Room service: Pera Palas Hotel, Istanbul

Europe ends here. The Pera Palas was built in 1891 to accommodate Orient Express passengers who had reached the terminus of the Paris-Istanbul line. In later years, the hotel was frequented by a mix of actors, singers, statesmen and spies. Ernest Hemingway, Josephine Baker, Sarah Bernhardt and Jackie Onassis are just a few of the luminaries to have walked the corridors. During the Second World War, British agents met here, and the lobby has seen one failed and one successful assassination attempt.

To relive the hotel's halcyon days, take a pot of tea in the Pera Patisserie or an aperitif in the Orient Express bar, one of Istanbul's oldest drinking dens.

Location, location, location

Pera Palas, Mesrutiyet Caddesi 98, Tepebasi 80050, Istanbul (00 90 212 251 4560, www.perapalas.com). The Pera Palas is just off the main Istiklal Caddesi, the backbone of downtown Istanbul. It sits in the middle of what was once the most elegant neighbourhood in the city's European quarter. Spend a few hours in the buzzing bars and restaurants of Beyoglu, then retreat to the hotel balcony to drink in the centuries-old skyline across the Golden Horn. Littered with the domes and minarets of its Ottoman heyday, Istanbul is revealed in all its architectural glory.

Time to international airport: Ataturk airport is a 20-minute taxi ride away, for around £7.

Are you lying comforrtably?

The period furnishings and hardwood floors may have seen better days, but the faded grandeur is endearing and you can dine out on whose room you slept in for weeks. Room 411 is where Agatha Christie wrote part of Murder On The Orient Express. Or you can choose to sleep where Greta Garbo, Mata "Dutch Spy" Hari and Leon Trotsky have bedded down (though not all at once. The higher up the six floors you go, the better the views, and you get to ride in a lift complete with red velvet banquette and bellboy. Don't check out without visiting Room 101, a miniature museum in memory of the founding father of the Republic, and a guest at the hotel, Mustafa Ataturk.

Freebies: standard toiletries.

Keeping in touch: All the rooms have a telephone and TV. Internet access is available through reception.

The bottom line: A double costs £141, a suite £243, including breakfast.

I'm not paying that: Sebnem Hotel in Sultanahmet, Adliye Sokak No. 1 (00 90 212 517 6623, www.sebnemhotel.com) is perfectly placed for Istanbul's twin treasures, the Haghia Sophia and Sultanahmet Camii, or the Blue Mosque. A double room costs £35, with a 10 per cent discount for cash.