Located within the tangle of steep, buzzing streets that make up the city’s Beyoğlu district, the member’s club Soho House—which first set up shop in Istanbul in 2015—serves as full confirmation (if you really needed it) that the city is an up-and-coming creative capital. And in keeping with Istanbul’s broader spirit of paying reverence to the past while never being afraid to reinvent those traditions, the group’s signature cozy aesthetic has been applied to the historic surroundings of the former U.S. embassy in which Soho House sits with thoughtfulness and care. The rabbit warren of the atmospheric member’s club building features plenty of high ceilings, Art Nouveau woodwork and etched glass, and grand staircases, but there’s a casual, homely feel too, whether in the plaster walls that have been left to peel and flicker under the candlelight each evening, or the rooms set up with snooker tables and chess boards to bolster its convivial spirit.

Courtesy of Soho House Istanbul

Across a courtyard filled with a maze of trees and hedges—offering plenty of nooks to take your morning coffee in—lies the main hotel building, which, while being a more recent, glass-walled addition, artfully melds the contemporary feel of Soho House’s trademark decor with a handful of local flourishes. (Think traditional iznik tiles in the bathrooms, all stocked with copious amounts of Cowshed and Soho Skin products, or kilim cushions scattered across the plush linens of your enormous king-size bed.) The hotel is a culinary destination in its own right, too, with local Istanbulites packing out its four restaurants, including an outpost of the popular Italian restaurant group Cecconi’s and superb, summer-only Greek-Mykonian eatery Apheleia, with offers a gyros-taco hybrid topped with tomato confit and paprika yogurt, and beef souvlaki and giant prawns cooked in an outdoor Josper oven. Make sure you grab a seat on the terrace: both Apheleia and the rooftop bar offer stunning views over the rooftops that sweep down the hillside—never more beautiful when bathed in the orange glow of an Istanbul sunset.