TourIstanbul city tours while in transit

Turkish Airlines flies to many destinations around the world using its Istanbul Ataturk Airport base as a hub. And if you are flying with Turkish Airlines, the airline offers free city tours while in transit provided by TourIstanbul. So instead of spending a long wait in the airport, Turkish Airlines passangers can discovery Istanbul, one of the world’s premier destinations.

The tours, with English speaking guides, are offered three times daily and are designed to give transit passengers a quick, but interesting overview of Turkish Airlines’ home base. Depending on each passenger’s schedule, tours are offered with the following timings 09:00-15:00, 09:00-18:00 and 12:00-18:00.

TourIstanbul is a free layover service for all international transit Turkish Airlines passangers. Everything on the tour, the shuttle, museum entrances and the meals, are free. In the tour, TourIstanbul introduces Ottoman Cuisine to the participants. Even a single person’s participation is enough to start up the tour so there is no minimum number to wait.

Not all transit passangers of Istanbul Ataturk Airport can enjoy the tour. Both flights should be with Turkish Airlines’ flight numbers (codeshared or operated) Connection times between flights  should not be longer than 24 hours and shorter than 6  hours.

Begun in 2009, the program continues to attract more participants each year, with approximately 16,000 taking advantage of the offer in 2013. The growing popularity of the tours is a confirmation that Turkish Airlines brings added value for its customers at no additional cost.

Istanbul Blue Mosque

How to participate Istanbul City Tours by Turkish Airlines?

You do not need to book it in advance. All eligible passangers of Turkish Airlines can simply join the tours by showing up at the hotel desk in the arrivals hall of Ataturk International Airport at least 30 minutes prior to the departure of the tour.

Below is the list of places visited during the tour:

Blue Mosque
Hippodrome
German Fountain
Serpentine Column
Obelisk of Thedosius
Topkapı Palace
Basilica Cistern
For more information on the tours you can visit http://www.istanbulinhours.com. You can visit our Istanbul tours pages for more Istanbul sightseeing tours.

Istanbul air sightseeing tours by Seabird Airlines

Where can you get the best bird eye view of Istanbul? There are some great rooftop bars and restaurants for this as well as historic towers but the best bird eye view comes from a plane touring above Istanbul. You can join a plane tour over Istanbul to get the most out of the city by air sightseeing tours of Istanbul.

Seabird Airlines, Turkey’s first and only Air Taxi / Airline company to land and take off from water, operates DHC-6 Twin Otter Series planes which can take of with 19 passangers from Halic. The Istanbul air sightseeing tour takes approximately 20 minutes and starting from Ataturk Bridge on Halic you will have a chance to see Galata Tower, Rumeli, Anadolu Hisari, Maiden’s Tower.

Seabird Airlines is known for its regional scheduled services from Istanbul to Bozcaada, Bursa and Alacati. In the winter season the company is focusing on these Istanbul tours.

According to Kursad Arusan, the General Manager of Sea Bird Airlines “the large windows of Twin Otter planes provides a nice view of Istanbul and there is a great demand for these tours.

There is a short promotional video below about this fantastic Istanbul tour:


Seabird Airlines Istanbul city tour from Hip-Notics on Vimeo.

The ticket prices for air sightseeing tours of Istanbul is 95 EUR per person per tour and the tickets are sold in http://www.flyseabird.com/ as well as in some 5-star hotels in Istanbul. For an air tour like this, ticket prices are very reasonable.

Below are the places you can see during the 20 minutes plane tour over Istanbul:

• Haydarpaşa Terminal (Haydarpasa Tren Gari)
• Selimiye Barracks (Selimiye Askeri Kışlası)
• Maiden’s Tower (Kız Kulesi)
• Taksim Square (Taksim Meydanı)
• Dolmabahce Palace (Dolmabahçe Sarayı)
• Bosphorus Bridge (Boğaziçi Köprüsü)
• Beylerbeyi Palace (Beylerbeyi Sarayı)
• Kuleli Military High School (Kuleli Askeri Lisesi)
• Bebek
• Roumeli Hissar Castle (Rumeli Hisarı)
• Anadolu Hissar Castle (Anadolu Hisarı)
• Bosphorus University Campus (Bogazici University Kampusu)
• Sarıyer
• Pierre Loti
• Feshane
• Rahmi Koc Museum (Rahmi Koç Müzesi)
• ST. Stephan of Bulgar (Bulgar Kilisesi)
• Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople (Fener Patrikhanesi)
• Fatih Mosque (Fatih Camii)
• Galata Tower (Galata Kulesi)
• Galata Bridge (Galata Köprüsü)
• Suleymaniye Mosque (Süleymaniye Camii)
• Beyazit Tower (Beyazıt Kulesi)
• Spice Bazaar (Mısır Çarşısı)
• Hipodrom
• Blue Mosque (Sultanahmet Camii)
• Hagia Sophia (Ayasofya)
• Topkapi Palace (Topkapı Sarayı)

For other alternative Istanbul tours check our Bosphorus Cruise – Full Bosphorus Cruise and Short Bosphorus Tour post. You can visit our Istanbul tours pages for more Istanbul sightseeing tours.

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