For our trip to Southeast Asia, we booked a roundtrip flight from Miami, Florida to Kuala Lumpur, Indonesia specifically to take advantage of Touristanbul, a stopover program in Istanbul offered by Turkish Airlines. Eligible tickets are prominently marked with a Touristanbul sign on Turkish Airlines’ website.
In a nutshell, if you have a layover exceeding 6 hours, you can take a free guided tour, by bus, of selected sites in Istanbul. Or, if your layover exceeds 20 hours, you have the option of a free hotel room voucher. You can select only one of these options.
Our flight to Kuala Lumpur had a 20 hour layover in Istanbul. On this trip, we just wanted to get off the plane and spend the night at a conveniently located airport hotel, which we did at the Hampton by Hilton Arnavutkoy (which is a mere two metro stations away from the airport, IST, Istanbul Havalimani).
For our return flight we scheduled a 40 hour layover in Istanbul and obtained a free hotel room voucher at Eresin Hotel Topkapi. We chose this hotel, outside the tourist zone, specifically because it is located across the street from a stop on one of the two main tram lines that pass through Sultanahmet, the historic district of Istanbul. Only a few of the participating hotels are convenient to public transportation leading directly to the historic district.
Our plane landed in Istanbul at 6:00 AM, which is 10:00 AM Indochina Time (Southeast Asia time zone). We rested reasonably well on the flight and were wide awake and ready to go.
Taxis and airport transfers to and from the city center cost about $40 each way. Another option is the metro, which costs only about $1 for a ride but can be crowded and, depending on your final destination, likely requires several transfers just to get close.
There is a third option, hopping onto a Havaist bus, which is only about $7.50 per person each way. Plan this option in advance, because Havaist bus routes are limited. And you still have to get from a bus stop to your final destination. For us there was a route that worked well, and the bus seemed to be a good compromise between an expensive taxi ride or a multiple transfer metro ride with luggage.
We took the Havaist bus going to the Aksaray Metro station, exiting one stop early at Ulubatli. From there we had only a 10 minute walk to the Eresin Hotel Topaki, arriving at the hotel about 9:00 AM. We got lucky. A room was ready and we checked in early.
As an aside, apparently when boarding the bus we should have told the driver that we were not going to end of the line at Aksaray Metro. When we stepped off the bus at Ulubatli, we discovered that our two suitcases were buried under a lot of luggage. Why the suitcases were stacked up into a pile in a corner of the luggage hold when there was plenty of room to spread it out is beyond me. Anyway, after a minute or two of dirty looks and mutterings in Turkish from the driver, we had our suitcases.
By 10:00 AM we were on the tram heading to the historic district. The machines selling tram tickets have an English language option and are pretty self-explanatory and easy to use. We took the tram across the Golden Horn Estuary to the Tophane stop. Our plan was to see the Galata Kulesi (Galata Tower) before walking back to Sultanahmet.
First we stopped for an early lunch at Park Kebap Pide & Lahmacun. Excellent food and reasonably priced, just outside a tourist area. From there it is a short walk to the Galata Kulesi. I had high hopes to climb the tower, until I saw the €30 ticket fee. I don’t think so.
At this point I should mention that we did not visit many of the major sights in Istanbul. Each is incredibly expensive without a discount. The Topkapı Sarayı Müzesi (Topkapi Palace Museum) is €40 per person and the Ayasofya-i Kebir Cami-i Şerifi (the Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque), at least the part you can walk into, is €25 per person.
Istanbul knows how to separate tourists from their money.
We haven’t done the math, but I’m pretty sure an Istanbul Tourist Pass and/or a Museum Pass Istanbul is worth buying if you are in the city for several days.
After the five minute walk around the base of the Galata Kulesi, we jumped back on the tram to go Gülhane Park. It was a nice day out. Instead of the tram we should have walked back across the estuary on the Galata Köprüsü (Galata Bridge). There is a wide path for walkers, bikers, and fishermen.
Gülhane Park is where our problems started. For the next several hours – basically during our entire time in the historic district – we were constantly being solicited to buy something. Usually carpets, sometime spices.
It starts with an innocent series of questions while you are walking: How are you? Where are you from? Is this your first time in Istanbul? The people are very friendly here. Do you like the city? You will love it. Where are you going? Great, I will walk with you. I have been to the United States. I liked my visit there. How many days will you be in Istanbul? Have you tried the baklava?
At some point you have to stop for some reason or another and then you are cornered. The sales pitch starts in earnest: You came to Türkiye, so you must want to buy a carpet. I have a carpet shop nearby and I will show you my carpets. All hand made. We will go there now. You will love it. What size carpet are you buying? I sell all sizes. How many carpets are you buying?
Basically you are forced to make a choice. Be rude, or be stuck in a 10 minute conversation that you have zero interest in having.
I know what you’re thinking. Don’t be rude. Just have a 10 minute conversation. That’s not too much to ask. That’s what we thought at first, too. We were wrong. Because you will not have one 10 minute conversation. You will have 10 minute conversations repeatedly until you finally flee the area.
One, these guys are convinced they’ll make a sale if they keep you talking and get you into their store. Two, it is exceptionally difficult to convince them that they’re wrong. There is no quit in them. Three, there are a hell of a lot of these guys roaming around and as soon as you shake one off, another appears.
To their credit, these guys are not threatening, harassing, or intimidating … just incredibly irritating. I suspect they’re paid a commission by the actual store owners because they’ve got the sales hustle down.
In Gülhane Park we only had one seller after us. We took a side street for the five minute walk to Hagia Sophia, blissfully seller free. From there to the Tomb of Sultan Ahmed I, a slow three minute walk, two sellers. To the Sultanahmet Camii (the Blue Mosque), which is literally around the corner, two more sellers.
Both the Tomb of Sultan Ahmed I and the Blue Mosque are free to enter and definitely worth walking through. The buildings are fascinating. Appropriate dress is required. At the Blue Mosque free loaner scarves for women are available at a counter just before you enter.
We thought we’d get a reprieve from the sellers inside the Blue Mosque. Nope, we got solicited there as well. Then a couple of more times as we walked down the street towards Kapalı Çarşı (the Grand Bazaar). One was a repeat. Since we weren’t buying carpets, he decided to give us a sales pitch on spices.
By this time I was out of patience.
To get a break from the sales pitches, we decided to stop in a reasonably priced place to get a Coke and baklava. In the tourist zone. I don’t know what we were thinking. Prices in Istanbul’s tourist zone are insanely high.
Near the Grand Bazaar, after looking at one restaurant’s menu, I flat out told the host that I wasn’t going to pay $4 for an 11 ounce can of Coke and $8 for a small portion of baklava. He loudly yelled something in Turkish implying that we were not welcome to buy overpriced Cokes and baklava from his place anyway.
We compounded our error by actually going into the Grand Bazaar. At the time I remember thinking that this was stupid, considering how much I hated the constant sales pitches. The bazaar is semi-interesting, but really just a giant strip mall with a very modern look and feel. Think tons of small stores frequented by tour groups. I don’t know what I expected, but it wasn’t shiny strip mall.
I did not take any photographs inside the bazaar because I was unwilling to stop long enough to do so. I did insult a few more sellers by refusing to stop and talk. Stephanie was trying to remain polite even as I was walking away as quickly as possible.
Our experience probably would have been completely different if we didn’t scream American tourists on vacation with discretionary cash. If we were wearing all black, with Stephanie in a hijab, we might have been left alone.
In hindsight taking a Touristanbul bus tour may have been the better option for our stopover. I bet the folks on the tour groups don’t get solicited as much because they’re in a group, listening to a headset, and on a set schedule. Basically not worth hustling.
If you have not figured out by now, the constant sales pitches nearly ruined the enjoyment of being in Istanbul. It was a fairly miserable few hours. We couldn’t walk down the sidewalk without a tag along, nor could we stop outside a store or restaurant without being swarmed.
After leaving the Grand Bazaar, we high-tailed it out of the tourist zone to get dinner. We relaxed and settled down once we could look at a restaurant menu without triggering a rush of people around us from multiple businesses.
Finally we found what we were looking for all afternoon, Baklava Çobanoğlu, a pastry shop specializing in baklava. While perusing the options we were each given a free Lokma (basically a donut hole) to eat. By then we were hooked. The baklava was a much more reasonable $3.25 per portion. Two orders of baklava, with two complimentary bottles of water, and half an hour of peace and quiet sitting in the back room returned us to some sense of normalcy.
Outside the tourist zone the locals are super friendly and helpful. And the prices are normal, basically similar to prices in the United States.
I’m not sure how high Istanbul, Türkiye was on our list of places to go in the near future, but it dropped quite a few positions. Maybe we’ll do another Touristanbul stop just to dash into the Topkapi Palace Museum and Hagia Sophia. Then again, maybe not.
Our one day in Istanbul ended when we arrived back at the hotel about 5:30 PM, exhausted from jet lag, but more so fighting off sellers all day. Neither of us had the wherewithal to venture out for dinner or more sightseeing in the evening. We even broke down and ordered a private transfer to the airport the next morning for $40 instead of taking the Havaist bus.
Garrett and Stephanie
P.S. This flight earned us enough miles with Turkish Airlines to order almost $200 worth of Airbnb and Amazon gift cards when we got home. That’s nearly a 10% rebate, which was pretty nice.
For additional posts about our travels elsewhere in the world, check out our Travel Blog. It contains collected links to all of our travel posts.
Want to subscribe (or unsubscribe) for email notification of new blog posts? It is only two to three emails a month. Send your name and email address to slowtravelchronicles@gmail.com, and note subscribe (or unsubscribe) in the subject line. All email addresses will be kept confidential and not sold to any third-party. You won’t get any marketing junk or sales pitches from us.