Public transportation from cruise ship terminal to old town in Istanbul

Download the City Mapper App on your phone. Select Istanbul as your city. You can change cities by clicking on the setting gear icon and choosing your city of interest. This will not only tell you how to do this on public transport, when you are actually in Istanbul, it will give you real time options, a clear map with your location, and any walking directions you may need.

If you scroll down through the cities choices you will note the large selection of cities serviced by this App and you may want to use it in other cruise ports as well.

The Galataport website recommends using the Tophane tram stop, which is on the main T1 tram line for tourists. You will need to catch the west/southwest bound tram (I don't know the name), NOT the one that goes east to Kabatas . The stops you will probably be most interested in are:

Eminonou -- Rustem Pasha and the Spice Market

Sultanahmet - Hagia Sophia, Blue Mosque, Topkapi Palace ...

Beyazit - Süleymaniye Mosque and the Grand Bazaar.

The tram is safe, convenient, and inexpensive. We used it all the time last year.

Thank you both. You have been very helpful. We may not have a cell phone with us, does anyone know if it is obvious how to get to the Tophane tram stop from the pier?

I have never been to the Galata cruise terminal, but I am guessing that the tram stop will be well marked, as is every tram stop I have encountered in Istanbul. There will most likely be a kiosk outside the tram stop where you can buy an InstanbulKart and load it with as many rides as you want. The IstanbulKart works pretty much like transit cards in other cities. You load the card and then tap the card as you go through the turnstile at the tram stop. If I recall correctly, you have to use Turkish Lira at the kiosk. If you have any trouble (some of the kiosks can be a little bit finicky about reading bills), someone in line will usually be happy to help out.

The T1 line covers almost every place you would want to see on a short visit. There are also a couple of funiculars that can take you up to Istiklal Street. Both funiculars are accessible from the T1 line.

The tram stop is on the main road that runs parallel to the boardwalk at the cruise port terminal. With the water to your back, walk "straight ahead" to that road. You may have to zig and zag to actually do that, depending on where you exit. There is a small park that you may have to cross or go around and various buildings. I don't recall seeing signs for the tram stop, but we were walking and weren't looking for such signs.

As an option, you can plug the JW Marriott Istanbul Bosphorus into Google Maps and walk 1km to that. Some of that will be along the boardwalk, but when I was there, it ended at construction fences and you had to find the nearest small street and continue the walk. From the JW Marriott, it's a 3 minute (250m) walk to the near end of the Galata Bridge, which is a sightseeing journey itself. Once across the bridge, and using the pedestrian crossings to cross the busy road, you'll be a further 3 minutes from the Spice Bazaar.

I would only walk from the cruise port terminal if you're planning to start at the Galata Bridge and Spice Market. Otherwise, it would be more time efficient to find the tram and take it to your furthest sightseeing point, then walk back sightseeing along the way.

For walking directions to the Tophane tram stop, you can find it on Google Maps directly or plug in "Kılıç Ali Paşa Camii." The tram stop is immediately in front of that, though you'll need to cross the main road to the far side to head in the direction towards Old Town.