Originally Posted by
Stgermainparis
Going on a visa run this summer on a Sunday with 23 year old son for 12-15 hours in IST. Arriving about noon, departing that night 1am. Sunday may not be ideal but it has to be that day.
Can you all offer suggestions for the best way to do Istanbul in a day? Any private car companies with guides? I was thinking of having a car for the day to take us around efficiently. Hit the main sites, bazaar, good dinner, etc. Neither of us has ever been there, so no clue what would be the best plan.
Flying economy but have PriorityPass and I see there’s an IGA lounge in international terminal open 24 hours. Does it make sense to have a nice dinner out then return to airport 10ish?
As a local my suggestion would be to just take public transportation or take a yellow taxi from the taxi stands and do not rely on any private transfer or car companies which are usually tourist scams. Most of the touristic sites are close to each other so you could walk in between.
Public transportation to the airport also runs 24 hours a day, and unless you have *G status with any airline, it does make sense to go to the iGA Lounge before the flight but it is usually overcrowded.