How to do a Long Layover in Istanbul

When we booked our flights to South Africa, our 44 hours of travel included an 8-hour layover in Istanbul. We immediately thought AWESOME; let’s cram as much sightseeing as we can into these eight hours!

When we discovered that Turkish Airlines provided free tours for layovers longer than 6 hours, we were thrilled! Who doesn’t love free things?? If a layover is between 8:30am-4pm, you will be able to catch the beginning of a well-designed tour by Istanbul in Hours! Unfortunately if you land at 6pm like we did, you’re out of luck.

That’s when you become your own tour guide though! We highly recommend buying the Turkish Visa online ($20) to streamline the customs process. Speaking from experience: you can even buy it less than 24 hours in advance as long as you print it out somewhere. Female travelers who plan to visit any mosques need to have their shoulders and head covered, so plan ahead and bring a scarf with you on the plane.

En route to Istanbul, on our Turkish Airlines flight, the headrest on Lexi’s seat decided very abruptly to fall off in the middle of her restless slumber. Have you ever been uncomfortable on a plane? Try flying without a headrest. Other than that minor issue, Turkish Airlines was a great flying experience After a long two hours we landed, and got through customs very quickly. After stumbling our way around the airport, we were able to locate the taxi line with ease as soon as we left the arrivals hall. We hopped into the first Taxi in line, and were whisked away to see our first glimpse of Istanbul.

We were dropped off 40 minutes later at the plaza where the Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque stood
in all their majestic glory. They were closed, since it was late, but it was absolutely stunning being able to meander around the plaza and the courtyards and see how dramatically lit these mosques were. It was a surreal experience, being one of the few people in a normally very crowded courtyard. Sometimes going at non-peak times can be a blessing in disguise. We weren’t bothered by any salespeople, and were able to appreciate the beauty in the moment.

The Grand Bazaar was a short walk away, and we wandered through the shops, and once a little chill came into the air, we stopped at a brightly colored, local café to order some famous Turkish tea and warm up. Normally, we make a point to ask locals for recommendations for what to order, after all, they know best. In this instance, we asked for a dessert recommendation and got a rather disgusting sweet crumbly, cheese-y dish that reminded me of curdled cheesecake. If you see kanafeh, do not be deceived. We later discovered that it is made with sugar, cheese and pistachios. After that interesting experience, we asked the café to call us another Taxi to head to the airport since we didn’t want to loiter around Istanbul after
10pm. The security process to get back into the airport took less than 15 minutes and before we knew it, we were back in the airport with more than three hours until our plane took off at 2am.
Now, as you can imagine eight hours is way too long to spend in any airport. Atatürk was only for three hours and it was especially painful. It was empty, which means no people watching, and the Wi-Fi was incredibly inconsistent. However, due to Lexi’s headrest debacle, we convinced the First Class Lounge for Turkish Airlines to give us free Wi-Fi. Granted it was spotty, but since it was free it wasn’t as painful as normal. We sipped our hella expensive Starbucks coffees, attempted to upload our pictures and (impatiently) waited for our last flight to Cape Town, South Africa.