occasionally flying professor

Dear JDiver, you are so right in that a trip up the Bosphorus by ferry is quite the best way to spend a day. In fact we spent 2 days - one to gaze across to the Black Sea from the ancient hilltop ruins + lunch by the water and another to explore the extensive fortifications at Rumeli and have a really good lunch at the Iskele restaurant there (there is an Iskele at every port!). Next time we shall try the yogurt at Kanlica and Korfez.

There are several branches of Ciya all on the same street - one does wonderful kebabs and another the most delicious anatolian specialities

hfly

Hmmm, if one took a taxi to the Ferry, took the ferry and then the tramway, it could be done in 45 minutes, each direction. So that is 1.5 hours, not "a couple of hours". Even if one walked it could be under 2 hours. The big point to be made however is of course that if one stayed in Ortakoy for example and wnated to get to Sultanahmet, a taxi could EASILY take more than half an hour as could Taksim in bad traffic (one could easily spend an hour getting from Sultanahmet to Taksim at rush hour), while the variable for getting to and from Moda would not actually change that much (but the ferries would be a lot more crowded).

occasionally flying professor

Having been stuck in a 2 hours traffic jam along the Bosphorus back to the Hilton because of a Besiktas football game convinced me that the tram and ferries were the way to go.....although the Taksim bus terminus was really excellent for buses anywhere in the city.

The ferry ride to and from Kadikoy is so lovely, I would be happy to spend more time admiring the views.

cullen24

Headed to Istanbul on May 14. Plan to stay 3-4 nights in Istanbul, then rent a car and drive to Anaka, then Ephesus and then back to Istanbul for a night before flying back - in that manner using the Hilton properties.

If we stay at the DT Old Town, do you guys recommend that wife and I take the Metro to the Tram to get there from the airport. When it is time to rent the car, should we get it at the airport or downtown?

Any other thoughts?

Thanks in advance.

vdostoi1

The Metro to the Tram will take you some time if you are going to be staying at the Doubletree in Old Town (at least one hour). However, it sure is an inexpensive way of getting from Ataturk to the Doubletree. In terms of a rental car, I cannot offer any advice. If you take the shuttle bus (Havas), it will shave off about 15-20 minutes and you will be in Old Town sooner for about 5-7 more Turkish Liras.

tinkybelle

Curently in Hilton IST not cheap .
have a booking at DOubletree old city for 125 euro about 60 euro less. per night

is it worth the move?
anyone got upgraded at Doub OT?

at least we have balcony view club and can open door at night.
i really hate the taxi ride to OT though

boxo

Is this the best way to get to/from DT Istanbul-Moda?

Havas bus, TRY$5: Atatürk Airport, Yeşilyurt Crossroad, Galeria Shopping Mall, Bakırköy SeaBus Pier

Fast Ferry 4/5: Bakırköy-Kadikoy (didn't find cost) pdf

TIA.

boxo

Is this the best way to get to/from DT Istanbul-Moda?

Havas bus, TRY$5: Atatürk Airport to Bakırköy SeaBus Pier + Fast Ferry 4/5 (didn't find cost) pdf

TIA.

SkyTeam777

Is the exec lounge at the Hilton Park SA open every day? I thought I read that the hotel has no club lounge.

kyushuman

There are now Doubletree Old Town and Doubletree Moda properties in Istanbul, 2 more HH properties.
My brother stayed at the DT Old Town and recommends it; in addition, it's quite inexpensive compared to many Istanbul hotels--coming up at EUR82/night in the Great Getaway including breakfast!
A good option for your last night or two, being on the airport side of the city compared to the Taksim hotels, and also walking distance to the Grand Bazaar.

kyushuman

I'm spending 3 nights in IST next month. My choices are many of course, but in terms of Hiltons as a Gold HHonors member, I'm kinda stuck:
Hilton Istanbul $161
Hilton ParkSA Istanbul $101
So.... is the Hilton worth a $60 premium over the ParkSA? I'm leaning towards 2 nights at the Hilton and then a (cheaper) 3rd night nearer to the airport, with an early flight on the next day.

wendySFO

Think you are aware of the new Doubletree properties from your post earlier, so not sure I understand what you mean you are stuck to the two Hiltons...

The two Hilton hotels are not far apart location wide so not really much difference to stay with one or the other for the last night in terms of easy for the early flight.

The Havas shuttle run by Turkish Air starts 4:00AM leaving from Taksim Square. It took me only 35 min to reach the IST airport around 8:30AM in my trip last time. But Istanbul traffic can be really bad so stay near airport to be safe is a good idea.

more4less

Also there is a Conrad.

Good hotels in the airport area are often more expensive than the rates mentioned.

puntos68

We stay there from June 23 to June 27, we paid the rate inclusive of breakfast for our stay since I drop from Diamond to Silver.

The hotel is brand new, since it open just recently , the rooms are small, first we got a 2 bed one and after 2 days we were change to a King with a roll away, but still the rooms are small for 2 adults and a Child.

Breakfast in the morning was nice NOT great and some people are saying, at least not in my eyes since some items were ROTTEN, YES rotten cherries they were moldy and the canteloupe where they put the cherries was mushy and old.

The staff is great my only other problem was that after asking for a Cappuccino they want it to charge me extra even though i had a rate which included breakfast.

The Doubletree is very close to all the important sites. You can either walk or take the tram for few lyras.

kyushuman

[QUOTE=wendySFO;16699236]Think you are aware of the new Doubletree properties from your post earlier, so not sure I understand what you mean you are stuck to the two Hiltons...

/QUOTE]
I should have mentioned the Doubletree is like US$200+ for those nights, for some reason!
Conrad is very expensive, too.
So it's either Hilton at US$160 or Hilton ParkSA for US$102.