Opera and Ballet.
Saturday at 20:30 and Sunday at 15:00 in AKM’s theatre hall on Taksim Square; tickets are 235 to 360 TL. The festival runs to 3 December.
Sat and Sun, 11:00–19:00
Fair · Ataköy Marina
The Bosphorus Boat Show at Ataköy Marina
The Bosphorus Boat Show’s autumn edition is the on-water fair: about 200 boats from 120 companies, the largest 30 metres long, moored along the pontoons at Ataköy Marina so visitors can step aboard. Bad weather in the Marmara pushed it back a day, so it now ends on Monday.
Saturday and Sunday 11:00 to 19:00 at Ataköy Marina in Bakırköy; tickets are sold through Biletix, and the Marmaray to Ataköy is the simplest way there.
Sat and SunFree
Festival · Fişekhane, Zeytinburnu
Olive Fest, a free festival at Fişekhane
Olive Fest, a two-city festival that began in Belek last weekend, moves to Fişekhane, the restored Ottoman cartridge factory on the Zeytinburnu shore. It is free and set up in the open air, with DJs through the day and workshops in aromatherapy, mosaic, wood-block printing and skincare.
Children get ceramics, olive-crushing and olive-crown workshops. Saturday and Sunday at Fişekhane Galeri; no hours are published. Kazlıçeşme Marmaray station is next door.
Sat and Sun, 11:00–19:00450 TL, free under 24
Exhibition · Dolapdere
A new show on the end of the world at Arter
Arter’s new collection show, Sonra yok. Sonrası şimdi. (its title from Cormac McCarthy’s The Road), treats the end of the world as already under way: radiation, warming, oil and plastics. Curator Delfin Öğütoğulları gathers Nam June Paik, Gerhard Richter and Sigmar Polke, Alicja Kwade and Halil Altındere, among others.
Until 28 March 2027 at Arter in Dolapdere. Saturday and Sunday 11:00 to 19:00; 450 TL, free under 24, and free for all on Thursdays.
Saturday
Sat 20:30
Amira Medunjanin at Zorlu PSM
Amira Medunjanin is the best-known living voice of sevdalinka, the slow, aching song tradition of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which she sets with jazz-leaning acoustic arrangements. Songs such as Ajde Jano and Što te nema have filled halls from Sarajevo to London.
Saturday at 20:30 on Zorlu PSM’s Turkcell Platinum Stage, doors at 19:00; tickets through Passo, Biletix, Biletinial and Bubilet. Zorlu Center is on the M2 metro at Gayrettepe.
Zorlu Performing Arts Center Sat 19:00
Hayko Cepkin at KüçükÇiftlik Park
Hayko Cepkin closes his Electric tour at KüçükÇiftlik Park: eight cities since September, with the songs that made him Türkiye’s most theatrical metal singer rearranged faster and heavier, under a full light show. It is the tour’s only Istanbul date.
Saturday at KüçükÇiftlik Park in Maçka, beside Maçka Park; the venue lists 19:00, and tickets are on Bubilet. Dress for an open-air night in late October.
KüçükÇiftlik Park Sat
Sıla at Harbiye Cemil Topuzlu
Sıla ends Harbiye’s October run of pop nights, a month that has already had Mabel Matiz and Kenan Doğulu on the open-air stage. One of Türkiye’s biggest pop singers since the 2000s, she sings her own songs, from Acısa da Öldürmez to Yabancı.
Saturday at the Cemil Topuzlu Açıkhava Tiyatrosu in Harbiye; no start time is published yet, so check Passo, Biletix or Biletinial, where tickets are sold. Osmanbey metro is a ten-minute walk.
Harbiye Cemil Topuzlu Open Air Theatre Sat
Hodan, Çiğdem Seferoğlu’s restaurant in Nişantaşı
Hodan, Çiğdem Seferoğlu’s Anatolian restaurant, left its courtyard behind the Cezayir building in Beyoğlu this summer for a bigger room on Mim Kemal Öke Caddesi in Nişantaşı. The cooking stays rooted in small producers and its kitchen garden in Beykoz: içli köfte, chard, borage and bread baked between vine leaves.
Saturday dinner; book ahead, as evening tables go first. No hours are published online, so call to confirm.
HODAN All weekend
Sat 20:30 and Sun 15:00
Rüzgâr Ağacı, the Theatre Festival’s dance piece at AKM
The 30th Istanbul Theatre Festival opened on Thursday, and its first weekend brings Rüzgâr Ağacı (Leaning Tree) to AKM: Fernando Melo’s dance piece, made for Danish Dance Theatre in 2023 and drawn from Vilhelm Hammershøi’s interiors, danced by MDTistanbul with the Istanbul State Opera and Ballet.
Saturday at 20:30 and Sunday at 15:00 in AKM’s theatre hall on Taksim Square; tickets are 235 to 360 TL. The festival runs to 3 December.
Ataturk Cultural Center Sat and Sun, 11:00–19:00
The Bosphorus Boat Show at Ataköy Marina
The Bosphorus Boat Show’s autumn edition is the on-water fair: about 200 boats from 120 companies, the largest 30 metres long, moored along the pontoons at Ataköy Marina so visitors can step aboard. Bad weather in the Marmara pushed it back a day, so it now ends on Monday.
Saturday and Sunday 11:00 to 19:00 at Ataköy Marina in Bakırköy; tickets are sold through Biletix, and the Marmaray to Ataköy is the simplest way there.
Ataköy Marina Sat and Sun
Olive Fest, a free festival at Fişekhane
Olive Fest, a two-city festival that began in Belek last weekend, moves to Fişekhane, the restored Ottoman cartridge factory on the Zeytinburnu shore. It is free and set up in the open air, with DJs through the day and workshops in aromatherapy, mosaic, wood-block printing and skincare.
Children get ceramics, olive-crushing and olive-crown workshops. Saturday and Sunday at Fişekhane Galeri; no hours are published. Kazlıçeşme Marmaray station is next door.
Fişekhane Sat and Sun, 11:00–19:00
A new show on the end of the world at Arter
Arter’s new collection show, Sonra yok. Sonrası şimdi. (its title from Cormac McCarthy’s The Road), treats the end of the world as already under way: radiation, warming, oil and plastics. Curator Delfin Öğütoğulları gathers Nam June Paik, Gerhard Richter and Sigmar Polke, Alicja Kwade and Halil Altındere, among others.
Until 28 March 2027 at Arter in Dolapdere. Saturday and Sunday 11:00 to 19:00; 450 TL, free under 24, and free for all on Thursdays.
Arter