We are two 75 year old travelers bringing one carryon and one small backpack each, arriving at about 14:30 on a Wednesday. I can’t decide how to get to our hotel which is in the Karaköy area. My husband has some bad stuff going on with his neck. He already will upset it by trying to sleep on the flight from the Midwestern United States. We are frugal, well actually cheap, and often take public transportation in our travels. But his neck has worsened. Sounds like taxis are fraught with angst due to sketchy practices. Can anyone suggest a transfer service that has been reliable and charges less than 70 euros which is the price offered by the hotel? Other thoughts?
Posted by
Lynnwood, Washington
9731 posts
I had an excellent experience with Welcome Pickups at IST. The driver sent me a message via What’s App that I received as soon as I landed. I messaged him after retrieving my luggage and he met me promptly as I exited into arrivals. Cost was $45 a year ago.
I think it is important to have what’s app on your phone and data available to make sure you can communicate with the driver.
Posted by
Salem, Oregon, USA
3501 posts
I also used Welcome Pickups with good success. As noted you need to be able to use a cell phone to communicate with the driver, preferably via WhatsApp (though they do have their own app, my driver preferred WhatsApp). If you're not able to use technology, then the Galata's shuttle would also be fine - many of my RS tourmates used their service without issue. The hotel will give specific instructions where to meet the driver.
You're arriving during a busy traffic time of day so it's going to take an hour at least to get to the hotel. Many people haven't had problems with taxis but you pay on meter - if you get stuck in traffic your charge could exceed the fee for a private shuttle. In a private shuttle you will be in a comfortable car or van and can relax and not lug your suitcases on public transportation while you're jet lagged. Speaking for myself, that was worth every single penny after an extremely long travel day.
Posted by
Washington DC
29667 posts
Pre-booking a private transfer through a company like Welcome Pickups is not an absolute guarantee of a seamless trip from airport to hotel. We do see occasional reports here of problems, typically as a result of significant flight delays and a failure of the company to handle them appropriately. I'm sure it doesn't happen often, but there is a slight possibility of that. I believe if something goes wrong, the customer receives a credit rather than a refund. As a cheap traveler, I'd tend to gamble that a regular taxi from the airport would be cheaper that a prebooked transfer, but Istanbul's sometimes-nightmarish traffic could make that a bad bet if the comparison is to a well-priced transfer instead of one of those ludicrous $100+ transfers some hotels try to sucker their customers into taking.
There are good airport buses available to destinations scattered around Istanbul, but Karakoy is unfortunately not one of them.
Although I'm too cheap to take a taxi from a European airport, I don't think $70 for a prearranged trip is an awful price for IST, given the significant distance and possible traffic complications--assuming you're confident the service will be reliable, which I believe something arranged through a hotel should be. I think $30-$35 was considered reasonable as of 2023 (some hotels were charging $70 and up even then), and inflation continues to be a very big problem in Turkey.