Off there at the end of Novemebr for our wedding anniversary. Probably looking to stay in the old town, 4 or 5 star standard (am with wife after all). Anyone got any recommendations?

Anyone got any recommendations?

Not wanting to spoil your trip but, seriously, make sure that wherever you stay is well designed and well built, ie, built in the last 10 years by a reputable company, not a cowboy. It’s probably worst large city in the world for earthquake risk, taking account of seismicity and building standards (the standards themselves are OK but failure to comply with them is widespread).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Anatolian_Fault

Stayed in a few modern places in Istanbul, which were all fine, but went to an evening event here:
Old prison in old city

Didn’t stay there, but it looked stunning; right in the centre of the old city, near the Hagia Sofia and Blue Mosque.

Thanks greybeard, we have a friend who goes with work all the time and have been well briefed on the need to get a “properly built” hotel 😉

Ciragan Palace right on the Bosphorus for a real, if v expensive, treat. Have a great time!

I love Istanbul. We generally stay in the Empress Zoe, which is a nice place in the otherwise quite tacky bit SE of the Hagia Sofia. It’s cheap for the standard of rooms, but has really friendly staff who hooked us up with football tickets.
Another fun but reasonable one is the Kybele which is near the Cisterns.
You should try and catch some football while you’re there. I took the missus to a Fenerbache game, and she loved it. Brilliant atmosphere. For some reason she preferred it to the Caley Thistle games I inflict on her when we visit my parents. Odd.