It is THE day today, when the old airport in Istanbul will be switched to the new one – modern, bigger and more affective. If you’ll be traveling to Istanbul from 6th April 2019 on, you for sure are interested in how to reach the city from the new Istanbul airport.
Table of Contents
How to reach Istanbul city center from the new airport?
Taxi
Taxi is for sure the easiest way to reach Istanbul city center and pretty economical if you are traveling in a group of 3 or 4 persons. The new Istanbul airport is further out from the city than the old one, so prices for a taxi ride start at 110 TL to Taksim square and 125 to Sultanahmet district. The end price might vary due to traffic and also the roads – if your driver will choose the fastest road, it might be a toll road and the toll is always payable by yourself. You can use an app BeTaksi, where you can order a taxi and with that you also get all the information about the driver and the car to avoid the tourist scams.
Uber
If you are asking yourself why not using Uber, I can give you a really good reason – it is illegal in Turkey and if you find it and use it, you can also pay a pretty high fine for that, what will definitely not make your travel to Istanbul more pleasant and also not cheap.
Shuttle bus
It is said that the new Istanbul airport will be connected by 140 shuttle buses per day. If the roads will be empty, the average transfer time is around 100 minutes. Having your hotel around Taksim square your best option is the IST19 line, which stops in front of the Point Hotel, close by the Taksim square. But if your hotel is at Sultanahmet, better option is IST1 line, which stops at Yenikapı ferry terminal. Sultanahmet district is not too far from there, but with your luggage and being new to the city, taking the taxi from there is still a better option. The bus ride costs 18 TL per person (one way – including luggage).
Be aware that you can pay the bus only in Turkish liras, so you should either have some local currency with you already or withdraw the money from ATM or change the currency in exchange bureau. If you’ll be using public transport a lot, you should consider having the Istanbul kart, on which you upload the money and make the use of public transport easier.
Metro / Subway
I really enjoy airports with metro connections and the plan is to that by the end of 2019, the new Istanbul airport will be connected with the metro too.
