Getting around

Public transit

Public transit in Istanbul includes busses, subways, street cars, and ferry boats. For all of these options you use an Istanbulkart to pay for the fare. You can buy an Istanbulkart from the yellow ticket boxes (biletmatik) at any station.

There is also a City Card for unlimited trips but you would basically need to be on the metro all day long to take advantage of that pricing. An Istanbulkart is almost certainly more practical.

The card itself is contactless so just touch it to the sensor when going through the gates of whatever transit option you are using.

Martı

A fun option that we use pretty often is Martı. Martı has green scooters and mopeds for rent through their mobile app. They are especially nice to use when traveling along the seaside on the Asian side of the city.

Be aware though that there are restricted parking areas for Martı. If you are in an area they don’t allow you won’t be able to end your ride.

There are also restricted driving areas. If the scooter or moped starts to beep, stop and check on the app to make sure you are allowed to be where you are.

Dolmuş (dole-MUSH)

These are kind of insane. They are like minibuses with crazy people driving.

The place they are driving to will be displayed in the bottom, passenger side of the windshield. To get on, you have to wave them down like a taxi. Paying is done with cash only and you pay the driver directly. When you want to get off, you have to tell the driver to let you out. They won’t stop otherwise.

Taxis

Taxis are very common and useful if you are desperate but understand that the will overcharge you and drive all over the city to drive up the cost. It’s best to avoid these wherever possible.

If you need to take a taxi, using an app like BiTaksi is the safest way to do it. The app does work in English so you shouldn’t have a problem using it.