Dock Location in Istanbul

[Cubs Fan]

How far is the port dock from the city itself?  We are doing a pre-extension and we may have time on our own in Istanbul.  Thanks for all of the advice!

[PasadenaDave]

2 hours ago, Cubs Fan said:

How far is the port dock from the city itself?  We are doing a pre-extension and we may have time on our own in Istanbul.  Thanks for all of the advice!

Galataport is the cruise terminal.  This is in the city which is huge.  I’m not certain what you cal “the city itself”.  Istanbul is very congested and sometimes it can take forever to go only a few miles.

[Cubs Fan]

Thank you!

[milling73]

We were at Istanbul cruise port in January.  It is fabulous, looks new and sparkling shiny.  

Excursion buses are in underground garage terminal accessed through easy walking ramps from ship..  The garage is well-lit, white marble like floors that I swear you could eat off of. There were something like 13 buses lined up there on an excursion we took, and they only filled a small area.  Pretty impressive garage. 

 

Taxis also easily reached at that level:  short walk, well lit, and well-marked.  Plus there are attendants to direct you.

 

Above the underground garage area,  at the cruise port is a beautiful and modern shopping mall / restaurants / benches.  We were so impressed with that cruise terminal.  Awesome and thoughtful design and so very clean.

 

We loved Istanbul.  Whatever your expectations are, I guarantee you will be surprised.  It is an amazing city..crowded? yes, crazy traffic? totally....friendly people? yes, very.  Dirty? No...it is not.  historic? yes, scenic? absolutely.  We took the city hop-on/off bus, buying tickets at the bus. Something like $40 for 2 of us, and we got a box lunch!  (never offered that before on one).  We rode it for well over 3 hours..great fun, very scenic, and and very informative.  It goes all over the main city area and across bridges.  Best bargain in the city.  We saw a great deal.

[Mich3554]

17 hours ago, Cubs Fan said:

How far is the port dock from the city itself?  We are doing a pre-extension and we may have time on our own in Istanbul.  Thanks for all of the advice!

The city is not far from the port, however traffic can be horrendous at certain times of the day.  Also, the new airport is on the Black Sea side of the Bosphorus, so it can be a long ride into the city.  A few years ago, we flew to Istanbul to meet up with Turkish friends and go on vacation with them.  They picked us up from the airport, drove into the city.  We could see our hotel, but we’re in such a traffic jam that it took us over an hour to get to it.  My point is to just be aware and leave yourself a LOT more time than you think you should need…..especially if it’s during rush hour.

[photopro2]

If you are arriving independently at the port by taxi, it will probably drop you off in the underground section of the terminal. 

 

We decided to stay at a hotel nearby so we could walk into the port for embarkation. The entrance to the cruise terminal on foot was a bit tricky to find as it is in the middle of the shopping area, a couple of blocks back and at 90° to the Waterside. After asking for directions, we discovered it is on block D as I have shown using the red arrow on the map below.

 

I completely agree with the comments from @milling73 We found Istanbul to be fascinating and an easy place to organise a pre-stay for ourselves. The port is about a 45 minute walk from the Hagia Sophia  or 20 minutes via the safe and efficient public transport tram service. We walked to Topkapi Palace and on to the Hagia Sophia and had intended to get the tram for the return. However, we found wandering the local streets so interesting that we ended up walking all the way back to the port area, via the Spice Market, at the end of the day.

 

Edited May 15, 2023 by photopro2
typo

[Cienfuegos]

There's an excellent guide to the Galata cruise terminal here

 

https://istanbul-tourist-information.com/en/galataport-guide-istanbul/

[duquephart]

On 5/14/2023 at 10:26 AM, Mich3554 said:

The city is not far from the port, however traffic can be horrendous at certain times of the day.  Also, the new airport is on the Black Sea side of the Bosphorus, so it can be a long ride into the city.  A few years ago, we flew to Istanbul to meet up with Turkish friends and go on vacation with them.  They picked us up from the airport, drove into the city.  We could see our hotel, but we’re in such a traffic jam that it took us over an hour to get to it.  My point is to just be aware and leave yourself a LOT more time than you think you should need…..especially if it’s during rush hour.

 

How do the tours, private or otherwise, get around?

[Kanadamouse]

Hello, I hope it’s OK to jump on this thread. We’re planning to independently stay 2 extra nights in Istanbul, not the Viking extension,  after our Viking Adriatic Treasures cruise. Could anyone recommend any Istanbul hotels and how to best get to the airport after the 2 day stay? We’ve never been to Istanbul. I presume there’ll be a taxi queue to take us to our hotel when we disembark after the cruise. Many thanks. 

[Mich3554]

Istanbul’s new international airport is quite a distance from the port, and most of the attractions in Istanbul.  If you are staying at a hotel, they’ll call you a taxi to take you to the airport, they always have for us.  About hotels, you might want to check the likely hotel where Viking schedules extensions.  Once you know that, I assume that its a central location and look for other places nearby.
 

Ships dock at Galataport, which is a very nice, new facility with a huge shopping and restaurant area adjacent.  I do not remember seeing a taxi queue in front when we departed, but TBH I wasn’t looking for a taxi when we left the facility as we were walking to a place to meet up with Turkish friends.  
 

Also, it’s a very long walk to get out of Galataport.  

Edited October 2, 2023 by Mich3554

[MikeyB]

3 hours ago, Kanadamouse said:

Hello, I hope it’s OK to jump on this thread. We’re planning to independently stay 2 extra nights in Istanbul, not the Viking extension,  after our Viking Adriatic Treasures cruise. Could anyone recommend any Istanbul hotels and how to best get to the airport after the 2 day stay? We’ve never been to Istanbul. I presume there’ll be a taxi queue to take us to our hotel when we disembark after the cruise. Many thanks. 

First, forget where Viking schedules their extensions.  A criteria of being centrally located is never considered by Viking.  Last year, we stayed in Istanbul for 4 days on our own after a Viking cruise.

We stayed at the Hagia Sofia Mansion, a Hilton property.  Very centrally located.  Their Turkish breakfast was amazing.  Uber or something similar is not allowed in Istanbul.  There were taxi's in Galataport.  You must discuss the fare before leaving.  I paid $10 US for a 4.5 mile ride.  Going home, I took a cab thru the hotel that went to the Asia side.  It was a $35 US ride.  You are probably going to the new airport.

[Peekskill]

Glad to hear about Hagia Sofia Mansions. We're booked there for 3 nights proceeding the Ancient Mediterranean Antiquities cruise starting January 24th, 2024. We considered using the place Viking used for their 2 night preliminary tour but the Conrad Istanbul Bosphorous is not well located. Our hotel choice will allow us to walk all over the Sultanahmet area and adjacent sites. Should be great.

[Australia08]

Just got back from Istanbul. We did use Uber for relatively short 10-15 minute rides in Istanbul. I used the yellow cab option in my Uber App. The rides never cost more than $5 (although I booked them in Turkish lira). The app did not give me a definite price but a range (minimum to maximum). I was basically agreeing to the maximum, but it never actually came to that much. I got an email from Uber immediately at ride’s end to verify what was charged. As I said it was always less than the maximum. 
 

The only glitch was at the end of our vacation I figured I’d use it for our ride to the airport since it had been so reliable. The maximum quote was 795 lira which was fine by us. Once we were in the cab and driving, the driver said it was a trip on the “autobahn” so he needed 400 lira more. We said no and I showed him the max on the app. He was unhappy but kept driving. At the airport he asked for the extra 400 in cash. We said no and showed him the app max total again. When I walked in the airport I noticed my email from Uber saying I’d been charged 1500 lira. I called my credit card company right away to report it. The agent got Uber on the line right away with me and they said they’d immediately have it investigated and be back with me as soon as possible. My credit card agent who had remained on the line told me if it wasn’t rectified to my satisfaction to call him again. Within 3 hours, I had a text from Uber saying that the charge had been revised to 700 lira. I was happy with such a quick response.  I had heard from other travelers we met on the trip that the airport taxis in general were problematic so maybe they feel it is easier to scam on the longer runs, but my experience with Uber in town was fine. 

[Kentishincanada]

We stayed independently for four nights prior to our Viking cruise last year.  We stayed at Sirkeci Mansion Hotel and found it wonderful.  Apart from being relatively inexpensive we didn’t need to take any taxis and walked to all the attractions as itmwas in the old part of town -we could actually see the Topkapi gardens from our hotel.  The breakfast was amazing, although they did not cater for evening meals - a few steps to good restaurants.  The hotel arranged our taxi from the airport and even sent us a video showing where we should walk when we arrived at the airport.  The staff cannot help enough and we would award Sirkeci Mansion 10 stars if we could.

 

Now, Galataport was quite a different experience.  It may have improved since last year, however there was a lot of walking.  Again, the hotel arranged our taxi to the port but after arrival we walked over 8,000 steps before we were actually on the ship and there certainly seemed an excess of security.

 

All in all, we loved Istanbul, the hotel, the food and for a couple of 70+ oldies we found getting about easy and we felt very safe.

[Kanadamouse]

Thank you everyone for all your helpful Istanbul recommendations. It’s great to have personal advice.