Hi Everyone,
I know the Istanbul Museum Pass has come up before as a topic of discussion, but I just wanted to confirm that I understand the mechanics of how to use it. I'm certain that I want to use the Museum Pass, I just want to make sure I use it correctly.
I see the online purchase at the official site here:
https://muze.gov.tr/MuseumPass
My questions are as follows:
1) Can I, as a non-Turkish citizen, purchase the Museum Pass online? It seems like I should be able to, but I at first tried to download the MuzeKart app before realizing that I needed to be a Turkish citizen to use it. Is that only the case for the app? If I just purchase the pass on the official website will I be able to use it?
2) In the Rick Steves Istanbul book, it specifically says not to buy the museum pass online, as it must be mailed to a local address. Is this true?
3) I understand that the pass is valid for 5 days after the first museum you use it at, but is there a limited time between purchase and first use? For example, might I need to purchase it fewer than 90 days prior to the trip? Or can it be purchased and then used at any time?
4) Once the pass is purchased online, how is it used? I've seen elsewhere that it gets emailed to you, with instructions to print it out and present a hard copy to get in to the museums. Is this how it's done?
I know these are a lot of questions, so thank you in advance for any help. I'm just running into a lot of contradictory information on how all this works.