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| German Fountain at Sultanahmet Square |
My itchy feet is back and this time I would like to share some tips and trick to those who plan to visit or transit in Istanbul. I have written about cool places you can visit in Istanbul and shared some colourful snapshots taken during my last excursions in this city. Surely you can explore so many exotic and historical spots in this very city.
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| New Istanbul Airpost |
Let me now share specifically about the new Istanbul airport and how to get around from here, especially to tourists' favorite, Sultanahmet area.
As you now, as of April 2019, the new Istanbul airport has been opened and operating.
Claimed as the biggest airport in the world, covering more than 76 million square meters, it can accommodate 200 million visitors once all its facilities are fully operating.
I am so accustomed to the old airport and find it easy to travel around, especially down town to Sultanahmet area where most of the historical landmarks are located. But since the new airport has just opened and started operating, my last trip to Geneve with Turkish Airlines gave me the chance to enjoy this new airport. It is indeed huge and I like the fact that it has more facilities, shops and cafes inside. The masjid or the praying room is abundant and nicely arranged. They have more lounges, including Turkish Airlines, be it business class as well as for Star Alliancegood card members. All in all, I do enjoy the new airport.
And correct me if I'm wrong, I thought some of the Turkish souvenirs, particularly traditional food and beverages, are even cheaper compared to the prices for similar items in old airport. This is indeed something good for tourists like me who love shopping!
Claimed as the biggest airport in the world, covering more than 76 million square meters, it can accommodate 200 million visitors once all its facilities are fully operating.
I am so accustomed to the old airport and find it easy to travel around, especially down town to Sultanahmet area where most of the historical landmarks are located. But since the new airport has just opened and started operating, my last trip to Geneve with Turkish Airlines gave me the chance to enjoy this new airport. It is indeed huge and I like the fact that it has more facilities, shops and cafes inside. The masjid or the praying room is abundant and nicely arranged. They have more lounges, including Turkish Airlines, be it business class as well as for Star Alliancegood card members. All in all, I do enjoy the new airport.
And correct me if I'm wrong, I thought some of the Turkish souvenirs, particularly traditional food and beverages, are even cheaper compared to the prices for similar items in old airport. This is indeed something good for tourists like me who love shopping!
The New Istanbul Airport is located in Tayakadin Mahallesi, Terminal Caddesi no. 1, 34283, Istanbul
Now the question is how I can reach Sultanahmet area and other parts of Istanbul from the new airport.
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| Where do you want to go today? |
As we traveled together with 3 other friends of mine, we had fun exploring this new airport. After getting off the plane (we walked quite far from the gate to the immigration check point) and passed the immigration check point (we used diplomatic passport is it was way short and faster than the others, we directly went out to the arrival hall. Here you can see some restaurants, banks and money changer counters as well as other facilities like bag drops.
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| Many passengers heading to the same place |
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| where you can get the ticket or Istanbul card |
We asked one of the officials with 'ask me' vest about the transportation to the city and he told us about the bus service on the basement. The bus service is called Havaist. It has around 19 stops or destinations and Sultanahmet is stop number 16. This route will stop at 3 places, namely Pyalepasa, Eminonu (where the Spice Bazaar is located) and Sultanahmet. We use Istanbul Card for this trip. You will have to pay TL (Turkish Lira) 6 for the card and the trip from the airport to Sultanahmet and vice versa is TL 18/trip. So, in the beginning, you don't have Istanbul Card before, you will have to spend around TL 42 to go back and forth from the airport. That is quite costly but that's the cheapest choice we have at this moment. So make sure you have enough money in your Istanbul Card when you tap it on the bus.
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| Some other destinations |
The trip took around 50 minutes. It was 8 AM in the morning so I suppose the trip will be longer once the traffic starts in Istanbul.
We stopped exactly at the Sultanahmet square, between Blue Mosque and Hagia Sofia.
Such a strategic place for tourists like us!
You wan get on the buss heading back to the airport from the same spot as well. they have the bus every 20 minutes and it is on time.
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| Peron 16 for Sultanahmet Area and Eminonu |
So, that how to go to Sultanahmet Area from New Istanbul Airport.
I sincerely hope you can find this post useful.
Let me know if you might have some addition or updated information.
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Happy shopping at Istanbul :)
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Happy traveling and see you on the next post!
