Transfers and taxi in Turkey

Hello. My name is Anthony. And today I’ll save you at least 50 € ≈ 52.5 $, 43 £, 193 Dh, 912 ₺!

I fly to Turkey quite often for business and leisure. And I kind of even understand where to find things that I need and how everything works here.

Today I want to tell you about transfers and taxis. You will find out why taxi drivers regularly deceive tourists, how not to fall for the most popular “scams” and where you can order a comfortable airport transfer 5-40% cheaper than a taxi in 5 minutes.

Well, I kind of said the most useful information. But the devil is always in the details…

Taxi or transfer: what to choose?

Depends on when and where you are going. Here are the pros and cons of both:

In short, a transfer is almost always more convenient and even cheaper if you need to travel more than 10-15 kilometers. For example, from the airport to the city. Or between cities. Taxi is also good for short spontaneous trips.

Where to book a transfer?

My opinion about all the transfer sites that I have used:

• intui.travel — cheap, reliable, but the interface is terribly inconvenient.
• GetTransfer — they show amazingly low prices “from”, but in reality I have never been able to buy anything from them for this money. They spam for several days with their offers, usually not so good ones.

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  In practice, you can “catch” a good price here, but only 2-3 days after you create an application. Good if you’re not in a hurry.
• 12go — in Turkey, they are optimal in terms of convenience and price. But if you are looking for the cheapest transfer, go to the final stage of booking. The price may rise by 1-3 € ≈ 1.05 $, 0.86 £, 3.86 Dh, 18.24 ₺.
• Kiwitaxi.com — excellent site with transfers, but in Turkey they are too expensive right now. I stopped using their service until they drop the price.
• Viator.com and GetYourGuide.com — they sell excellent excursions in Turkey and other countries. Transfers are just a side business.

Where are the cheapest transfers?

There is no such thing that on some site transfers are 100% cheaper than on another. Everything is constantly changing. For example, a few years ago I only booked transfers on Kiwitaxi.com. It was convenient and cheap.

And now they’ve raised the price a lot. Yes, they have a user friendly website. With excellent and very reliable support. I never had a problem with them.

But somehow I’m not ready to overpay 20-25 € ≈ 21 $, 17.2 £, 77.2 Dh, 364.8 ₺ for this. I’d rather stick with the not so convenient intui.travel or pay 1,5 € ≈ 1.575 $, 1.29 £, 5.79 Dh, 27.36 ₺ more for a convenient interface from Viator.com.

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For example, I will compare the price of a transfer from the airport to Istanbul:

This comparison is also not final. Perhaps in a week or a month everything will change again. Or you have a different route, according to which some other site will give a much more “tasty” price. If it’s important to save money, check everywhere.

How to find a taxi in Turkey?

In Istanbul, you can call a car using mobile applications. In other cities, you need to go to a special parking lot, where there are yellow cars, or press a button to call a car.

With parking everything is clear. Let’s talk about buttons. Boxes with buttons hang on many poles and trees. Just press and in 2-5 minutes a car will arrive. Everything is very simple, don’t you agree?

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  These buttons hang almost every 10 meters.

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  There are a lot of them. Look for poles and trees.

Now let’s talk about tariffs. They come in three types:

1. For short trips: landing fee + metered kilometer fee. Extra pay for waiting. There is a minimum rate. For example, like this:
   • In Istanbul: 0,55 $ ≈ 0.5225 $, 0.451 £, 2.0185 Dh, 9.548 ₺ initial charge, 0,35 $ ≈ 0.3325 $, 0.287 £, 1.2845 Dh, 6.076 ₺ per kilometer, 1,5 $ ≈ 1.425 $, 1.23 £, 5.505 Dh, 26.04 ₺ — minimum fare.

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     This is for yellow taxis (Sari). There are also blue cars (Turkuaz). They are 15% more expensive. Premium taxis (VIP or Siyah) are 40-50% more expensive than yellow ones.
   • In Antalya and other resorts on the coast rates are slightly higher. Average: 0,6 $ ≈ 0.57 $, 0.492 £, 2.202 Dh, 10.416 ₺ initial charge, 0,65 $ ≈ 0.6175 $, 0.533 £, 2.3855 Dh, 11.284 ₺ per kilometer, 1,35 $ ≈ 1.2825 $, 1.107 £, 4.9545 Dh, 23.436 ₺ minimum fare.

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     This prices are for the cheapest Sari cars, which are often so-so.
   It goes without saying that in practice it is full of nuances and tourists often pay 1.5 times more than it says in taxi rates. Completely legal nuances, by the way. For your convenience, I have converted prices from Turkish liras to dollars. In Turkey, inflation is high and taxi prices rise in Lira several times a year. And not by small amount, but by 20-60% at once. Prices will remain adequate for longer in dollars.
2. For trips between cities, in theory, the taximeter should also work. But in practice this is not profitable. If you bargain, you can “bring down” the price.
3. There are fixed fares for trips from the airport. Often you may find them on signs that hang in prominent places. Prices in euros and dollars are usually 10-30% more expensive than what the meter should show.If a taxi driver uses such an “honest fix”, it is useless to bargain with him.

How much is taxi and transfer?

Let’s compare the cost of taxis and transfers on the most popular routes. Usually these are trips from airports to cities or from a city to an airport.

As I already wrote, there are fixed taxi fares from most airports. But many drivers don’t follow them. You must speak clearly (something like this):

I will take a taxi to %your address% and pay 55 $ ≈ 52.25 $, 45.1 £, 201.85 Dh, 954.8 ₺. Okay?

Frankly speaking, this method will not protect you 100% anyway. But the probability of deception is reduced several times. But let’s say that you are still very lucky and managed to find an honest taxi driver at the airport. Will it be more profitable than a transfer? Or will you overpay? I’ll show you with examples:

* Taxi prices are real. That’s how much I paid last time, or how much my friends paid. I also took numbers from official signs at airports.

In Turkey it’s a common thing that you shoud get one amount “according to the taximeter”, but in practice you have to pay a little more. This is fine. Gotta deal with it.

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  With your permission, I will dilute boring text with atmospheric pictures. In the photo - Goreme in Cappadocia.

As you can see, in Istanbul, a transfer and an honest taxi cost about the same. The transfer may be more expensive by a few euros, but it will be a comfortable minivan, not a broken sedan without air conditioning. It makes sense to overpay a little.

But it is often more wise to order a transfer on the coast: turns out 10-30% cheaper.

Do Turkish taxi drivers cheat?

If you have ever been to Turkey, you should know how locals treat tourists. A little better than in Egypt. But all the same, in you and me, they first of all see a “purse with legs”. And it even in some sense is logical. The tourist must leave a lot of money. Otherwise, what’s the use of it?

Turkish taxi drivers are no exception. Especially the ones that usually hang out at airports. Are tourists being scammed? Regularly. Do they drive in circles? It happens. Can you find an honest carrier? Well, that’s not a fact at all…

Airport parking lots usually have signs with “fair” prices for most popular resorts. There prices are 10-30% higher than the counter.

But in practice, taxi drivers often refuse to ride at the rates from these plates, and ask for two or three times more. They expect you to agree anyway.

You can shout and get angry. But it’s easier not to spoil your vacation and accept reality. After all, you don’t need mythical “justice”, but the ability to quickly and safely get to the hotel, right?

Perhaps it is worth talking about the most popular methods of deception:

• “No Change”. The trip costs 45 liras. You give 100, and the driver has only 30 liras “for change”. So you’re short of a 25 liras.
• «Additional payments». The driver simply invents additional payments: for luggage, for several passengers in the car, for air conditioning, for a trip on a holiday / friday / day off. Can be thousand other reasons…
• «Drive in circles». The taxi driver chooses a very long road. Even if you catch him with the help of your navigator, he will say that there is a traffic jam there.
• «Traffic jam». A route is specially chosen to get into a traffic jam. Then the taximeter thinks that this is idle and make you pay extra.
• «Tricks with the taximeter». For example, someone can “forget” to reset the counter after the previous client. So you will pay as for 2 trips.
• «Mixed up the hotel». The names of many Turkish hotels are similar. And the taxi driver often pretends that he did not hear well and takes you to the wrong place. Then the “error” will be found out, but you still have to pay extra to go there.

Of course, these are far from all the ways to deceive tourists that are actively used by Turkish taxi drivers. I just named the most-most popular.

Should I order a transfer?

It depends on what is more important to you: to get there quickly and comfortably, or to save a few dollars. However, there are some general tips:

I also strongly advise you to take a transfer to get from the new Istanbul Airport to Sabiha Gokcen Airport or vice versa (route on the map). Everything is arranged quite illogically there and getting by bus is really not convenient.

Here are ready-made links for such a route:

• Transfer from Havalimanı Airport to Sabiha Gokcen Airport on intui.travel.
• Transfer from Havalimanı Airport to Sabiha Gokcen Airport on 12go.
• Transfer from Sabiha Gokcen Airport to Havalimani Airport on intui.travel.
• Transfer from Sabiha Gokcen Airport to Havalimani Airport on 12go.

Group transfers with a tour: pros and cons

If you arrived in Turkey on a tour, the bus transfer will always be included in the price of the tour. They will pick you up from the airport by bus and take to the hotel.

The problem is that the group transfer is always very slow:

• First, wait until all the tourists have gathered. If you quickly passed customs, then you can sit for an hour on a bus that does not go anywhere.
• Then the bus starts to deliver all the tourists to their hotels. Maybe you are lucky and you will be the first on the route. But usually you lose another 2-4 hours.

Therefore, if you arrive after lunch, it often makes sense to book a separate transfer directly to the hotel. This is legal and many “experienced” tourists do just that. You do not lose half the day on the road, but quickly arrive by car, settle in and immediately begin to relax in your hotel or on the sea.

If the flight arrives early in the morning, you need to check with the tour operator if they can accommodate you if you yourself get to the hotel early.

How to book a transfer: step by step instructions

There is absolutely nothing complicated in booking a transfer. Let’s use the example of a transfer from the new Istanbul Airport to the city:

• Transfer from the airport to the city on 08/21/2024.
• Transfer back to the airport on 08/28/2024.
• Family with a 10 year old child.

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I will show on the example of the intui.travel website. Simply because it is now the cheapest on this route. Yes, and interface here is the most “confusing”. If you deal with this site, the rest will not cause any problems at all. So here is my step by step guide:

1. Choose which transfer you need. Go to the intui.travel website and choose which transfer you need: starting point, destination point, when and how many people going.

   

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2. Choose a minivan. Well, as I said, in Turkey almost all transfers are by minivans and minibuses. Choose the one you like:

   

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3. Additional data. Then the most boring part begins. You will be asked for all the data for the transfer: flight number and arrival time, what kind of child seat is needed, where to take you, phone number, name and surname for the welcome card sign, email address to send a voucher to it and payment option.

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   It’s boring to fill out all of this, but I usually do it in 7-10 minutes.

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     Once again, check everything carefully and choose what kind of child seat you need.

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     Enter the flight details so that the driver knows where and when to meet you.

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     There are 3 payment options here. If one doesn't work, try another.

4. Payment. When you click on the “Save and next” button, a payment form will appear. There you fill the data of your bank card. Something like this:

   

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5. Check your email. Immediately after payment, you should receive a letter with a voucher. Sometimes it ends up in spam, but this happens quite rarely.

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Well, that’s it. You have booked and paid for your transfer. Everything seems to be clear? Then you can try to book yourself:

Transfers from intui.travel

Airport transfers

Perhaps, people buy transfers most often in order to quickly and comfortably get from the airport to the city. This is especially convenient: there is no local money, you are not used to the Turkish rhythm yet, you don’t want to go by bus.

For your convenience, the article already contains links to transfers from popular airports in Turkey. Click here to return to the table.

You can search for transfers to other destinations using the links below:

If this is your first time in Turkey, I strongly advise you to take an airport transfer. It will save you not only several hours of vacation time, but also a lot of nerves.

Public transport in Turkey

Turkey has a well-developed public transport system. You can get to most airports by bus. True, usually you have to go with a transfer, or even with two. But if you arrived without luggage, then why not?

In practice, I can only recommend this way of traveling to experienced travelers. It is usually not suitable for beginners:

• First, you will get lost in the huge airport of Istanbul and spend half an hour looking for where the bus stop is.
• Then you spend around 20 minutes to figure out which bus to take. Choose, for example, the GetYourGuide bus. If you have not booked in advance, you can only pay with Visa and MasterCard or in cash (Turkish Lira) at the airport. It’s good that almost everyone now has credit cards: at least you don’t have to go to the exchanger.
• Taking into account the unfavourable exchange rate at the airport or bank fees, a ticket to the centre of Istanbul costs about 8 € ≈ 8.4 $, 6.88 £, 30.88 Dh, 145.92 ₺. It’s cheaper than a transfer. But if you are traveling with a family, I would pay these 10-15 $ ≈ 9.5 $, 8.2 £, 36.7 Dh, 173.6 ₺ extra and leave in a comfy minivan with air conditioning. It’s much faster and going straight to the hotel.

Rent a car without a driver or a transfer?

Car rental is quite cheap in Turkey. You can book a decent car with pickup directly at Istanbul or Antalya airport on Localrent.com, Rentalcars, Economybookings or Discovercars.

The exact price depends on where and what kind of car you rent, for how long you rent it, is it summer, winter, spring or autumn, etc. But still, it’s not a problem to find some kind of Fiat Egea or other small car for 35 € ≈ 36.75 $, 30.1 £, 135.1 Dh, 638.4 ₺ per day. Even during peak season, that is.

Out of season near the coast, I rented a Peugeot 301 with very good insurance (TPL + CDW + passenger insurance + insurance against theft) for only 8,30 € ≈ 8.715 $, 7.138 £, 32.038 Dh, 151.392 ₺. There are plenty of such offers on Localrent.com.

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  There is nothing better than a ride in a good car with a pretty girl.

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  View of the Taurus Mountains from the window of a rental car. If you decide to rent a car in Turkey, you can enjoy no less beautiful landscapes every day.

As a result, if you are visiting for a few weeks, it is often advantageous to get a car right at the airport. Drive around Turkey, see everything and return the car at the airport right before departure. Save money on two transfers.

Useful topic: a detailed article about car rental in Turkey with all the nuances

How to get faster?

Not everyone understands why a transfer is much faster and more convenient than a regular taxi or public transport. It needs to be shown graphically.

For example, let’s look at the route from the airport to Istanbul:

Transfer

• 🚶
  5-10 min

  Get to the parking lot
• 🚕
  50-70 minutes

  Get to the hotel or apartments

Taxi

• 🚶
  10 minutes

  Find parking
• 👍
  15 minutes

  Bargaining with a taxi driver
• 🚕
  50-90 minutes

  Get to the hotel or apartments

Car rental

• 🚶
  10 minutes

  Get to the parking lot
• 👍
  10-15 minutes

  Accept the car
• 🚗
  70-90 minutes

  Get to the hotel or apartment

By bus

• 🚶
  10-15 minutes

  Get to the bus stop
• ⌚
  10-50 minutes

  Wait for the bus
• 🚌
  60-90 minutes

  Get to Istanbul
• 🚶
  10-30 minutes

  Walk to the hotel

As you can see, the fastest way to get there is by transfer. A little longer – by taxi. Drivers often drive on a long road or get stuck in traffic jams on purpose.

Q&A about transfers and taxis

It seems like I said all the most important parts. Only quite obvious and understandable things are remained. So all further information will be for those who are abroad for the first time and have not yet used the transfer. Experienced travelers can not waste their time on it, but immediately proceed to making a reservation.

How to find and recognize your driver?

Go through passport control and exit to the arrivals area. There will be a lot of people meeting travelers there. Many of them have papers with names and surnames in their hands. Your driver will also have such a “tablet”. Watch carefully.

As soon as you found your last name, just approach the driver, say hello and go to your hotel or where else you booked a transfer to.

Does the driver speak English?

In most cases, yes. Usually companies try to put English-speaking drivers on transfers. But there are no guarantees.

Of course, you’ll be able to communicate with any driver, but his language level can be basic, so try to find more common and easy to understand words, if you have some unusual questions.

How can I find out the final transfer price?

Get to the booking stage, select all the options you need and see how much the site will show. They never take more that it shows on their website.

Hidden transfer fees

The fact that the driver does not ask for a surcharge does not mean that they do not exist at all. At the booking stage, many sites try to “impose” you with extras:

• Bottle of water.
• Possibility to cancel the transfer without losing the prepayment.
• Travel insurance.
• Internet payment fees.
• Priority support.
• SMS-informing about the trip.
• Child seats.

Some of these options will be “included” in the price by default. You can refuse some of them if you book as carefully as possible. Others will be mandatory – you’ll have to pay.

There are some useful options too. You may want to buy some.

Child seats: extra charge or not?

Yes. Of course, it all depends on the particular driver. But somewhere around 95% of companies offering transfers ask for an extra charge for providing a child seat, car seat or booster for a child.

You can’t get around this even if you rent a car at the airport. You have to pay for child seats there too and they are almost more expensive than when ordering a transfer.

Prepayment for a transfer: is it dangerous?

I’ll express not the most popular point of view, but prepayment is rather good. Especially if it’s well made. Not to the bank card of an incomprehensible individual, but officially through the payment system. All the websites that I advise above accept money in this way only.

Along with the advance payment, the company assumes obligations. And you are sure that the car will definitely come for you. To accept money via the Internet, you need to open a business, officially pay taxes, etc. That is, you are sure that this is not some kind of “one day company”, but a normal business.

Over the years of travel, I have never been deceived by reputable companies with good reviews, a decent website and prepayment. But several times there were oddities with private individuals who work “purely on trust.”

In what currency to pay for the transfer?

They accept Turkish lira, dollars or euros. If you are traveling from the airport, it is often more profitable not to change money at a bad exchange rate at the airport, but to pay in euros or dollars that you brought with you from home.

How do I pay for the transfer?

I almost always make 100% prepayment on the website. It is very convenient! At home, before departure, I pay from the bank card and there will be no need to stand in line at the exchanger, lose 5-20% at an unfavourable exchange rate and fiddle with change.

Tipping is not usual in taxis in Turkey. But still, they round the amount to a multiple of 5 or 10 lira. If the trip cost 56 lira, it is customary to give 60 without change.

If you pay for the transfer online, you will pay exactly 27,44 € ≈ 28.812 $, 23.5984 £, 105.9184 Dh, 500.5056 ₺ and there will be no need to round up the amount to 30 € ≈ 31.5 $, 25.8 £, 115.8 Dh, 547.2 ₺. Small, but still savings. Although I still leave somewhat around 5 € ≈ 5.25 $, 4.3 £, 19.3 Dh, 91.2 ₺ if I really liked the driver and the car.

Do I need to book a transfer in advance?

Yes. And this is their main disadvantage. To be 100% sure that they will meet you, you need to book a transfer at least a day before you need a car. Personally, I book “when there is free time”, but no later than 2-3 days in advance.

The easiest way is to book a transfer immediately after booking a hotel or at the same time as buying excursions or insurance. So not even think about it later.

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Unlike flights and hotels, transfers cost the same. It doesn’t matter if you book it 2 days in advance or 2 months in advance.

Booking in advance is good, but you wouldn’t save much:

• Price rise. Transfers rise in price once or twice a year. It happens that by booking a car in advance you will leave at the “old” price.
• Rising exchange rates. Dollars and euros tend to “strengthen” against other currencies. If you book a transfer in advance, you can save some money.

It goes without saying that early booking with a full prepayment does not guarantee you savings. But in practice this happens quite often.

What do you need to book a transfer?

It is most convenient to book a transfer immediately after purchasing air tickets and choosing a hotel where you plan to stay. You will already have all the information for registration. And you don’t have to constantly keep in mind “oh, I need a transfer too.”

At the stage of booking, it is desirable for you to know and have:

• Debit or credit card, PayPal account or any other way to make an advance payment for the transfer. In Turkey, not a single decent company operates without partial or full prepayment.
• Arrival time and flight number. For airport transfers, so that the driver knows when and where to meet you.
• Hotel address, where you will live. So that the driver knows where to take you.
• First and last name. For a sign at the airport. If you are flying with your mistress and “encrypting data”, you can give fictitious ones. Nobody checks them.
• Phone number. If the driver cannot find you, he will call or write to you in various messengers. But this is downright rare.
• E-mail adress. A voucher and driver’s contacts will be sent to it.