1. Passport control and baggage
Follow the signs for international arrivals to passport control. Check before you fly whether you need a visa: many nationalities can apply for an e-Visa online in a few minutes. After passport control comes baggage reclaim, then customs, and then the arrivals hall. At busy times the whole process can take 45 minutes or more, which is why we track your flight and include 60 minutes of free waiting after landing.
2. SIM card and money
The mobile operators have shops in the arrivals hall where you can buy a tourist SIM card with your passport, or you can set up an eSIM before you travel. ATMs and exchange offices are there too; rates are usually better in the city, so change only what you need for the first day.
3. Where your driver waits
Your driver waits in the arrivals hall, at the exit you name on booking (usually Exit 13), holding a sign with your name. Your driver has your flight number, so a delay does not change anything for you.
4. Getting to the city
- Private transfer: the car waits for you, the price is fixed and you go straight to your hotel. Taksim is about 42 km (55 minutes), Sultanahmet about 48 km. With us: Taksim €42, Sultanahmet €46 per car.
- Metro: the M11 line runs to Gayrettepe, where you change to the M2 for Taksim. Cheap, but with changes and stairs.
- Havaist bus: buses to Taksim, Sultanahmet and other districts; you still walk from the stop to your hotel.
- Taxi rank: no booking, but often a queue and a meter that runs in traffic.
All prices from the airport are on our Istanbul Airport taxi page.