Unusual! - Because we had a guide we didn’t have to wait in the entrance line. Engineering ingenuity! Such unusual underground caverns, filled with water. Set off with changing light displays.

Particular charm - This is a very charming and particular structure. You absolutely have to see it. Beautiful play of light and shadow on the water.

Beautiful! Definitely go if you are interested - Pricey but fantastic visit! The cistern is huge and very majestic to view from the inside. There are a few modern art installations at the end as well. We went in without a tour or audio guide. For us, there was enough information in English on the plaques. In fact, we noticed many of the tour guides were just repeating information from the plaques - so just be a little careful if you are organising a tour visit.

Skip the line but definitely see it! - This site amazed me with not only the age of the structure but the engineering. It’s truly spectacular what was accomplished. I will say that buying a skip the line ticket made things so much easier because the lines are long and on holidays they’re longer.

Beautiful discovery - Nice place to do on Istanbul. Very well preserved and restored. Very busy place, take your tickets in advance preferably. Lack of access for strollers and people with disabilities.

Interesting but lacked information - Very interesting historic place to visit. However there was no information on what we were seeing aside from telling us who built it and when. We had lots of questions about how the cistern connected to the city, over ground channels maybe?, how deep the water would have been in the cistern, how the water was (pumped?) up and out the cistern, how the cistern was built etc etc Tried googling this afterwards but there was also little information online so maybe they just don't know but that seems unlikely

Worth queuing for - 2nd visit here after a 10 year break but still awe inspiring. The vastness & historical significance of this vast ancient water storage facility cannot be underestimated. The entrance price is relatively high & the crowds irritating but this still ranks as 1 of my favourite sites in Istanbul

Too expensive - It's an amazing structure but absolutely not worth the price of admission. You would struggle to spend more than 40 minutes down there.

Cool but expensive. - Expensive, If you are on a budget Istanbul is pretty expensive this days. Everything costs extra, and food around that area is way high.

Visually impressive, but far too expensive for what it offers - The Basilica Cistern is visually striking, but the experience does not justify the ticket price (around €30). The visit takes about 30–40 minutes and essentially consists of walking through an underground space with atmospheric lighting. While the setting is interesting, there is very limited historical explanation or depth, and beyond taking a few photos, there is not much else to engage with. Compared to similar historical sites in other European cities — often with much lower entrance fees — the value for money is disappointing. If the ticket price were significantly lower, it would be a nice short stop. At its current price, however, it feels more like a tourist trap than a must-see attraction. I would only recommend it to visitors who are comfortable paying a high entrance fee mainly for visual and photographic appeal.