11. July 2025
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Museums & Exhibitions

Istanbul Railway Museum

Florian Buechtingby Florian Buechting

Istanbul Railway Museum

free entry
Istanbul Railway Museum
4

Rating

 4.0/5

Flyctory.com Pros

  • Nice overview of Turkish railroad history
  • Small, but free entry museum

During my May 2025 trip to Istanbul, I did not do too much sightseeing. Quite a lot of stress at work, so that I rather felt like relaxing. Nonetheless, I just had to make a visit to the small Istanbul Railway Museum, which was just perfectly located on my trip with the different public transport systems of the city. Here is my review.

Istanbul Railway Museum – Location & Admission

The Istanbul Railway Museum is located on the Northern part of Sirkeci train station. You enter the museum from inside the station. The station features local and regional and even international connections. It also features the Marmaray commuter rail as well as tram connections (T1, T6). In the area of the train station, there are several cafes and hotels. There are also other museums, mosques and other Instanbul attractions around.

The museum is opening every day, apart from Monday. Times are 9:30 to 17:00, you should not arrive later than 16:40. Admission is free.

 

Istanbul Railway Museum- The Visit

The Istanbul Railway Museum is concentrated to one room. You can download an audio guide for the exhibition, but I felt that you can also do a visit without that. Despite the rather limited space with a train engine cockpit in its center, the museum features quite a lot of items. I spent some 25 minutes there. The museum gives a really nice overview of Turkish railway history. There is a nice range of original items, from original uniforms to train signs, tickets, pictures and train equipment.

To me, it was also interesting that there were direct trains from Istanbul to Germany, for example. Nowadays, the route requires quite some hassle and a lot of transfers. There is a also a small model train, which is, however, not adding that much to the museum. A very popular part of the museum during my visit has been the cockpit, which has been used for many pictures. To me, though, it played a subordinate role. Apart from that mockup-alike exhibit, there has been no rolling stock in the museum. There is a historic train engine in front of the station (see picture above).

 

 

Istanbul Railway Museum – Services

There is a security guide at the museum. However, he did not feel motivated to answer questions. A public toilet is next door and a nice cafe in the museum building. The museum does not feature any gift store or similar facility.

 

Istanbul Railway Museum – My View

Even though I would have liked to have more information and rolling stock, I really liked this small museum. I would not take a significant detour on your visit to the Turkish city, but if you are around, the free museum is definitely an interesting part of your city trip.

 

Rail-Related Museums

Here are all my museum reviews, which are related to my Rides on Rail category:

 

Türkiye on Flyctory

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