My family love Turkey, and hence my daughter wants to celebrate her 18th birthday in Istanbul. We have booked flights and accommodation for a four-day stay, but can you recommend places to see with an 18 and a 14 year old, apart from the usual tourist sights? Julia Trace, Isle of Man

Sunday Times travel expert Richard Green responds: In Istanbul, the main attractions are great fun for teenagers too: whether it's rushing to secure an upper deck seat on a Bosporus ferry, rummaging in the Grand Bazaar, or feeling your jaw drop floor wards on entering the vastness of the Agia Sophia.

However, here are a few other things to look out for. For one, when you visit the Topkapi Palace, join a Harem Tour. It's a fun way of learning about the intrigues of the "forbidden" private quarters, where the headman kept his wives, children and slaves. The tours leave every 30 minutes from the Harem entrance in the second courtyard.

Then there's Beyoglu, a fascinating little neighbourhood just south of the main tourist drag of Istikal Caddesi. Its steep alleyways hide a bohemian cluster of shops where you'll discover some fantastically cluttered retro antique shops. Popcorn (Faik Pasa Yokusu 2c) is one, full of vintage toys and technology, and some brilliantly retro lighting ­ funky enough for any teenager's bedroom. Nearby, and similarly stuffed, are Yucel Tanyeri (Aga Hammam Caddesi 61) or A La Turka (Faik Pasa Yokusu 4).

And to get an eyeful of what modern Turkey can do, take a metro to the Sisli district and the Cevahir Mall. It's the largest in Europe, with 280 shops, 12 cinema screen and an Imax. It's very stylish, plus great for local designer T-shirts, and all the well-known international brands.

Or for a magnificently hands-on collection, the north shore of the Golden Horn is home to the Rahmi M Koc Museum, which crams old foundry with planes and boats and planes ­ many of which puff and hiss into life on Saturdays. There's an 1898 steam powered car, a 1961 Amphicar (amphibious vehicle), and even an afloat ex Turkish Navy 2,400ton submarine.

Get there by taxi, or on ferries running the Uskudar ­ Eyup Line Boats.

A couple of miles from the here is Miniaturk, a bizarre park filled with exquisitely accurate models of Turkey's best bits.

It's the largest miniature park in the world, if you see what I mean, with 105 models, each at 1/25th scale, of everything from the Mardin stone houses to the new bridge over the Bosporus. It's a lot of fun, and a great way to choose your next visit to Turkey.

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