Hello everyone! Welcome to one more video. If you're new here, my name is Bery, and every week I share
videos about Istanbul, for example, it's culture, food, places to visit, hidden gems, and much more.
If you haven't subscribed yet, I would love to invite you to smash that subscribe button
that way you can discover with us this marvelous city. So let's start with our new video.
Many of you are still wondering what are the best options to go to the city center in Istanbul
especially to Taksim and Sultanahment where the majority of tourists are finding accommodation.
In this video we are going to be explaining to you what are those options so you can find the best
and the most suitable for you.
Before explaining the different ways I would love to clarify the
current situation with the airports in the city and at the moment there are two active airports
in Istanbul. The first one is in the European side and it's called Istanbul new airport with
abbreviations as IST and the second one is on the Asian side and it's called Sabiha Gökçen
with abbreviations as SAW and both of these airports are quite far from the most touristic
areas such as Taksim or Sultanahment. So now that the situation with the airports has been clarified,
it's time to explain one by one what are your best and most convenient ways to go from the airports
to the city center and vice versa. If you're landing at the Istanbul new airport, then the
most convenient and affordable way for you will be taking a bus with the HAVAIST bus company.
These ones you will find them in the -2 level in the terminal and you will find many buses
going to different directions within Istanbul. Let's imagine that you're going to Sultanahmet
area, in this case you have to look for the route going to Beyazit Maydan, this one is
just outside the Grand Bazaar and basically just a couple of minutes away from Sultanament square.
if you want to check about the timetables and the routes available for the HAVAIST,
then we will be leaving the official link in the description box. For paying this HAVAIST there are
different payment methods which is really good because sometimes we don't have i don't know some
cash with us and instead we have a card so also this information will be useful. The first one is
that we can already pay with a debit or credit card in the vehicle. Secondly, we can pay in cash
in any ticket stands that we can find in the points where you will take the HAVAIST, and the
other one is that also you can do it online either through the app or through the official website.
Depending on the route you are taking it will be the cost. This time i will only mention the
most frequented ones by tourists, for example, let's say Taksim. If you're going to Taksim, it
will cost you only 30 Turkish liras per person. If you're going to Beyazit Meydan which is the
station close to Sultanahmet you will also pay 30 Turkish liras, or if you are going to Kadikoy
on the Asian side of the city, you will pay 32 Turkish liras. Now you need to take into
consideration that the airport is not close to any of these points so depending if you're going
to Taksim, Sultanahmet or Kadikoy it will take between one hour to even two hours depending on the traffic.
Also if you're traveling with children under six years old, you need to know that you don't
have to pay the ticket for them, as well if you're traveling with a lot of luggage,
you need to know that also the limit will be two luggages up to 30 kilograms. If you want to go to
the airport now you just have to look for the place where it dropped you off the first time.
So if you are staying in Sultanahmet and you want to go to the airport, just go to Beyazit
Meydan close to the Grand Bazaar, take it there, and it will take you directly to the airport.
If you are arriving to the Sabiha Gökçen airport on the Asian side of Istanbul, you can also take
a bus similar to the HAVAIST but this one is called HAVABUS. These are very easy to find
you just have to to go outside the terminal, cross the street, and you will find them there.
But for this HAVABUS the only place that will take you on the European side
will be Taksim not Sultanahmet, so if you are staying in Sultanahmet, then you have to take
this HAVABUS going to Taksim square and from there you have to find your way to Sultanahmet area. The
other two available stops are on the Asian side of the city, this one is in Kadikoy port or Yenisahra.
To Taksim square it only costs 24 liras and to Kadikoy 18 liras, and also just as the Istanbul
new airport, depending on the place it will take from one hour to one and a half hour to arrive to
the places depending on traffic of course. Here the payment is in cash in the vehicle or with credit
or debit card in the stands. The last option and least convenient especially if we speak about cost
is of course taking a taxi for from the airport and I will mention this because also many people
are traveling with a lot of luggage or if you're someone who just loves traveling more comfortable
in a private car and also your wallet can afford it, then just take a taxi you can find them at all
times outside the terminals and the rate for taxi might cost from the airport to your accommodation
let's imagine Sutanamet square it might cost between 250 liras up to 350 liras, it all depends
the type of car, probably the time and the distance where it will take you. When it comes to taking
a taxi from your accommodation to the airport, please avoid doing it on the streets on your own
really don't do it unless you really want to get ripped off.
I will recommend you these other apps that you can use and that us as residents we use here in
Istanbul and this one the first one is called BiTaksi, and you can use it, you can see even the rate
and how much approximately they will be charging for that route and the other one is Uber and yes
we are so happy because finally uber is back in Istanbul it got activated again just a couple of
weeks ago but the only problem is that it's still working with yellow and blue taxis it
won't give the service as in other countries like the USA or any other European country
but well the good thing is that the app started working once again so you can get them from BiTaksi
or Uber it will cost you about the same rate as well.
And just as a little tip for from my part
I would recommend you not paying cash in the taxi because a well-known scam going on in Istanbul
is that to those paying in cash the taxi driver is giving them the change with fake
bills so if you don't want to if you don't want that happening to you, just avoid paying in cash
and just use your credit or debit cards. Now that you know what are the best ways of going from the
airports to the city center now you can choose the most suitable and convenient one for you.
In my case, I have used many times the HAVAIST from the new Istanbul airport to my house the
times that I have traveled abroad and I must say that I'm very happy with that service. The buses
are comfortable but the best part of it is that it only cost less than 5 dollars. Thanks a lot
for watching this video and if you want to keep receiving more tips and recommendations about
Turkey and istanbul, don't forget to click the SUBSCRIBE button. See you next time, bye!