Lampa Design Hotel

The logo for Istanbul’s Lampa Design Hotel is a nod to the owner’s personal collection of antique gas lamps, but it also evokes a familiar fantasy: rub the magic lamp and make your wishes. A perfect location in the central neighborhood of Şişli? Granted. Modern, art-filled guest rooms stocked with amenities? Sure. A cool coffee bar and a Turkish-style breakfast buffet? You got it.

True, these wishes are within the realm of reasonable expectation: this is an urban boutique hotel, not a five-star resort. But it’s surprising how many small hotels fall short of the ideal. Not Lampa Design Hotel. Thanks to thoughtful design and a modest scale — the hotel has just twenty rooms — it’s both stylish and practical, the kind of place where every detail has already been considered.

The aesthetic is modern industrial, heavy on iron and glass, especially on the ground level. It’s here, at Lampa Lab, that you’ll plan your day over breakfast, answer a few e-mails in the adjacent workspace, or have afternoon tea on the small patio, lined with cheerful terrariums. Upstairs, guest rooms and suites have a cozier look, with parquet floors, large picture windows, and original artworks by the late avant-garde painter Fikret Mualla Saygı. Standard rooms are on the small side, but they’re efficiently laid out with bespoke furniture and elegantly illuminated by customized lighting systems. In-room features are plentiful across categories, too, including marble-lined bathrooms with rain showers and products by Co.Bigelow, LCD TVs, free wi-fi, and complimentary coffee, tea, and bottled water.

It’s the little things, isn’t it? And it’s the big things, like the important fact that you’re right in the heart of Istanbul. This popular new option is proof that you don’t need to trade off location for style or substance: at Lampa Design Hotel you get all three wishes.