ISTANBUL GUIDE

Welcome to Istanbul, Turkey

Istanbul is the largest city in Turkey, largest city proper and second largest metropolitan area in Europe, and fourth largest city proper in the world with a population of 12.6 million. Istanbul is also a megacity, the cultural and financial center of Turkey. The city covers 27 districts of the Istanbul province. It is located on the Bosphorus Strait and encompasses the natural harbor known as the Golden Horn, in the northwest of the country. It extends both on the Europe (Thrace) and on the Asia (Anatolia) side of the Bosphorus, and is thereby the only metropolis in the world that is situated on two continents.
Climate
Istanbul has a temperate climate, though a plausible argument can be made that under the Köppen climate classification, Istanbul has a humid subtropical.
The temperatures in the table below are average temperatures for September and October and can vary slightly.

Time

All of Turkey is on Eastern European time, two hours ahead of London and Coordinated Universal Time (GMT/UTC), 7 hours ahead of New York, 10 hours ahead of Los Angeles.
Turkish clocks are turned ahead one hour at 1 am on the last Sunday in March, and turned back one hour at 2 am on the last Sunday in October for daylight saving ("summer") time.
When it's noon in Turkey, it's...

Language
Official Language(s) - Turkish
Other Language(s) - Arabic, Kurdish, Laz

Turkeys unit of currency is the Turkish Lira . In 2009 a new series of banknotes (bills) called "E9," with strengthened anti-counterfeiting features, was introduced. The new notes are in denominations of TL1, 5, 10, 20, 50 and 100 liras. The lira is divided into 100 Kurus (Kurus, koo-ROOSH), with coins in denominations of Kr1, 5, 10, 25 and 50 (Kurus) and TL1.
On January 1, 2009, the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey will introduce a new series of Turkish Lira banknotes which differ from, and will replace, the 2005 series called New Turkish Liras (Yeni Türk Lirasi).
There will be no change in the value of the Turkish lira. All values and conversions will remain the same. (Here are current Turkish lira exchange rates.)
The new "E9" series of banknotes will be called simply Turkish Lira instead of New Turkish Lira as on the older 2005-series notes.
Here's how the 2009-series Turkish Lira notes look:



(Of course the real notes will not have Örnektir Geçmez ["Sample"] printed across them.)
What's your money worth in Turkish Liras (TL or YTL/TRY)? Use the currency exchange converter below to find out the current foreign exchange rate for the Turkish Lira before you reach Istanbul.

Credit Cards

Turks live on plastic credit cards just like everyone else.
When you travel to Turkey, you can use your major credit card to pay for most purchases: hotel rooms, rental cars, auto fuel (gasoline/petrol), airline tickets, fancy dinners, and the more substantial souvenirs. There are even some soft drink machines that accept credit cards.
The most popular card is VISA, followed by MASTERCARD/ EUROCARD.
AMERICAN EXPRESS is accepted in many of the more expensive places, such as the luxury hotels.

Tipping

Tips are generally modest in Turkey (a few percent of the price paid).  Although the person you tip would prefer Turkish liras, you may tip in any currency so long as you give notes/bills. Don't give non-Turkish coins, as these cannot easily be exchanged for Turkish liras.
RESTAURANTS: Small tips (5% to 10%) are not necessary, but are appreciated in inexpensive establishments. In luxury restaurants, tip 10% to 15%.
HOTELS: Porters are happy with TL2 to TL3 per bag.
ARCHEOLOGICAL SITES: If a site guardian performs some special service, such as giving you a personal tour, a tip equivalent to a few dollars is appreciated.

Electricity

Turkey operates on 220 volts, 50 Hz, with round-prong European-style plugs (see the photo above) that fit into recessed wall sockets/points.
Four- and five-star hotels often provide North American-style 120 volts, 60 Hz flush-mounted sockets (points) for North American flat-prong plugs.
Check your appliances before leaving home to see what you'll need to plug in when you travel to Turkey.
Many appliances with their own power adapters (such as laptop computers and digital cameras)—can be plugged into either 110-120-volt or 220-240-volt sockets/points and will adapt to the voltage automatically, (but you will need a plug adaptor that can fit into the recessed wall socket/point. Read on.)
Read the technical stuff on your power adapter to see (the power adapter is the little gizmo, usually black and rectangular, that's in the power line between your laptop or camera and the socket/point.) Look for "INPUT: A.C. 100-240V".

If it reads that way, it can operate on either 110-120 or 220-240 voltage. If it says something like "INPUT: 100-125V", then it can't run on Turkey's 220-240 volts and you'll need to bring a transformer (also called a power or voltage converter).

You will not have a great experience taking one of Istanbul's 20,000 yellow taxis.
The best you can hope for is an acceptable experience: the cab takes you where you want to go by the shortest route, and you pay the correct fare as shown on the meter.
Far too often, you are likely to have a bad experience:

1. The taxi refuses to take you where you want to go because the distance is not far enough to amount to a large enough fare. No matter that you have lots of luggage, or can't walk well, or are carrying a baby, or simply have a right to go where you want to go.

2. The taxi takes you where you want to go, but refuses to run the meter, and you are charged an exorbitant fare, which you can only reduce by arguing unpleasantly with someone who does not speak your language.

3. The taxi runs the meter and takes you where you want to go by a roundabout route which wastes your time and costs far more than it should.

4. The trip goes okay, but the driver expects a big tip because you're a foreigner (Turks don't tip taxi drivers).

5. The driver drives like a maniac, seeming happily to imperil not only his own life, but that of other drivers, and yours as well.
There is some good news: the first four rules above apply mostly (but dependably) to taxis accepting fares in and around Sultanahmet Square and other super-touristy areas. (The last one applies to taxis in most of the world.)

How to Avoid Unpleasantness

1. Have your hotel call a taxi from a local taxi stand so that you have someone to complain to if service is not acceptable.

2. From the airport, use a reserved taxi from Taxi Reservations, or a private transfer service in a comfortable Mercedes-Benz minivan that costs little more than a taxi. More...

3. Walk or take the tram away from Sultanahmet to another district (Sirkeci, Eminönü) and take a taxi from there. (Drivers cheat far less often in other districts of Istanbul.)

4. Use public transport! (Tram, Metro, Bus, Tünel, Füniküler, Sea Bus, ferryboat, suburban train.) In fact, Istanbul traffic is now so heavy that travel by public transport is often faster by tram and Metro than by taxi. (Here are the city's traffic webcams.) It is frequent, reasonably comfortable, and using an Akbil pass a one-hour, 15-km trip all the way across the city need cost no more than the first minute in a taxi.

More About Istanbul Taxis

Most are powered by clean-burning natural gas, and all have digital meters which the drivers are required by law to run.
If your driver doesn't start the taksimetre, or tries to haggle at the start of the trip instead of running it, just point to the meter emphatically and say Taksimetre! (TAHK-see-MEHT-treh) It'll probably be cheaper on the meter than if you let him just charge you what he wants at the end of your trip.
As the driver starts the meter it will flash the rate type:
—Gündüz (GURN-durz) means Day (06:00 am to 23:59 (11:59 pm). The drop rate is YTL2, and each kilometer YTL1.3
—Gece (GEH-jeh) means Night (24:00/12:00 am midnight to 05:59 am). The drop rate is YTL3, and each kilometer YTL1.95.
The Gündüz fare for the 15- to 25-minute ride between Sultanahmet and Taksim Square is about YTL10.
For the 35- to 75-minute ride from Atatürk Airport to Sultanahmet the Gündüz fare is about YTL25. From the airport to Taksim Square, about YTL30.
The Gündüz fare from Sariyer, on the Northern European shore of the Bosphorus near the Black Sea, to Galata Bridge is about YTL50.
Many taxis are small yellow cars that seat two in the rear seat comfortably, three in a pinch. One person can sit in the right-front passenger seat, so the total a taxi can carry is four passengers (plus the driver), though most drivers prefer three passengers. I doubt that a driver will allow five passengers unless he has a larger car than the standard size (there are some larger ones).
For private transfer services in Mercedes-Benz minivans that cost little more than a taxi, click here. It's good for any trip for which you can plan in advance, and is much more pleasant, comfortable and secure.
Turks don't tip taxi drivers, they round up the fare. If it ends up being, say, YTL9.75, a Turk will just round it up to YTL10. In many cases if the fare is YTL10.25, the driver will require only YTL10, and not bother with the change.
As a foreigner, your driver may assume you'll give a tip, but you needn't unless the driver provides some special service, such as helping with lots of heavy luggage.

Please note that free transportation is NOT provided for this conference and that you will be responsible for your own travel arrangements and costs between the airport and your hotel.

Shopping

Istanbul has numerous historic shopping centers, such as the Grand Bazaar (1461), Mahmutpaşa Bazaar (1462) and the Egyptian Bazaar (1660). The first modern shopping mall was Galleria Ataköy (1987), which was followed by dozens of others in the later decades, such as Akmerkez (1993) which is the only mall to win both "Europe's Best" and "World's Best" awards by the ICSC; Metrocity (2003); Cevahir Mall (2005) which is the largest mall in Europe; and Kanyon Mall (2006) which won the 2006 Cityscape Architectural Review Award for its interesting design. İstinye Park (2007) and City's Nişantaşı (2008) are two new malls which target high-end consumers and are almost exclusively dedicated to world-famous fashion brands.

Along with the traditional Turkish restaurants, many European and Far Eastern restaurants and numerous other cuisines are also thriving in the city.

Çiçek Pasajı on İstiklal Avenue
Most of the city's historic winehouses (meyhane in Turkish) and pubs are located in the areas around İstiklal Avenue in Beyoğlu. The 19th century Çiçek Pasajı (literally Flower Passage in Turkish, or Cité de Péra in French) on İstiklal Avenue, which has many historic meyhanes, pubs and restaurants, was built by Hristaki Zoğrafos Efendi at the former site of the Naum Theatre and was inaugurated in 1876. The famous Nevizâde Street, which has rows of historic meyhanes next to each other, is also in this area.

Cezayir Sokak in Beyoğlu, also referred to as La Rue Française, has numerous pubs, cafés and restaurants playing live music
Other historic pubs are found in the areas around Tünel Pasajı and the nearby Asmalımescit Sokağı. Some historic neighborhoods around İstiklal Avenue have recently been recreated, with differing levels of success such as Cezayir Sokak near Galatasaray Lisesi, which became unofficially known as La Rue Française and has rows of pubs including francophone ones, cafés and restaurants playing live music.
Istanbul is also famous for its historic seafood restaurants. Many of them were originally established by the local Greeks. The most popular seafood restaurants are generally found along the shores of the Bosphorus and by the Marmara Sea shore towards the south of the city. The Princes' Islands in the Sea of Marmara (Büyük Ada, Heybeli Ada, Kınalı Ada, Burgaz Ada) and Anadolu Kavağı near the northern entrance of the Bosphorus towards the Black Sea (close to Yoros Castle, which was also known as the Genoese Castle due to Genoa's possession of it in the mid-15th century) also have many historic seafood restaurants.

Nişantaşı, the fashion district
There are many night clubs, pubs, restaurants and taverns with live music in the city. The night clubs, restaurants and bars increase in number and move to open air spaces in the summer. The areas around Istiklal Avenue and Nişantaşı offer all sorts of cafés, restaurants, pubs and clubs as well as art galleries, theaters and cinemas.
The most popular open air summer time seaside night clubs are found on the Bosphorus, such as Reina, Sortie and Anjelique in the Ortaköy district. Babylon and Nu Pera in Beyoğlu are popular night clubs both in the summer and in the winter, while Istanbul Arena in Maslak frequently hosts the live concerts of famous singers and bands from all corners of the world. Parkorman in Maslak hosted the Isle of MTV Party in 2002 and is a popular venue for live concerts and rave parties in the summer. Q Jazz Bar in Ortaköy offers live jazz music in a stylish environment.