The City Hotel: Aksaray hotel with spa, hammam and suites

The City Hotel stands on a side street off Namık Kemal Caddesi in Aksaray, Istanbul. Süleymaniye Mosque is about 1.6 km, Sultan Ahmed Mosque about 2.4 km, Hagia Sophia about 2.7 km and Topkapı Palace about 3.1 km.

For flights, Istanbul Airport (IST) is about 33 km away and Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen International Airport (SAW) about 32.7 km, in a straight line. The hotel runs an airport shuttle for a fee, which spares you the question of how to cover that distance with luggage; a paid shuttle service is also among its facilities.

The hotel has three room types, and the gap between them is wide. The Standard Double or Twin Room is the smallest at 14 m², with either one queen bed or two twin beds; it is the option for a couple or two travellers sharing, and the twin-bed configuration suits colleagues travelling together. No guest count is given for any of the three, so the beds are the surest guide to fit.

The Suite, at 25 m², has one queen bed and two sofa beds, which makes it the natural step up for a family with children, who are allowed at the hotel; the hotel also offers family rooms among its facilities. The King Suite is the largest at 42 m², with two double beds and one sofa bed, giving the most space and sleeping arrangements of the three. All rooms are reached by lift, and the hotel's facilities include non-smoking rooms and air conditioning.

After a day covering the distances to Süleymaniye or Sultan Ahmed Mosque, a hammam and sauna in the building is a genuine convenience rather than a footnote.

For food and drink, the hotel has a restaurant, a bar and room service, so you can eat in the building or in your room without arranging anything outside it. There are also meeting and banquet rooms, which matters if you are travelling for work rather than sightseeing; the hotel's address in Aksaray and its meeting rooms make it as plausible a business stop as a leisure one.

Check-in runs from 13:30 and check-out until 12:00, an afternoon arrival and a midday departure that leave a workable day on either side of a stay. Children are allowed, and with the Suite's two sofa beds and family rooms on offer, the hotel works for families with children.

Pets are not allowed, so leave the dog at home. The hotel has no parking of its own, which is worth knowing if you are driving in; the facilities include car hire, but nowhere on the premises to leave a car.

It suits couples and pairs of travellers who want a compact, well-connected base with a spa and hammam in the building, families who need the Suite's sofa beds or the family rooms, and business travellers who need meeting rooms and an airport shuttle. The restaurant, bar and room service cover eating without going out.

If your priority is a hammam, sauna and spa within a short straight-line distance of Bodrum Mosque and Laleli Mosque, and rooms from 14 m² up to a 42 m² suite, it fits.