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Transportation

Almost on a daily basis I get emails from people about to take a cruise liner to Istanbul. Trying to plan their trip, they have questions like “Where is the cruise port in Istanbul?”, “How far is it from the cruise ship pier in Istanbul to Sultanahmet?” or “What are the transportation options from the […]

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Istanbul is surrounded and divided by water. Because of this you’ll see a bustling activity of floating devices on the Bosphorus, the Sea of Marmara and in the Golden Horn. A whole array of water-borne craft, ranging from privately owned (fishing) boats, over regular ferries (vapur) to a fleet of high-speed catamaran sea buses (deniz […]

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Istanbul has plenty of excellent public transportation options, but the inner-city buses are in my opinion not one of them. For starters, it is not the quickest means of transportation. Unlike Istanbul’s tram and metro system, they don’t have their own lanes and therefore suffer from the chronic Istanbul traffic jams. Secondly, it is not […]

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The most efficient and cheap way to get from a to b in Istanbul by public transportation is undoubtedly by metro, tram, funicular and/or ferry. These means of public transportation are very efficient, quick and punctual. Not in the least because they don’t suffer from Istanbul’s constantly clogged streets. In this article I focus on […]

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The akbil electronic travel pass is definitely the best feature of the constantly improving Istanbul public transportation network. Akbil is short for ‘akıllı bilet‘, which means intelligent ticket. And that’s exactly what it is. It’s a basically a small stainless steel button in a plastic holder, together not bigger in size than any key on […]

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The brand new Istanbul Card (İstanbul Kart) was proudly introduced in the spring of 2009 by the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality as a card with which you will be able to pay for all your Istanbul transportation, cultural and entertainment activities. In a first phase, the İstanbul Kart will replace the currently used akbil as a […]

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The Turkish Grand Prix will take place on June 7 2009 and is the seventh Grand Prix of the 2009 Formula One World Championship. The venue for this Formula One motor race, which debuted on August 25 2005, is Istanbul Park (Istanbul Parkı), also known as Istanbul Racing Circuit. Drivers and spectators alike praise this […]

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I wrote in an earlier post that a minority of Istanbul’s taxi drivers are not shy of hustling tourists. So I thought it would be helpful to provide my readers with a cab fare list for trips from Sultanahmet or Taksim to the most common Istanbul tourist destinations or the airports. This way you’ll be […]

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By far the most convenient (but not always the quickest) way to get around in Istanbul is by taxi. They are plentiful, operate day and night, take up to four persons, are compared to the US or Europe fairly cheap, and they can be easily hailed on the street or found at taxi ranks. Unfortunately, […]

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The best way to absorb a city is of course by exploring it on foot. In addition, some of Istanbul’s ancient streets are so small a car barely fits in it. And with Istanbul’s huge traffic jams in the city center, it is often even a time-saver. But before you rush out of your hotel […]

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