Istanbul Transfers: Cruise Port, Airport

Go for Welcome Pickups, or, if you are traveling light, the streetcar.

I usually arrange airport transfers through my hotel.

I totally distrust cab drivers in Istanbul. The first time I visited Istanbul, I needed to take a taxi from Sultanahmet, and I recall our tour guide grumbling about how taxi drivers in the tourist areas would try to rip people off. Eventually, our guide was able to negotiate a reasonable fare. The next day, I found out first hand how bad it could be when a taxi driver charged me $17 to go less than 1 km. That's the only time I ever have or ever will take a taxi that is not arranged by the hotel or a guide.

We need the name of your hotel to determine whether any form of public transportation makes sense for either trip. The tram may work from Galataport to the hotel, depending on its location. You'd have a few blocks to walk to get to the tram stop, but that area is relatively flat. But there may not be a tram stop convenient to your hotel, and sidewalks along many of the streets in the Old Town are narrow and crowded, so a long walk with luggage can be a trial.

The need to acquire a transit ticket or an IstanbulKart (stored-value card) makes the public-transit option less attractive than it might otherwise be. The IstanbulKart machines can be finicky. However, you may need to use transit for other reasons during your stay in Istanbul, so you may have to deal with the machines anyway unless you can acquire a loaded IstanbulKart from your hotel (probably unlikely), from one of the tourist offices in the Old City (they do sell them, with 30 TL loaded) or at one of the convenience stores in the area (again with 30 TL on them; I'm not sure what percentage of those sell the cards).

Using transit to get to the airport is even trickier; there's a good chance multiple transfers would be required.

Where are you staying?

Some cab drivers will quote a fare in euros rather than Turkish lira, and some hotels quote car-service fares in euros; I assume the drivers would accept lira, but any time you pay in a different currency, there's a risk the service provider will use a non-standard exchange rate. Goods at one of the airport shops (maybe all of them) were priced in euros. The posted exchange rate for use of Turkish lira made the TL cost a bit higher than the euro cost. The difference was minor (probably less than 1%), but it was there.

Best to pre arrange transportation. Sometimes the hotel will offer to arrange a ride. Taxi driver costs last month seemed to be whatever the driver felt unless you made sure that the meter was being used properly. There are honest ones for sure. And then there are those that who know how to stretch the trip and and lighten the load in your wallet.

Just because people aren't leaving your small ship doesn't mean there won't be other ships in port on the same day. Check the docking schedule to see how busy it might be before narrowing down your transport options. Some information about transport options to old town is also in this thread https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/turkey/from-cruise-port-in-istanbul-to-hagia-sophia

Traffic in Istanbul is terrible, don't underestimate the amount of time it could take to get to the airport via taxi, Welcome Pickups, bus, or other private transfer. It takes at least an hour on a good day.

Hello, thanks for the input. Hotel will charge 130 Euro ( 20% discount for cash) for either port to hotel or hotel to IST airport. Cruise will charge $160 from port to hotel. Hotel is Hagia Sofia Mansions. I do not mind waiting at the port, etc. just looking for some more reasonable options.

I realized Welcome Pickups is really focused on airport transfer, unless you want to do a sightseeing tour you really can't use them for the port to your hotel. That price quoted by the hotel to airport is more than double the Welcome Pickups cost (probably about 40 euro; could change with inflation). For ease, I'd select that option for your airport transfer - you'll have control over the scheduling, payment, and direct contact with the driver.

For getting from the port to your hotel, a taxi would be most convenient and definitely cheaper than what the hotel and cruise quoted you. Just make sure you confirm they will use a meter and they take your preferred payment before you get in. The tram would be least expensive, if you're comfortable with public transit. The tram stop closest to your hotel is about a 6-10 minute walk right through the historic plaza between the Blue Mosque and the Hagia Sophia. Depending on the time of day, it can be very crowded and barriers may prevent a direct route, but it wouldn't add more than a few minutes to your walk.

We just arrived in Istanbul today and our Welcome Pickups price was 36 euro from IST to our hotel in Sultanhamet. Those are crazy prices you were quoted!

We recently used Welcome Pickups . I forget if it was 38 or 36 Euros. Very good service to and from hotel in Sultanahmet. Worth it and reliable. I like being able to communicate and confirm with WhatsApp. Been using several times since ,all good experiences.

The T1 tram would be workable for the port-hotel trip if you aren't burdened with a lot of luggage. (I wouldn't try to manage the tram with more than a suitcase, tote and purse.) You'd want to get off at the Sultanahmet stop. CityMapper shows the path pretty clearly, with the already-mentioned proviso that the walk from the tram may require you to skirt the Hagia Sophia barriers.

Those are ridiculous transportation prices quoted by your hotel--so ridiculous that I would refuse to stay at the hotel. I certainly wouldn't trust its recommendations for restaurants, etc. Someone must be getting big-time payoffs.

$130+ Euros is ridiculous. It's not that far from Galataport to your hotel. Even with horrible traffic, that price is crazy.

If Welcome Pickups doesn't pan out, you may have to take a taxi. Just be very careful to negotiate a price, preferably in writing. Oh gosh, I hate to recommend a taxi in Istanbul. (BTW, I have always paid for taxis in Istanbul in TL. Tipping depends on how much they overcharge you.)

If anyone needs to use taxi in Istanbul, its the best to use UBER (its still regular taxis) so u can pay via app and u will know what it will cost

I can't believe that the transfer to the hotel from the port would be quoted at $130, it can't be more than 3 miles as the crow flies. I realise the tram won't be ideal, but it is likely to stop less than a quarter mile from your hotel and will cost about $0.50 per person.

While not for everyone, both walking and public transportation - bus/tram - are very doable in that relatively small area.
We stayed near the Blue Mosque & Hagia Sophia before our cruise, and easily got to the port from there using the tram (and had walked a good chunk of it during our explorations earlier in the week). Likewise, from the airport to our hotel initially (and at the end), the train -> tram -> short walk was easy peasy, if only a bit crowded for the tram section on our arrival day (mid-morning so rush hour?).
Our ship also had an overnight in port before departing, so we were able to get to the ship, check in, get our sea pass cards, and then venture back out to do more wandering - all walking.

So, for us, when going back to Istanbul, it will still be the same process - train<->tram for airport and back, and walk and public trans - bus/tram - for most else. Uber would then likely be the our "final" option if those other options became too time consuming or logistically too complicated. We also travel relatively light - just one medium roller bag to lug around - so YMMV depending on your luggage amounts. Also, Istanbul recently upgraded their airport service, so it might be even easier now than when we did it several years ago.

Thanks for the advice everyone. I ended up using Welcome Pickups for the hotel to the airport (36 € plus gave a tip) and a taxi for the cruise port to the hotel ( < $8 with a generous tip).

Port to hotel: Extremely happy with my choice given the luggage, security barriers, not knowing where I was going, and the number of people in the tram stop area. If you did not have luggage, it would make it a lot easier.

Welcome Pickups was easy, and they have an app you can download to communicate with your driver.

Note that I was going to leave my luggage at the cruise port lockers short term to explore that area more, but locker Wi-Fi and payment technical problems nixed that plan. Others had the same issue.

Glad it worked out for you.
Yes, being able to communicate with the Welcome Pickups driver is one of my favorite things about using them.

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