Anyone have issues with taxis -- either safety or waits -- at the Airport. I'm getting into Istanbul at 4 pm after a transatalantic flight and really don't want to wait in a line or get hassled when I'm half asleep.
I've heard the taxis from the airport are fine. As are typically the ones from hotels. However taxis in tourist areas run a couple of scams. I know because I feel victim to them unfortunately.
1. Meter fixing. It's isn't as common as it used to be apparently when they used to be a night and a day rate but it still happens. Be wary of taxis with the meter placed in front of the gear shift. One scam is that the driver will position his hand so it's very difficult to see and follow the rate. In addition they will distract you by pointing out something and do something to the meter. And voila your ride that should cost 25 lira now cots 55... Newer taxis have the meter integrated into the mirro which makes this scam more difficult.
2. Swapping of bills these guys must be magicians or something. During a taxi ride MrsFDW handed me a 50 lira bill. I went to pay the fare and he did some sort of slight of hand and said this is only 5. I was a bit confused with the money so I thought maybe I had only given him a 5. Nope turns out I got scammed. From then I followed each bill into the drivers hand and would say here's twenty etc. in addition I made sure I had small bills to pay the taxi fares.
Not a scam but the driver will say something like Istanbul traffic really bad. Fare will be 30 lira. Get out if you can. Most fares are no more than 20. This was a problem at the chora church because all the taxis there were running the same story.
Yeah I've traveled a lot but these guys here are some of the slimiest cab drivers I've ever experienced. Some of them might not want to drive you up to the hotel for fear that you'll enlist their help. I found at Istanbul feels very safe but that a few bad apples can leave a sour taste.
Just what I've encountered I know most of the 20000 taxi drivers here are honest but its important to watch out.
In other advice do not order museum tickets online from the muze.gov.tr site. Apparently the barcode they use is very finicky and we had no luck getting any of the tickets to work. Furthermore no one at the site seems empowered to fix the problem. So instead of saving time by using e-ticketing it actually cost us time and money. One thing that just came out for foreigners in Sept is the muze card option which is 72 lira for 72 hours of access. That is probably something worth looking into.
So the way I figure, Istanbul owes me at least 175 lira between the taxi scams and the failed e tickets.
FDW