early am arrival in Istanbul

[bcnvcanada]

Please to assist, we will be arriving around 1:00am in Istanbul> We can board our ship about 11:00am. Suggestion what to do? Is there a hotel

at the airport? Also what is the easiest way to get from airport to cruise port?

Thanking you for help.

[Hlitner]

WOW! We cannot imagine putting ourselves into such a situation (arriving in Istanbul at 1am). Assuming your flight is on time (flights later in the day have increased odds of being late) you will probably not get out of the airport until 2am! So unless you want to sleep in the airport terminal (assuming they do not kick you out) or on the streets you will want to book a hotel. There are a few places near the airport such as the WOW and we would be looking for a place very close to the airport. That being said, we would never book that flight in first place.

 

Hank

[Shorex]

Whenever it's time to leave the airport or an airport hotel for the cruise port, have a private car arranged to take you. Do not take a taxi, the ripoffs are pervasive.

 

We have used Efendi Travel for transfers. There are other reliable transfer companies you will find on Trip Advisor.

 

Personally, I would chose to arrange for pickup upon arrival at the airport and transfer to a hotel close to cruise port. You'll get some sleep and a shower to be fresh for boarding. You would be also be close to the port at boarding time and you avoid the heavy Istanbul daytime traffic. Taksim Square hotels are close to the port.

[hawkeyetlse]

WOW! We cannot imagine putting ourselves into such a situation (arriving in Istanbul at 1am).

A lot of flights arrive at IST after midnight, it's nothing out of the ordinary. The airport will be bustling. There is not much practical difference between arriving at 1am vs 1pm (except that public transport into the city is not an option after midnight).

 

I agree with Shorex: get a hotel in town near the cruise terminal, not near the airport. Make sure the reception is open all night and warn them of your late arrival. They may offer an airport pick-up service, but if not, or if it is too expensive, there are many transfer services that routinely operate at this hour.

[bcnvcanada]

Thanks for the advise. Since we are flying non stop on BA from the west

coast, we have opted to stay at the hotel in terminal 5 overnight. This

will give us an afternoon arrival. We could change the tickets because they

were business. We will arrange for a car and driver to take us to the

cruise port. Again, thanks for everyone's input.

[dln929]

Thanks for the advise. Since we are flying non stop on BA from the west

coast, we have opted to stay at the hotel in terminal 5 overnight. This

will give us an afternoon arrival. We could change the tickets because they

were business. We will arrange for a car and driver to take us to the

cruise port. Again, thanks for everyone's input.

 

You could take a taxi. They're not all crooks. It costs roughly 50 Turkish lira to go from the airport to the port. Agree upon the price before setting off though.

[Hlitner]

You could take a taxi. They're not all crooks. It costs roughly 50 Turkish lira to go from the airport to the port. Agree upon the price before setting off though.

 

On our several visits to Istanbul (including multiple hotel stays) we have been looking for the honest taxi. One of our hotel doormen did assure us that there was ONE honest taxi in town and he had been trying to find it all his life :). We love this city but would still not want to arrive at 1am. On the other hand, 1 AM is better then not arriving at all.

 

Hank

[dln929]

On our several visits to Istanbul (including multiple hotel stays) we have been looking for the honest taxi. One of our hotel doormen did assure us that there was ONE honest taxi in town and he had been trying to find it all his life :). We love this city but would still not want to arrive at 1am. On the other hand, 1 AM is better then not arriving at all.

 

Hank

 

 

There are lots of airports in this world that would be dead quiet at 1 am but IST is definitely not one of them. We had a 6 am departure out of IST last week and arrived at the airport shortly before 4 am and the place was hopping. It will be easy for the OP to get a taxi to a hotel even in the middle of the night. One bonus of an arrival time like that is the lack of traffic jams getting into the city. ;)

 

We stayed at the Karakoy Rooms Hotel nearby the port and it was the loveliest hotel and reasonably priced, too. The breakfast (included in room rate) was delicious.