Originally Posted by
lsquare
It's been almost 5 years since I went to Istanbul. What has changed? Is it possible for me to mainly use my credit card to get around or I’ll still need cash?
I know Istanbul got a new airport and I'm assuming I'll be flying into the new IST. Is there a subway line connecting the new IST to the city center?
I bought an Istanbul transit card. I can't remember if I can load with a credit card. Can I? Will I transit card ever expire?
Are masks mandatory anywhere?
What else do I need to know before going to Istanbul later this year?
Almost all mid range and up restaurants take credit cards (CC), budget places around 90%.
I've seen vending machines which allows to top up Istanbul kart with CC, but most of them don't take CC. In other cities (eg Antalya ) buses and ticket gates take contactless Visa /MC , quite impressive.
Yes, new IST airport, and metro is open. It isn't tourist friendly, though, I didn't find network map anywhere, for example. Apparently it was free for a month after opening, but there was no announcement about it at least in English, I only found out my Istanbul kart wasn't charged, and googled to find out why.
My card from 5 years ago didn't allow to reload, and I didn't find any service counters anywhere, so I ended up buying a new one.
Masks aren't mandatory, less than 5% of people wear them on transit.