How to Make Friends in Istanbul as an Expat (and Why a Weekly Drama Class Works Better Than Another Meetup)

Istanbul is not short of people. According to the Presidency of Migration Management's figures, compiled by the Göç Vakfı research foundation, the city had 610,221 foreign residents with residence permits in early September 2026, out of 1,276,758 across Türkiye. Add students, digital nomads and long-stay visitors, and the international population is larger still.

Turkish culture is also famously hospitable. Neighbours bring food. Shopkeepers remember you. Strangers help you find the ferry.

And yet the question "how do I make friends in Istanbul?" comes up again and again in expat forums and guides. Hospitality and friendship are not the same thing. Being welcomed is easy here. Being part of someone's week is harder.

This guide is about the second one.

Why it is hard (and why it is not you)

A few things make friendship slow in any big city, and Istanbul adds its own.

The city is huge. Your colleague lives an hour away across the Bosphorus. A spontaneous coffee becomes a planned expedition.

Language. Many Turks speak English, but social life, especially in friend groups, happens in Turkish. You can be included in conversation and still be outside the jokes.

Adult friendships form slowly anyway. Most of us made our closest friends at school, at university or at our first jobs: places where we saw the same people repeatedly, without planning it, while doing something together. Adult life removes those conditions. Moving country removes them completely.

Expat circles are transient. You meet someone great at an event. Three months later, their contract ends and they move to Lisbon.

None of this is a personal failing. It is a structural problem. Which means the solution is also structural: you need to put yourself back into the conditions that make friendship happen.

The usual routes, and where they stall

Most "make friends in Istanbul" guides suggest roughly the same list. They are all useful. They also each have a ceiling.

Expat platforms and big meetups (InterNations, Meetup, Facebook groups). Excellent for a first week. Easy to find. The limitation: large, rotating crowds and lots of one-off conversations. You collect contacts, not friends.

Language exchanges. Istanbul has a lively scene, especially in Kadıköy, with weekly language nights in bars and cafés. These are genuinely good for meeting locals. The limitation: the conversation is often the activity itself, which can make it feel like speed-dating for vocabulary.

Turkish classes. Essential if you are staying, and they give you a cohort. The limitation: your classmates are mostly other foreigners, and the group dissolves when the course ends.

Sport and gyms. Great for routine. The limitation: you can do a spin class for a year and know nobody's name.

Work. Often the main source of friends for expats who work in Turkish companies. Less so for remote workers, who are an increasingly large share of internationals in the city.

What actually makes friendship happen

Sociologists and psychologists have long pointed to a few conditions that help friendships form: proximity, repeated unplanned interaction, and a setting that encourages people to let their guard down. You do not need a study to recognise this. Think about where your own closest friends came from.

Translated into practical advice for Istanbul:

1. Choose something weekly, not one-off. The same people, the same day, the same place. Repetition does the work.
2. Choose a small group. Ten to fifteen people, not fifty. You need to see the same faces, not a different crowd every time.
3. Choose something you do together, not just a place to talk. Shared activity takes the pressure off small talk and creates stories you share.
4. Choose something slightly uncomfortable. Mild shared vulnerability, like learning something new in front of others, speeds up trust.
5. Choose something mixed. If the group is only expats, you stay in the expat bubble. If it is only locals, language can become a wall. A mix is ideal.

Why a drama workshop ticks every box

We run a theatre company, so we are biased. But consider how a weekly drama workshop in English measures against that list.

It is weekly and small. Our English Drama Lab groups meet every week and are capped at twelve people.

It is something you do together. You are not sitting across a table trying to think of a question. You are building a scene with someone, reacting to them, solving a problem on stage. The conversation over tea afterwards comes naturally, because you have just shared something.

It is slightly uncomfortable, in a good way. Doing improvisation in front of a group is a small, safe risk. Everybody takes it together. That shared risk is exactly what accelerates trust.

It can be mixed. Our English-language groups are open both to Turkish participants who want to use their English and to internationals who live in the city. The common language is English; the common ground is the work.

It does not need Turkish. You can walk in during your first week in Istanbul and be a full member of the group.

There is a deeper reason too. Drama is, at its core, practice in paying attention to other people: listening, noticing, responding. Those are also the skills of friendship.

Other creative communities worth trying

To be fair to the city, drama is one option among several creative routes:

• English stand-up open mics, mostly in Kadıköy and Beyoğlu. TuzBiber Stand-Up, for example, runs English shows and open mic nights.
• Improv and acting-game nights in English, run informally by some language-exchange groups on Meetup.
• Dance classes. Dance needs very little shared language, which makes it one of the easiest ways in.
• Choirs and music groups. Singing together is one of the oldest social technologies there is.
• Volunteering. Especially for longer stays.

The rule of thumb is the same for all of them: weekly, small, active, mixed.

Meeting locals, not just other expats

A specific point, because it comes up a lot: many expats want Turkish friends and end up with an expat circle instead.

A few things help:

• Go where Turkish people go to do something in English. Many Turks in Istanbul want English practice, but they look for it in places that feel useful and social, not in "expat events". Drama workshops in English, English book clubs and some language nights are such places.
• Learn some Turkish, even badly. It changes how people relate to you. A few phrases in a mixed group go a very long way.
• Say yes to the second invitation. Hospitality often starts formal. The second and third invitations are where friendship begins.

First-week tips for introverts

If walking into a room of strangers is your idea of a bad evening, a few practical notes:

• Pick structured over unstructured. A workshop with a leader and exercises is far easier than a bar meetup where you have to start every conversation yourself.
• Arrive a little early. Meeting people one at a time as they arrive is easier than walking into a full room.
• Commit to three sessions before judging. The first time is always the hardest. By the third, you know names.
• You do not have to be the funny one. In improvisation, the most valuable person in the room is the one who listens.

FAQ

How many foreigners live in Istanbul? According to the Presidency of Migration Management's figures compiled by Göç Vakfı, Istanbul had 610,221 foreign residents with residence permits in early September 2026. That figure does not include tourists or people on other types of stay.

Where can expats meet people in Istanbul? Expat platforms and Meetup groups, language exchanges (especially in Kadıköy), Turkish classes, sports clubs, volunteering, and creative communities like drama workshops, improv nights and dance classes.

Is it easy to make Turkish friends? People are generally welcoming, but friendship takes time and repeated contact. Weekly activities where Turks and internationals do something together in a shared language tend to work best.

Are there drama or acting classes in English in Istanbul? Yes. Techne Lab's English Drama Lab runs weekly in English in Pera and Kadıköy, with free weekly introduction sessions. See our overview of English-speaking theatre in Istanbul.

I am only here for a short time. Is it worth joining a group? Yes, if you choose a format built for it. Our English Drama Lab can be joined for 4, 8 or 12 weeks. See short theatre workshops in Istanbul.

Do I need acting experience to join a drama workshop? No. You need a working level of English and a willingness to try.

Sources

• Göç Vakfı, July–August 2026 migration trends bulletin (citing the Presidency of Migration Management). gocvakfi.org
• Presidency of Migration Management, residence permit statistics. goc.gov.tr
• Meetup, Istanbul language exchange events (October 2026). meetup.com
• TuzBiber Stand-Up, English Shows. tuzbiberstandup.com