Our hotel, B.W. Obelisk Hotel, has offered to pick us up at the airport with a van and take us to their hotel for 30E. Does that seem like a fair price?
Posted by
Chicago
2876 posts
Would you rather bargain with a Turkish cabdriver?
Posted by
Atlanta
3250 posts
Hi Charlie,
If you're cheap like we are you can take public transportation--the metro station is right in the airport. I looked up the route on i-Metro:
Fewest connections route
Time about 54 minutes - 1 connection(s)
At Airport
Walk to Havalimani
Take Line M1 (Hafif Metro)
Direction
Aksaray (Metro)
Get off at Zeytinburnu (when you leave the metro here you have to walk 5 minutes or so--a little complicated but people are helpful so ask for directions) to change to the tram line.
Take Line T1 (Modern Tram 38)
Direction
Kabatas
Get off at Sultanahmet
Enjoy Istanbul!
Posted by
Seattle, USA
990 posts
Steve, I think your estimate is quite low. I think about 20 dollars for a cab from the airport to Sultanahmet is closer to the mark, in my experience. But that would make 30 euros close to double the standard cabfare. It ought to be more like 30 lira than 30 euros.
How long are you planning to spend at the Obelisk? Many Sultanahmet hotels will provide free pickup if you are staying long enough. It sounds like you are already booked there, but I would suggest looking up similar hotels with similar rates but free (or much lower cost) airport pickup service. Then contact the Obelisk to see if they will match it.
Posted by
Denver, CO, USA
1556 posts
I actually think it is a decent price if your hotel is in the center of town since it is a long ride to the airport.
I'm not sure where the $5.61 fare is from but I would think that the taxi drivers would go broke at that price given the distance. It took us almost 40 minutes from Taksim to the airport and this was early in the morning when there was no traffic on the road. We paid around 40E and this was about 18-20 months ago.
Posted by
Atlanta
3250 posts
Here are some further notes that I made about using public transportation:
Light rail and Tram takes about 50-60 minutes and the cost is approximately 2.60 YTL ($1.75). Note that you will need 2 tokens for this trip--one for the light rail that leaves from the airport. You will need your second token when you transfer to the tram. You can purchase tokens at the entrance to the light rail system at Ataturk Airport.
Posted by
Denver, CO, USA
1556 posts
Just adding a correction to my original post - we actually paid 40 YTL for the cab from Taksim to the airport and not Euros as I originally posted.