Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles - 6 1/2 hrs in IST

I am flying YYZ-IST-HKG. The first leg is C, the 2nd F. It is a 6 and 1/2 hour time between planes. Does anyone know if I can get a tour arranged to see some Istanbul sights even though it is under the 7 hours? I would love to leave the airport and check out the city. Is it worth contacting TK? I learned about that from this site and really appreciate all the info available.

I am flying YYZ-IST-HKG. The first leg is C, the 2nd F. It is a 6 and 1/2 hour time between planes. Does anyone know if I can get a tour arranged to see some Istanbul sights even though it is under the 7 hours? I would love to leave the airport and check out the city. Is it worth contacting TK? I learned about that from this site and really appreciate all the info available.

Just take a taxi to "Sultanahmet", it's a 30 minute drive. All the highlights are in that area.

IST is a wee way outside Istanbul but as dabears says, you want to head for Sultanahmet. You will have to pay for a visa and will have to pay for taxis - and please don't imaging that Istanbul is cheap. Your trip will be expensive, but could be pretty good fun.

I would go for a visit to the Basilica Cistern - an underground cavern of columns that was shown in a James Bond film (You Only Live Twice); take another taxi to the spice market and buy Turkish Delight; and then sit for a while watching the Bosphorus before heading back to the airport.

Other options include:

The Turkish Baths by the Grand Bazaar - steamy massage on the stone slab under a domed roof (assuming you are male - forget it if female) where it's quite pricey and you will need to tip

Aya Sofia church and, if time allows, the Blue Mosque

A boat, any boat, on the Bosphorus

Real Turkish food

Any of these options will be much more fun if you do them for yourself rather than on a bus tour.

Cheap and expensive are relative. The taxi ride will cost him a whopping 35 TL or so in each direction, so a bit less than $50 round trip. While twice what it would have cost just 2-3 years ago, it is about a third of what he'd pay in Toronto for a similar distance to/fr the airport.

Aye - about 70 YTL for taxis - plus any extra taxi transfers in the city, plus visa, plus entry fees, plus food and drink. In return you'll get 3 hours to look around. I'd do it myself, but people mistakenly think that Turkey is giveaway cheap - it really isn't.

Its TL, hasn't been YTL for almost 2 years now.

Its TL, hasn't been YTL for almost 2 years now.

Almost one year - but point taken.