Istanbul's biggest ice complex, built on a hockey project and opened in 2022
Zeytinburnu Buz Adası, the Ice Island, grew out of a social project: in 2010 the Municipality of Zeytinburnu set up an ice hockey team with problematic street youngsters and put up two mobile rinks of 400 square metres each. Construction of a permanent building began in 2017 in cooperation with Spor Toto, and the venue opened on 29 January 2022.
Built on a 37,000 square metre site, it is described as the biggest ice rink complex in Istanbul. It holds two Olympic-sized sheets of 1,800 square metres on two floors, one for competitions and one for training, and its main stand has a capacity of 2,756. While the main rink hosts matches, the lower rink stays in use for free skating and practice.
The lower rink is open all year, while the upper one closes between May and September for maintenance and the end of the season. The building also hosts the matches of the Turkish Ice Hockey Super League and the Turkish Women's Ice Hockey League.
Before you head out.
Admission, rentals and arrival details, researched from official rink information. Source checks stay current for 30 days.
Skates & rentals
Skates and protective equipment are free to use for the whole free-skating session; the session ticket is the only charge, according to the rink's FAQ.
The rink recommends buying a ticket for each free-skating session in advance through Biletix or Bubilet; the box office also sells tickets, but they can sell out there too.