My husband and I are arriving in Istanbul early November on a cruise. Our plane arrives at 1 pm on a Monday with embarkation scheduled for 3 pm on the ship. Our cruise day in Istanbul is the next day, Tuesday, when Topkapi Palace is closed. Does anyone have any suggestions for me on how we could see Topkapi Palace on Monday afternoon? I know I was told by our Cruiseline that we could schedule our safety meeting any time that day of arrival. Also I mostly want to see the harem of the Topkapi Palace. I have looked through a lot of the GetYourGuide and aviator tours but they don’t offer 4 pm meeting times.
Posted by
Salem, Oregon, USA
3495 posts
There is little chance you'll be able to get to the palace before it closes on Monday. Assuming your plane arrives on time at 1 p.m., you'd still have to deplane, get through immigration, fetch luggage, get a shuttle or taxi to the cruise port (takes a minimum of one hour at that time of day), then get checked in on ship, then take a taxi to the palace (30 minutes probably at that time of day). The last ticket entrance time is 3:45 p.m. in winter. Even if you hired a driver to take you from the airport directly to the palace (and wait for you with your luggage) there's a slim chance you could make the last entry time. The palace is a large space and even if you were just going to the harem (which is pretty far from the main entrance), I wouldn't want to try and do that jet lagged. My two cents.
Posted by
Folsom
2795 posts
Having just returned from Istanbul I would say zero chance. IST is one of the largest, if not the largest airports in the world. Expect to walk long distances before you even encounter your luggage, passport control. I’d be surprised if you are out of the airport by 2. Then you will have a good amount of commute and significant traffic that time of day just to get to the cruise terminal. There you will encounter a very large underground terminal with, once again, long walks until you board your ship, not to mention security. If you want to see anything in Istanbul change your flight to arrive a day or two in advance.
Posted by
Lynnwood, Washington
9718 posts
I strongly encourage you to arrive a day earlier if possible. You may have felt comfortable booking arrival 2 hours before embarkation since the ship was overnighting, but this still is a bit risky and just doesn’t do your time in Istanbul justice.