Istanbul is full of rug shops, which makes it a fine place to buy a Turkish rug and an easy place to buy the wrong one. Decide whether you want a knotted pile rug or a flat-woven kilim, turn every rug over before you talk money, and ask three questions: where was it woven, what is it made of, and how old is it. Then buy from someone who is happy to let you leave without one.
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145 Google reviews rated 5.0 and 560 on Tripadvisor at 4.8licensed operator, TÜRSAB #7651private days since 2011Pile Rug or Kilim: Decide First
Every rug in the bazaar belongs to one of two families. A pile rug is knotted: short lengths of yarn are tied around the warp threads, row after row, and clipped to make the soft surface you stand on. Anatolian weavers tie the Turkish knot, which Britannica describes as the symmetrical knot, looped around two warps. The Persian knot is asymmetrical, and weavers reach the highest knot densities with it.
A kilim has no pile at all. It is flat-woven, and the pattern is made by the coloured threads themselves, often in slit tapestry, where small gaps open along the edge of each colour (Britannica on the kilim). Kilims are lighter, fold small and cost less to carry home. You will also meet cicim and sumak, two other flat weaves with the pattern worked on top.
Read the colour. Anatolian weavers had only natural dyes to work with, madder for red and indigo for blue among them, until synthetic aniline dyes reached the East after 1860. Natural dye takes unevenly, so a hand-dyed field shifts in tone from band to band, an effect the trade calls abrash (Britannica). Uneven colour is simply how natural dye looks, so do not read it as damage.
Turn It Over Before You Talk Money
Before any talk of price, turn the rug over, count the knots with the seller, and get its origin, materials and age in writing. Shop around, and ignore the stranger, driver or hotel desk that offers to take you to a cousin’s shop. Once you are standing on a rug, these are the checks that matter.
- Turn it over. On a hand-knotted rug the back shows the pattern knot by knot, slightly uneven. A back that looks printed or perfectly regular tells you to ask more.
- Count with the seller. Ask how many knots there are in a small square. Across Oriental rugs it runs from under 20 to over 2,400 per square inch (Britannica), and more knots buy finer detail, not automatically a better rug.
- Ask the three questions. Where it was woven, what the pile and the foundation are (wool on wool, wool on cotton, or silk), and how old it is.
- Get the answers on the receipt. Origin, material and age in writing protect you at home and at the airport.
- Lay it flat and walk round it. Light changes a rug; look at it from both ends and in daylight if you can.
- Measure your floor before you fly. A rug bought by eye in a crowded shop is nearly always the wrong size at home.
Tea, Talk & the Bargain
Sellers unroll rugs over tea, and the tea is hospitality, not a contract. Sit, drink it, ask everything, and leave if nothing is right. Bargaining is normal, and it goes best when you stay friendly and remember that a hand-knotted rug is months of somebody’s work.
Be wary of the friend you make on the pavement. Istanbul is famous for its rugs and just as famous for the people who sell them, and the opening lines rarely change: “O, Canada! My brother lives in Miami!” is one we heard more than once on the way into the Grand Bazaar. Another seller borrowed a line from the Turkish bath:
Money is like skin, you can wash it off, but it will always come back.
If you would rather have company inside, a licensed guide can walk the Grand Bazaar with you and do the talking in Turkish when it helps.
Mustafa & the Troy Rug Store
We first wrote about Mustafa in 2015, after months of walking Istanbul’s carpet shops. Of every rug seller we met, he was the one who seemed to be in the trade for the people and the rugs. His shop is Troy Rug Store in Arasta Bazaar, and walking in feels like being let into someone’s front room.
A rug that goes wrong usually starts with a stranger on the pavement and ends on a floor where nobody turns it over; with Mustafa it is the back of the rug first and an hour of questions.
He will ask about your family and tell you about his. He will not push you toward a rug, but come ready to listen, because he knows a great deal about weaving and loves to explain it. You may well leave without a rug, but not without several glasses of tea, and a lot of his trade, he told us, comes from people who come back.
When we first met him, he said he had worked every single day for eight years. We laughed and took it for a sales line. A few visits later we understood: he could not stand the thought of someone finding the shop shut and buying a poor rug elsewhere, and it was their bad rug that worried him, not his lost sale.
Our guests still sit down on his cushions. If you want a good rug at a fair price, and an hour of conversation either way, pay him a visit, or ask us to fit Arasta Bazaar into your day.
What His Customers Say on Google
Fantastic shop to buy quality rugs, runners, pillow covers and carpets. The store is located just by the entrance of Arasta Bazaar. The shop owner Mr. Mustafa, is amazing. We chatted about rugs, and the material and he told me they can do custom sizes to order in their workshop which by itself is really amazing. His son Ghenkis was there as well and he is super helpful and friendly. I got a pillow cover from there and the colours, and fabric are amazing. Will be visiting again soon 🙂 They can also ship.
My family and I visited Troy Rug Store after seeing all of the positive reviews online. The store owner/manager was kind, helpful, informative and didn’t pressure us to buy in any way. The only thing that was slightly disappointing was our budget wouldn’t allow us to buy the rug we truly wanted (a hallway runner). But we ended up with a beautiful entryway rug and we hope to come back one day for another. Many thanks.
Another great shopping experience with Mustafa at the Troy Rug Store. We found some great carpets and bags and got caught up on each other’s lives while browsing his excellent inventory. We’ve known each other for over 20 years so it was great to see him. It’s nice that now he knows exactly what I like!
We absolutely love our new rug! I can’t recommend Troy Rug Store enough. Mustafa, the owner, was incredibly kind and helpful. He really went above and beyond to make sure we found exactly what we were looking for.
Finding Troy Rug Store in Arasta Bazaar
Arasta Bazaar is the long, quiet row of shops behind the Blue Mosque, built to pay for the mosque’s upkeep, and a calmer place to look at rugs than the lanes of the Grand Bazaar. Troy Rug Store is at No. 39, close to the bazaar’s entrance.
Two more Istanbul rug shops we have written about are Nakkaş Rug in Sultanahmet and Kirkit Rugs, whose founder writes about kilim motifs.
See Old Carpets First at Two Museums
An hour with the real thing makes you a better buyer. The Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts, in İbrahim Paşa Palace on the Hippodrome since 1983, holds what the Turkish encyclopaedia of Islam calls the richest carpet collection in the world. Its prize pieces are Seljuk carpets found in Konya’s Alaeddin Mosque in 1906, and its ethnography rooms show the looms and the wool dyeing.
The Vakıflar Carpet Museum opened in 1979 with old carpets gathered from Türkiye’s mosques, among them pieces from Uşak, Bergama, Ladik, Gördes and Kula (its history).
Names you will hear in the shops, and what they stand for:
- Uşak: western Anatolia, famous for star and medallion carpets and the white-ground “bird” rugs of the 17th century (Britannica).
- Gördes and Kula: the most famous Anatolian prayer rugs, mostly woven in the 18th and 19th centuries.
- Ladik, Konya, Milas and Kırşehir: prayer rugs too, Ladik’s the most brilliant in colour and pattern.
- Hereke: the imperial factory east of Istanbul, which began weaving carpets in 1891 (Anadolu Agency), in silk and fine wool.
Getting Your Rug Home
A new rug or kilim can go home with you. An old one needs a museum check first: museums of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism examine old carpets before they leave Türkiye, and the UK government’s travel advice is blunt that buying or exporting antiquities is illegal. What to buy in Istanbul, and how to get it home explains the check and the customs rules on the way back.
If the rug will not fit in your bag, ask the shop how it ships and what the paperwork will say, and agree it before you pay, not after.
Shop With Someone on Your Side
Grand Bazaar Tour With a Private Guide
Walk the carpet streets with a licensed guide who helps you read a rug, ask the right questions and leave without one if nothing is right.
Carpet weaving is one of the crafts in our guide to Turkish culture and traditions, if you want the wider story before you shop.
Questions About Buying a Rug in Istanbul
Where is the best place to buy a Turkish rug in Istanbul?
The Grand Bazaar has the widest choice in Istanbul, and Arasta Bazaar beside the Blue Mosque is smaller and calmer. A good shop answers where a rug was woven, what it is made of and how old it is, writes that on the receipt, and lets you leave without buying. The Other Tour’s guests often visit Mustafa at Troy Rug Store in Arasta Bazaar.
How can you tell if a Turkish rug is hand-knotted?
Turn it over. On a hand-knotted Turkish rug the back shows the pattern knot by knot, a little uneven, because the weaver ties each knot by hand around two warp threads. Slight shifts of colour (abrash) are normal with natural dyes. Ask the seller to count the knots in a small square with you and to put the rug’s origin, materials and age in writing.
What is the difference between a kilim and a carpet?
A carpet, or pile rug, is knotted and clipped, so it has a soft raised surface. A kilim is flat-woven with no pile: the coloured threads form the pattern, often in slit tapestry. Kilims are lighter and fold small, which makes them easier to take home from Istanbul.
Can you take a Turkish rug out of Türkiye?
A new rug or kilim, yes. A museum of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism has to check an old one before it leaves Türkiye, and exporting antiquities is illegal. Keep the receipt with the rug’s origin and age, and the museum’s document if it needed one. What to buy in Istanbul covers the customs rules.
Should you bargain for a rug in Istanbul?
Yes, bargaining is normal in Istanbul’s rug shops. Stay friendly, drink the tea (it does not commit you to anything), know the size you need, and be ready to walk away. A fair price respects that a hand-knotted rug is months of a weaver’s work.
Can a guide help you buy a rug in the Grand Bazaar?
Yes. Tell The Other Tour before your day that rugs are on your list, and your licensed guide on a Grand Bazaar tour can plan time for the Grand Bazaar or Arasta Bazaar, translate your questions, explain what you are looking at and help you judge it before you pay.
Where can you see antique Turkish carpets in Istanbul?
The Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts in İbrahim Paşa Palace, Sultanahmet, holds one of the world’s great carpet collections, led by Seljuk carpets found in Konya in 1906. The Vakıflar Carpet Museum, opened in 1979, shows old carpets gathered from Türkiye’s mosques, including Uşak, Ladik and Gördes pieces.
Plan a Bazaar Day
The row behind the Blue Mosque stays quiet while the kilims come off the pile one by one, and a second glass of tea arrives before you have decided. When you do choose, you will know the rug’s town, its wool and its age, because you asked before you paid.
Tell us when you are in Istanbul and what you hope to find. We will suggest a day around the Grand Bazaar and Arasta Bazaar with a guide who knows the carpet streets, and you can change any of it.
I second your recommendations re: Mustafa and the Troy Rug Shop. I have been in Istanbul twice and Troy Rug Shop is at the top of my “things to do” in Istanbul. Lovely person, lovely carpets.