Transfer from Galataport Cruise Terminal to IST airport

[Kibble]

Does anyone have a recommendation for a private transfer from the Istanbul cruise terminal to the IST airport?  Our cruise docks at 9 am and our flight home departs at 3 pm. We are looking for a couple hour sightseeing option  so that we can be at the airport by noon. 
 

Also, when we arrive in Istanbul we are thinking of just taking a taxi from IST  to our hotel in Sultanahmet  versus prebooking a private transfer. Any thoughts on that as well would be appreciated!

 

[John Bull]

Pre-booking a private transfer is cheaper than hailing a taxi, and with the certainty of a fixed price. We've done that twice, no problem.

Certainly don't just jump into a taxi without negotiating - that particularly applies from the cruise terminal, where taxi drivers feel that they can hold you to ransom.

 

Your time will evaporate between ship arrival & flight departure.

Whilst the tram from cruise terminal to Sultanahmet is convenient, cheapest & usually quickest you have luggage to consider and a diversion to the left-luggage facility at Sirkeci train station (or a return to the cruise port if it has a left-luggage facility) will eat further into your limited time. Added to that, Sultanahmet is best visited on foot (your arrival day?).

I think a pre-booked tour-transfer to the airport is your best bet. Direct it's about 40 minutes, but perhaps a mazy route alongside the Bosphorus taking  around 90 minutes?  Others can probably suggest better alternatives.

 

JB 🙂

Edited August 9, 2022 by John Bull

[roger b]

46 minutes ago, John Bull said:

Pre-booking a private transfer is cheaper than hailing a taxi, and with the certainty of a fixed price. We've done that twice, no problem.

Certainly don't just jump into a taxi without negotiating - that particularly applies from the cruise terminal, where taxi drivers feel that they can hold you to ransom.

 

Your time will evaporate between ship arrival & flight departure.

Whilst the tram from cruise terminal to Sultanahmet is convenient, cheapest & usually quickest you have luggage to consider and a diversion to the left-luggage facility at Sirkeci train station (or a return to the cruise port if it has a left-luggage facility) will eat further into your limited time. Added to that, Sultanahmet is best visited on foot (your arrival day?).

I think a pre-booked tour-transfer to the airport is your best bet. Direct it's about 40 minutes, but perhaps a mazy route alongside the Bosphorus taking  around 90 minutes?  Others can probably suggest better alternatives.

 

JB 🙂

What ever you decide  you can add on a 32 min walk haif

 in the sun half underground,  this the longest walk i have had to do to get to the exit of the cruise terminal in 40 years of cruising !!

[IWantToLiveOverTheSea]

On 8/9/2022 at 5:58 AM, roger b said:

What ever you decide  you can add on a 32 min walk haif

 in the sun half underground,  this the longest walk i have had to do to get to the exit of the cruise terminal in 40 years of cruising !!

Galataport was a pain in the butt for embarking.  Glad we didn't disembark there!   It sure is a nice looking terminal, though!

[IWantToLiveOverTheSea]

We used a service from the airport in Istanbul to a hotel in Sultanahmet in May.  We still had to wait a bit for them to pick us up, so I don't know if pre-booking will really save you time or not. But then our luggage didn't make it, so we were a bit late for pickup after making a claim at Lufthansa's baggage room.  Perhaps they had to use our driver for someone else.  In any case, we came out of the airport at the door instructed by Efendi, and saw someone with a sign with our name on it.  That person instructed us to sit nearby for a little while until the driver came.  I guess we waited maybe 15 minutes.  The company was Efendi Travel, and I think they do taxi/tours as well as taxi service.  They charged me US$45 including tax, prepaid by credit card, which was around 42 euros at the time. Our hotel offered to send a taxi for around the same amount.  At least the Efendi Travel driver had no problem finding our very small hotel on a one way street.  Our hotel had given us instructions in Turkish to give any taxi drivers we used, as some streets in that area of Sultanahmet can be challenging. 

 

 You may want to ask your hotel if they recommend a particular company.  But overall we were pleased with Efendi.  

Edited October 1, 2022 by IWantToLiveOverTheSea

[Nachosdelux]

I just (last week) took a taxi from Galataport Istanbul Cruise Terminal to the Istanbul Airport (IST) and it was a fixed rate of 50 Euros (about $50 US) , which I though was reasonable given the distance.

Edited October 24, 2022 by Nachosdelux

[Steerpike58]

On 8/9/2022 at 2:58 AM, roger b said:

What ever you decide  you can add on a 32 min walk haif

 in the sun half underground,  this the longest walk i have had to do to get to the exit of the cruise terminal in 40 years of cruising !!

We just disembarked at Galataport.  The 32 minutes sounds right; the 'half in the sun' part sounds odd, though - almost the entire walk seemed to be underground, in long, featureless passageways that seemed designed to accommodate the biggest crowd of the century!  It's even worse when you return to the port from 'outside'.  They force you to walk through a duty-free shop that is utterly deserted! 

[IWantToLiveOverTheSea]

On 10/30/2022 at 2:37 PM, Steerpike58 said:

We just disembarked at Galataport.  The 32 minutes sounds right; the 'half in the sun' part sounds odd, though - almost the entire walk seemed to be underground, in long, featureless passageways that seemed designed to accommodate the biggest crowd of the century!  It's even worse when you return to the port from 'outside'.  They force you to walk through a duty-free shop that is utterly deserted! 

I walked out with no luggage in about 5 minutes, possibly 10 in May, but that was without luggage, and just to sightsee, not disembark. And I was walking fairly fast and just taking the escalators down, down, down.  Then it took another 5 minutes to get out because my key card didn't work and another 5 minutes to figure out where I was once I got outside.  Coming back in was a lot easier.

 

But other people have wondered where disembarkation ends up when you are catching a cab.  Is it underground?  Is there any signage, either for passengers or for cab drivers?  Is it in the basement of Galataport or somewhere outside?