Essential tips for a trip to Istanbul


Welcome to my blog! As someone who has been a tourist guide in Istanbul for many years, I will tell you some tips that will make your life easier while visiting here.



The first of these tips is, of course, the most important tip for Istanbul, which is one of the most crowded cities in the world and is also famous for its traffic. Because even the local people here complain so much about the traffic; They prefer public transportation when going to work and school. There are bridge fees, tunnel fees and of course the problem of finding parking. Even if you can find a parking space, these parking spaces can be exorbitantly expensive.

Therefore, the first thing you need to do when you come to Istanbul is to get a public transportation card. With this public transportation card, you will use public transportation such as metro, bus, ferry and tram.

If you do not want to buy a public transportation card, you should know that public transportation can now be used with credit cards in Istanbul! You can use public transportation by using all credit and debit cards with contactless payment feature!


Another tip we have is about Mosques. The weather is very hot here in summer and tourists coming to a Muslim country prefer long-sleeved t-shirts and trousers. (Yes, Turkey is a Muslim country, but there is no strict attitude regarding clothing. It will be enough to take the necessary precautions when entering mosques.) Here, you can choose to wear spacious clothes that allow your body to breathe, instead of wearing tight-fitting trousers and long-sleeved sweaters that will make you feel hot. (Long skirt and a half-sleeved t-shirt) As tourist guides, we will be giving you information about what you should wear when entering the mosques, but if you visit the video I recently shared on Instagram, you can get more information about this.



Our next tip is about crowded queues in mosques. Many large tourist groups come to the mosques in the morning. If you visit these mosques in the evening instead of going to the mosques in the morning, you can enter quickly without encountering this crowded queue. However, this tactic does not work everywhere in Istanbul. For example, if you are going to Galata Tower, it would be beneficial to go early in the morning to avoid crowds.


The next tip is about taxis. In addition to the crowds of Istanbul, there are cruise ships that bring down a group of 16,000 people a day. Therefore, you have to be a little lucky to find a taxi here. Sometimes taxi drivers do not want to open the taximeter and set their own prices. Some taxi calling applications you can use here will benefit you. For example "BiTaksi, Uber, Entaksi". But there is something you need to know about the Uber app in Istanbul. Yes, the Uber app works here, but it is not like in other countries. When you call a vehicle from the Uber application, yellow taxis in Istanbul come for you.






Another thing you need to know is about sockets and chargers. Type C socket type is used in Turkey. Here you can choose to use a converter suitable for this type of socket to charge your phone or tablet.




Our last tip is about tap water. You can drink the water from the taps in mosques and squares. But if you ask the locals, the answer is usually “no, the tap water is not drinkable”. The residents of Istanbul usually have huge canisters of water delivered to their homes and many have installed expensive water filter devices.
Water for on the go is usually bought in the next kiosk around the corner, the price: between 8 and 15 cents. People who dare to drink tap water are usually viewed as strange; in restaurants, tap water is never offered.



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