sushimaru

It leaves on the same day (28/Oct). It's a daily flight.

largeeyes

The other one leaves KUL on Oct 27, arrives 28th. The one I posted leaves and arrives 28th. I'll take a look.

DinoKev

Hi I have a long layover (20+ hrs) at IST on 30 Oct, I'm thinking of joining the 9am-6pm tour. Rather than going back to the airport before 6pm, I'm thinking of breaking off from the tour and continue exploring until night time and get back to the airport myself as my next flight is at 1am midnight, not sure whether it's possible tho.

If anyone is having a layover or joining the tour on the same day do hit me up =)

flo-e

So I had a 10.5hrs layover in IST today connecting from MIA to SIN on TK (bad flight timings but the price was tough to beat).

I proceeded straight to the hotel desk where a grumpy lady processed me without saying much and told me to wait "over there". After about 35mins, I went to enquire and was told 2mins. Asked again 10mins later and was told 2mins. I then asked for my boarding pass to be returned, cancelled the hotel and instead took the metro downtown and had a great time soaking in the Saturday evening atmosphere in town.

Is it common to wait quite a while to be told when you're going where?

davethegr8

Can someone give me some advice please? I have two options from Bangkok with one arriving at 5 pm same day and one arriving at 5 am next day. I would be connecting to Toronto departing at 2:15 pm. I see there is a free tour that leaves at 8:30 am till 11 am. If I decide to take the arrival at 5 pm for an overnight, can I still go back to the airport the next day and take advantage of this free tour? Is it worth staying overnight on a Monday in July?

segacs

You wouldn't be eligible for the free hotel if you take the 5pm for the overnight, because of the shorter connection option. However, the tour is open to anyone, so you can definitely pay for your own hotel and then take the tour. Note that you'll need a Turkish visa to go landside.

PVDtoDEL

With such limited time, you're probably better off booking the longer connection and then wandering around Sultanahmet yourself.

md125

Post-trip update:

I went on the tour with my family on August 15. We ended up with a 23.5 hour layover, arriving at 9 PM Aug 14 and leaving 8:30 PM Aug 15. We checked all of our bags through, which turned out to be the right choice, by far.

We self-booked a cheap hotel near the airport for Sunday evening. At ~$68 for the whole family, it was far cheaper to book a hotel and get the free tour than get a hotel and pay for a tour.

We had no trouble getting in to the airport on Monday morning and qualifying for the tour. The tour itself filled two coach buses. We were dropped off for breakfast near the Old City, and the rest of the day was a walking tour from that point. Half the group went back on one bus after lunch, and the rest of us spent the afternoon in the market before going back to the airport.

If we hadn't checked our bags through, they would have stayed on the bus and been moved around by local staff since the bus taking us back to the airport wasn't the same one we came on. It was nice not to have to deal with that. Luckily, it all magically appeared on the belt at our final destination, a day and a half after we left Paris

One thing to note. The roads leading into the airport were very crowded due to the security situation, as was the security line itself at the airport. They seemed to cut the tour a bit from the itinerary on line to get us back a bit earlier. We saw most of what was on the itinerary, but there was at least on attraction that we walked past without going in, and no comment from the guide.

Overall though, great tour if you have or can work out a layover that works with their schedules.

segacs

Thanks for the detailed trip report!

I have a 21-hour layover coming up in Istanbul in a few weeks (Saturday night to Sunday afternoon). Based on everything I'm reading, I'm considering foregoing the hotel *or* tour and just doing my own thing.

My reasoning is: Since my second flight leaves at 3pm, the only tour I could hypothetically do would be the 8:30am-11am "sightseeing tour", which doesn't appear to take in many of the major sites in the Old City. I'm also not keen on bus tours in general. I prefer to walk around at my own pace, taking things in, photographing architecture, etc. I realize on a Sunday, the Grand Bazaar will be closed, but I figure I can keep busy for a morning seeing other things in the area.

Meanwhile, the free hotel is likely to be near the airport, with inconvenient transit to get to/from the city. With the low price of hotels right now, I figure I can book something nice and inexpensive in the Sultenahmet area, and then spend the morning wandering around sightseeing on my own before taking the metro back to the airport (hopefully bypassing the traffic in the process). I'll be jetlagged flying back from the east, so I figure if I get to sleep early, I can wake up early and maybe even get some nice sunrise photos.

Can anyone who's been to Istanbul comment on whether this is a decent strategy for a first-time visitor to the city? Or is there any value in taking advantage of the tour, or the hotel?

fumje

Will the hotel request be declined with an economy ticket on a 9h55m layover? (I imagine so. )

Follow-up question: is the 0900-1500 tour a bad idea with a 1600 departure?

edit: flying w/ *G status (via UA), if that has any bearing.

md125

On our tour, someone wanted to stay later and they were told that it wouldn't be a problem, just let them know (and of course, find your own way back to the airport, which isn't difficult either by taxi or metro).

DinoKev

Thanks md125. I've been on the tour on 30 Oct. Went to the TK hotel desk and they only asked for the outbound boarding pass without even asking for my inbound tickets or anything.

So for those who are asking whether you can join the tour if your layover is more than 24 hours, technically you can just present you boarding pass within 24 hours and they will most likely let you join too as they don't often check your connecting time.

thefilipinotraveler

I did the 8:30-11am tour last Sunday as I had a lay over of 7 hours. I wasn't sure if I was also entitled for a free hotel since my layover is more than 7 hrs although I really wanted to take the tour so did not inquire abt it. There were about 60 of us and we had 2 buses, had 2 stops, first in Galatea Bridge for about 10mins and then in Dolmabahce Palace where we were given 35mins. It was a nice tour but would definitely recommend the longer tours if your schedule fits as you will be able to see more.

vincewy

TK12 - TK52, scheduled layover time at IST, 17:30 - 2:25 am (almost 9 hours), flying in J.
Thanks for the feedback, took the hotel option instead, and it's definitely worth it even with a few hours of rest and shower in the hotel rather than the lounge (this also helps filling up hotel rooms in Istanbul).

The only minor issue is time needed to get this done, 30 min immigration even at J queue (much longer at regular queue), 30 min waiting for hotel arrangement, 30 min traffic on the expressway, got to the hotel at 7 pm (Mercure) and ready to leave shortly.

I am scheduled to be picked up at 11:00 pm, IMO, way too early as I can just walz through special queue next to the lounge in no time.

So I only recommend hotel if you have at least 10 hours and it's not your first time going through IST and you know exactly where to go and what to do next. For first timers, just head to lounge and enjoy the food and amenities.

YuropFlyer

Thanks for the feedback, always good to hear back from fellow travellers with details about the current situation (which in the case of Turkey has been massively changed in the recent months..)