From the ubiquitous sounds of live, traditional Turkish music and dancing in restaurants throughout the city to cultural and artistic events, international festivals, and glitzy clubs and bars on the Bosphorus, Istanbul is a city that knows how to entertain, and it knows how to party.

There's so much to do, from theatres and exhibitions to museums, historic and architectural tours and cruises.

If you're looking for a night out, you need no more plan than to take a walk down Istiklal Caddesi in Taksim, the throbbing heart of modern Istanbul, a street that is always vibrantly alive with music, shops, restaurants, bars, and crowds. From Istiklal, it's just a duck down a side street and into just about any anonymous doorway, which you'll soon find may turn out to be a jazz bar, a quiet tavern for traditional Turkish meze appetizers washed down with abundant quantities of the national drink, raki, or it may turn out to be a set of stairs leading you upstairs to a terrace with a fabulous view of the city and the storied hill-lined waterways that front it. Nightlife in Istanbul is a way of life, and few cities in the world have such a variety of world-class clubs and bars.

Do not miss to take a trip to the Ortakoy district of the city, where any number of fantastic clubs directly on the shores of the night-lit Bosphorus blare music, serve drinks, and generally cater to the elated masses until the wee hours of the morning, and beyond. Whether you're looking for family entertainment, educational events, or just looking for a night out that would make Dionysus proud, Istanbul's got it all, from the water-front clubs with internationally-recognized DJs to five-star dining and even sushi on the Bosphorus!