Car Rental In Turkey?

What towns? If only Istanbul I would not rent a car, it's a traffic nightmare there.

We really only need to get to Aviclar for appointments, but the taxis dont seem to sound promising! We will be staying in Taksim area

I would ask your hotel in Taksim or the clinic where you are having the appointments, the latter should have extensive experience helping their clients get around town. You may be able to hire a private driver or have the hotel help you with taxis - the biggest issue as I understand it is making sure they use a meter and take your form of payment (all need to be confirmed before getting in the car).

I would not rent a car or try driving in Istanbul. Yes, taxis can be a scam, but they tend to be okay if arranged by your hotel because the taxi is counting on the hotel for repeat business.

I will be staying at an AirBnb so maybe I can message the host to organize. Otherwise I have heard turkey now has uber taxi? Maybe thats a solution!

alligrace6 according to this article, Uber is available, but it is limited to taxis. It may be an alternative that makes it easier to pay since you're using an app. No experience with it though. I'd still message your Airbnb host to see what they say as well. https://enjoyturkiye.com/uber-in-istanbul-is-it-available-in-turkey/#:~:text=You%20can%20use%20the%20Uber,to%20Uber%20such%20as%20Bitaksi.

Was in Turkey 3 weeks ago. There is no Uber. You open the Uber app, the app literally just tells you to call a taxi, that's it.

Gee, thanks for that, so useful!

Hah oh goodness, any recommendations from your trip? Did you find getting around easy?

Well, as stated above, taxis are a mixed bag. The traffic within much of the city is simply hellish, with large areas of complete gridlock. We attempted to use a taxi at one point, but the gridlock left the taxi stuck for long periods, and eventually we just abandoned the taxi and walked, as that was way more efficient.

We took a taxi to/from the airport. The taxi from the airport to our hotel (after we gave up on Uber, we just flagged the guy down) was not great: Driver did not speak much English. He spent much of the time chatting on his phone - often using both hands on the phone, driving with his knees, at high speed and occasionally drifting across multiple lanes in traffic, pretty dangerous. And he clearly did not know his way around the city either: we were staying in one of the biggest hotels in the city, a well-known international chain hotel (and one of the tallest buildings in the new town) which I would expect any local to know well, yet he followed his phone app (or maybe the person he was chatting with on the phone? I'm not sure), deep into a maze-like neighborhood with tiny streets, stopped in front of a non-descript storefront that looked pretty funky, and indicated that we had arrived at the Intercontinental Hotel. I laughed, and said "no" then showed him a picture of the building from my phone (it's a high-rise building). He then drove on, eventually finding the correct destination. We made it. Our taxi back to the airport (arranged by the hotel staff) was fine - driver spoke perfect English, told us he loved America and was a big fan of the NY Yankees. He also drove to the airport at about 150 km/hr (roughly 90 mph) so got us there quickly! Those were the only 3 times we used (or attempted) a taxi.

If you do take a taxi, keep your expectations in check. Don't expect much English, don't expect credit cards to be accepted, have cash ready (and don't expect change so have small bills to approximate the fare), definitely negotiate the fare before you get in (show a calculator or phone calculator app with the numbers indicating what you'll pay, and make sure your intent is clearly understood and clearly agreed to), don't expect the meter to be used/working/understandable. Be prepared to haggle over the fare before you get in (and then stick to the agreement). The taxi drivers are not thieves (well, most of them), just poor working guys trying to get by, like in much of the world, but some will take advantage of a clueless, rich tourist.

The public transportation system is extensive and works well for most tourist areas, once you figure out a few basics. No idea about your needs, but I'd suggest you study the public transit options and see if they work for you. Ask at your lodging if you can.

Hope that helps, good luck. It's an amazing city.

Please provide the address of your Airbnb and the destination you'll need to reach. Perhaps it would be easy to get public transportation at least part of the way. If, by chance, the Metro is a partial solution, it could save you time as well as some money. As others have said, traffic in central Istanbul is unbelievably heavy.

I was in Istanbul recently and saw taxis everywhere. There are lots of them. I only needed to use a taxi once, as I arrived in the city after dark, and I opted for a pre-established (too high) fixed fare. I was able to get everywhere else by public transportation and some walking, but I'm a big walker and had no time constraints.

Aviclar is well outside central Istanbul, and Google Maps indicates it's quite large; that's why I'm asking for specific addresses.

Picked up our Budget rental car earlier today at IST and it was easy. So was driving to Kilyos - mainly expressway. We rented the car for 2 days because it was a breakeven with using Welcome Pickups/taxi service and we have flexibility if we want to explore around tomorrow. We were in central Istanbul earlier in the week but didn't need a car. From my observation traffic was not any heavier there than in major American cities; however, the city streets/roads are a lot more difficult to drive due to twists and narrow lanes in places plus people are everywhere.

Thank you that is great to know! How did you feel safety wise being in Turkey with everything going on in Israel? I am not too worried, always cautious however, but my family is in a bit of a tizzy over us planning to go in January, given the current state of affairs.

Just arrived home! We felt safe the entire trip and were in many situations where we were the only Americans. On the plane from London to Istanbul to start our trip there was one younger man that gave us a few what seemed like menacing looks but that was all there was to it.