Cadde Gokart Bahçeşehir

In Başakşehir, in the north-western part of Istanbul, Cadde Gokart sets up its covered track on the -3 parking level of a Bahçeşehir shopping centre, which lets it open round the clock, all year. It is a rare option in the metropolis: a sheltered layout you can drive in the dead of night or mid-afternoon, away from the rain and the summer heat. The format, short and punchy, is built around instant fun and racing among friends.

Beyond the karting, the venue plays the leisure-centre card: there is a café, billiard tables, table tennis and games consoles to round off the evening between runs. It is a handy port of call for groups, birthdays and last-minute outings, at any hour. Everyone hunts for their best lap on the covered layout, and people happily come back to beat their time. Prices vary with the length of track time you choose.

Başakşehir and Bahçeşehir form a modern, residential part of north-western Istanbul, laid out around broad avenues, landscaped lakes and large shopping centres. The district is well linked to the rest of the city by motorway and metro, and lies close to the new Istanbul airport and the area of the future canal. For visitors, the historic old city, Hagia Sophia, the Topkapı palace and the Grand Bazaar remain reachable by public transport, a way to combine night-time karting with discovering the metropolis on both banks of the Bosphorus.