Taxi in Istanbul: 2023 prices, how and where get transfer services

Where is the best place to order transfer in Istanbul? What are the actual prices for the taxi entire the city and from/to airport in Istanbul? Best taxi operators in Istanbul – order taxi on English by phone.

Group and individual taxi transfers in Istanbul, entire the city and from airport to the hotel, became very popular. The time, when the rules of social distancing are very important and taxi could help to avoid contacts in public transportation. Also, the car rent services became more actual now.

All taxi drivers in Istanbul are required to make daily disinfection and cleaning of the cars. Many of them use the plastic film which is dividing the driver from the passenger. Drivers are wearing masks and you can find the sanitizers in the car.

Taxi in Istanbul: 2023 prices, how and where get transfer services — Taxi in Istanbul is everywhere

Taxi prices in Istanbul in 2023

When you seat in the taxi, the taximeter should stand on 12.65 Turkish Lira, it is the current rate on seat.
Yellow taxi Istanbul price of 1 km: 8,5 Turkish Lira, it is about 0,38 EUR, or 0,35 USD
Popular taxi companies: GetTransfer, Kiwitaxi, Intui.travel, Bitaksi, Uber, Koç taxi, Ayasoya taxi. Almost all of them have apps that could be couwnloaded before visiting Istanbul, companies do not use Istanbul taxi number now.
Payments are by mileage counter, by cash. Some taxis accept payments by card (Visa, MasterCard)
Istanbul taxi also has a waiting fee, but it is included if the car is not moving for more than 5 minutes.

How to find a taxi in Istanbul?

Istanbul is a big city, and as in ordinary city, there are a lot of taxis on the street. Different local and international taxi companies and the private taxis are servicing the 16 million population of Istanbul and big number of tourists. So, find taxi in Istanbul is very easy.

You just can stop the taxi right on the road or near to the public places like airport, restaurants, museums. Be careful if you chose to stop the taxi on the road, some private drivers can cheat with the price, especially if they see that it is a tourist. If you are confused with the price that taxi driver charged to you, or have any other doubts, ask the driver about it, and mention that you will contact Tourism Police and the Police.

Try to get a taxi of the official yellow color with the signs of the taxi companies. And never, please never, sit at the cars without the signs of taxi, even if they offer a taxi service.

The best option to find safe taxi is to order it by internet, using the popular services like GetTransfer, Kiwitaxi, Intui.travel. This services initially operated as transfer companies from airport to hotel and from hotel to airport. But, now they operate entire all districts of the Istanbul and you can order taxi from your hotel to any part of the city and to any close counties of the Istanbul. For example, you can order a taxi to Istanbul neighbor cities like Izmit and thermal SPAs like Bursa and Yalova.

The big advantage of using the transfer services is that you can order them before your visit to Istanbul, on their websites. Make the order to taxis for all your planned trips and pay by the card entire the service, without further cash operations with taxi drivers. It is useful, fast and safe service.

Other benefits of ordering taxi by internet

Clear prices, you know how much you pay before the trip;
Confidence in safety and quality. In any doubts, you may just ask the support team of the service;
Selection of different types and classes of cars, including minivans for big companies;
You may ask for special conditions, like the child seats if you travel with small children.

Types of taxi in Istanbul

The easiest way to navigate is by the color of the taxi.

In total, there are 3 taxi colors and 4 car classification segments: C, D, E and F.

Yellow taxi are the cheapest taxis that can be found everywhere in the city, as well as at airports, near hotels, etc. Yellow taxis are the C segment – it includes car brands such as Fiat (Egea Sedan, Egea Station Wagon) Renault (Megane) Toyota (Corolla, C-HR)
Blue taxi – the fare is slightly higher than that of the yellow ones, this is segment D. More brands belong to this segment, among the examples of Citroen, Ford, Honda, Kia, Alfa Romeo, Mazda, Nissan, Opel and others. This category also includes minivans with a capacity of 8 + 1
Black taxi is the most expensive taxi, belonging to the luxury segments E and F. These segments are distinguished by the class of car, i.e. in segment F will be the most luxurious versions of brands of category E.

Taxi price Istanbul Airport to city in 2023

To the Sultanahmet area: yellow taxi about 350 lira, blue about 405 lira, black – from 600 lira
To Taksim Square: yellow – from 340 liras, blue – from 395 liras, black – from 490 liras
To Kadikoy pier: yellow – about 438 liras, blue – from 500 liras, black – at least 740 liras.

Taxi fare in 2023 from Sabiha Gokcen Airport (SAW)

To the Sultanahmet area: yellow – at least 420 lira, blue from 480 lira, black from 716 lira.
To Taksim Square: yellow about 370 lira, blue – 435 lira, black – 640 lira.
To Kadikoy pier: yellow taxis from 330 liras, blue ones from 380 liras, black ones from 556 liras.

From Sultanahmet by yellow taxi (approximate prices):

To Taksim Square – 60 lira
To Galataport and Karakoy – 40 lira
To Besiktas – 60 lira
To the Bebek embankment (you can walk to Rumeli Hisary on foot) – 100 lira
To Cevahir shopping center – from 85 lira
To Istinye Park shopping center – 150 lira
To Kadikoy pier – 120 lira + payment for travel through the Eurasia tunnel or for the bridge
To the Miniaturk Museum – 90 lira
To the Balat quarter – 60 lira

Notable info for tourists about taxi in Istanbul

Coming to rest in Istanbul, you need to know about some features of the taxi and life hacks that will make your life much easier.
Remember that the easiest way is to catch a taxi – waving your hand at the road, a free car will stop.
It is known that 4 passengers are placed in the interior of a standard passenger car. But taxi drivers in Istanbul prefer to put no more than 3 people in the car. Do not argue about this and swear – this is such an unspoken rule. If you are 4 or more people, look for a more spacious taxi or go through a transfer in advance.
Women do not sit in the seat next to the driver – such a local tradition, so if you sit in the front seat and they look at you askance – do not be surprised.
If you are in a popular tourist area, then it is better to leave it by public transport, and only then you can use taxi services. Practice shows that in places with a large concentration of tourists, fraudulent taxi drivers operate most often.
Before you get into the car, remember or write down its license plates, as well as the name of the company. This information will be very helpful in case of problematic situations.
Istanbul taxis run on LPG. It is much more economical than gasoline, but such fuel has a significant drawback – the gas cylinder takes up most of the trunk. Therefore, if you have a lot of suitcases and you are traveling in a large company, try to take a car with more space.
If there is an extremely problematic situation, you can contact the special tourist police. This organization was created specifically to protect the rights of tourists. You can call the Tourist Istanbul police at +90 (212) 527 45 03. But you should only do this if you have a real offense. Inflated meter numbers that seem too high to you are not a reason to contact the police.