I arrived at Istanbul’s international airport around 11am, and was scheduled to depart around 7pm, so planned about a 5-hour excursion into the city.
Advance Planning
As a U.S. citizen, I was able to obtain a tourist visa prior to arrival via the Internet. On the website of the Turkish Embassy in Washington, instructions were easy, paying the $20 fee with a credit card, and printing out the visa. Nationals of many other countries can do the same. Otherwise, there is a visa line at the airport as an alternative, but rumor is that this option may eventually be discontinued for countries that have a Turkish Embassy.
I checked my bags straight through, so they stayed at the airport. I’ve heard there’s a place at the airport to store bags, but did not see it.
Arriving
After exiting immigration and baggage claim, which took maybe 10 minutes since I had no bag to claim, I entered the arrivals hall. I exited to the street outside, crossed to the parking garage, and took an elevator/lift down to the level marked “Metro”. Signs in the lower concourse led to the Metro entrance to the right.
Machine for recharging an electronic card.
Machine for purchasing a token/jeton
Machine for purchasing an electronic card
Purchasing your Jeton or Card
Machines dispense either a jeton (token, coin) or an electronic card. These machines do not take credit cards. You’ll need Turkish lira.
For lira, go to one of the many cash machines at the Metro entrance with your ATM or credit card. Ideally, withdraw 10 or 30 lira (5 or 15 dollars, more or less), which will generate paper bills for you that include a 10 lira note. If you withdraw 50, you will get one note that is 50 lira, which is rather inconvenient to use, and 60 might generate three 20s, but 70 should work. You want a 10 lira note for purchasing your fare.
Look for a staff person wearing a vest marked “Ask Me”. This person will speak English and can show you how to buy either a token/jeton or an electronic Metro card. The token will cost around 4 lira (roughly $2) and you will need at least two of them, one to get you into town, the other to take you back. Many take the Metro train and then switch to a surface tram to the key tourist areas, which would thus require four jetons round trip, i.e. 16 lira. You can buy more jetons at the station when you exit the first train, or you can perhaps more easily buy them all at once when you’re being helped by the “Ask Me” attendant, if you have enough lira.
Alternatively, as I did, ask the “Ask Me” attendant to help you purchase a Metro card for 10 lira, which includes 6 lira for the card plus 4 lira credit. The passage on the train will cost a bit over 2 lira, and the transfer to the tram (or to a bus) will cost a bit under 2 lira, roughly 4 lira to get you the whole distance. You get the transfer discount to the tram provided you accomplish the transfer with the card within 2 hours of paying the first fare.
The main reason to buy the card is that it’s easier to use. You touch it to a card reader, and it takes care of you. It works on the train, tram, and buses. It’s also a bit cheaper. For train-plus-tram round trip, you’ll pay 16 lira for jetons, buy only about 14 lira for the card plus credits. If you ride trams even more than that (convenient for navigating some of the hills around Sultanahmet), you’ll save even more with the card.
Boarding
If you’re using the electronic cards, there are yellow squares on the turnstiles of the train, at entrances to tram stations at the ends of the platforms, and by the drivers of buses. Hold your Metro card against those squares, a tone will sound, and you’ll be permitted entry. If it doesn’t work, just enter anyway if you can, and plead ignorance with a broad smile if an attendant calls you back. They’re pretty helpful, and very nice to ignorant tourists, particularly if it looks like you tried to do the right thing.
For jetons, look for a place to deposit it. There should be a slot somewhere.
Getting More Credit
For jetons, there is a jeton machine. Insert 4 lira and a jeton will pop out. If you insert 10, you’ll get two jetons and change. This will be what the attendant did back at the airport, so hopefully you watched closely.
There is a separate machine for cards. You place the card on the yellow square of the machine and leave it there. Ignore all the buttons and anything a recorded voice tries to tell you. Simply insert your money in the slot that shows a picture of money. Wait up to 30 seconds for it to register and say something nice to you in Turkish. Then take your card. If you’re not sure it worked, leave the card in place, turn to whoever is standing behind you, smile broadly and with hand language ask if it’s ok to take it.
If you like, check out some of the many YouTube videos many people have kindly posted about how to do all of the above!
Enjoying your day in Istanbul
It can take up to an hour to navigate everything and then travel into the city. I took the train to Zeytinburnu, exited the train turnstiles, then passed across the platform through the tram turnstiles, and boarded a tram heading toward Kabatas, transit around 45 minutes total. I exited the tram at Sultanahmet.
Lunch in one of the hundreds of lovely restaurants of the market area took about an hour. I then meandered down the street, following the tram tracks, all the way to the harbor. That could have been about a 20 minute walk, but I did a bit of shopping, so it took two hours.
At the harbor, I boarded the tram back up the hill and then all the way back to Zeytinburnu, where I again caught the train back to the airport, 45 minutes in total. Since I already had a boarding pass, and as my bags were already checked, I simple went through security, about 15 minutes, and was at my gate well in time for boarding.
