Sure, some airlines let you work in a free stopover. But Turkish Airlines goes one step further and offers up a free city tour on a stopover as short as six hours.
Maybe getting into a shuttle bus and tooling around Istanbul after seven hours on an Airbus isn’t your cup of tea, but if you’re up for it, then focus on the key term in that previous sentence: Free!
From the website for their program, IstanbulInHours.com, some of the details of the six-hour tour:
If you have a transit flight from Istanbul and have more than 6 hours waiting time for your connecting flight, you can visit our hotel desk to join our free city tour and experience the glamorous city that connects Europe to Asia as land and also as culture.
After you apply to our Hotel Desk which can be found at the airport, you will be picked up by a private tour guide and get to see most significant historical places of Istanbul. There are two 6-hour tours daily; one starts at 09:00 and ends at 15:00, and the other one is from 12:00 to 18:00. You will be taken to airport after your tour ends. The transportation in Istanbul and the transportation to and from the airport will be done by free shuttles.
All your transportation, meal and museum fees will be met by Turkish Airlines. If you have any further questions, please visit our FAQ page or contact us.
All transportation, meals, and museum fees are covered? Wow.
Are you going to get a full taste of Istanbul in six hours? Of course not. Will you be tired? Quite likely. But you’ll get a brief taste of some major sights.
How viable is it to actually take advantage of this? Remember, you need to be transiting Turkey internationally, not just making a connection from an international flight. Depending on your destination, the timetable may not make it possible.
Since I’ve never participated in these tours (or even been to Turkey, yet), I can’t vouch for the quality of the tours, so don’t take this as an endorsement, per se. But I really like the idea, so hats off to Turkish for offering this. Bonus points since they’re not just doing it for business class passengers. Even economy gets in on the action.
I’m curious to hear if others have any experience with this. If anyone out there has done a free Turkish Airlines Istanbul tour, post your story in the comments.
(image)
RSS (FeedBurner)
Read with Amazon Kindle
Subscribe by E-mail
Follow on Twitter
February 25th, 2011 at 4:23 am
Wow. I hadn’t heard of this before either. I’d be curious as well to see what others experiences have been of this free tour. Thanks for sharing!
February 26th, 2011 at 2:06 am
SQ does something similar to this – less generous benefits, but same idea.
February 27th, 2011 at 12:49 am
Singapore Airlines does much the same and they also have the “singapore stopover holiday” which means you can get discounts at local hotels, restaurants, shopping malls etc once you produce your SQ boarding card.
February 28th, 2011 at 8:23 pm
The Singapore Hop-On Bus is much more of a self-service tour than the guided tours Turkish is offering. And the Singapore bus is not free. Compare:
http://www.siahopon.com/
And the Singapore Stopover is nowhere near as generous as this. See for yourself:
http://www.singaporeair.com/saa/en_UK/content/promo/ssh/2010/index.jsp
Just sayin’.
March 4th, 2011 at 5:42 am
WOW. And what about visa? If I have a transit flight via Istanbul?
March 15th, 2011 at 5:15 pm
That is a great deal and anyone that has the chance to stop in Istanbul for a day or two should take it. Even if you only have time to see the Blue mosque and Hagia Sophia ( pronounced hi a sophia ) which are such fantastic things to see and right across the street from each other. When I was there 4 years ago I didn’t need a Visa but I would check anyway.
March 29th, 2011 at 9:57 pm
Great post and appreciate learning about these free offers by airlines on international stopovers. Would love to take up Turkish Airlines on their offer to see, even if hurriedly, the Blue mosque and Hagia Sophia, both beautiful monuments from the Byzantine and Ottoman Empires. Thank you for sharing.
April 1st, 2011 at 6:28 pm
Wow…I’d never heard of such deal! I think it’s pretty awesome, maybe you dont’ get to do all the things you would if you went on your own time and space, but still, you get a little taste of this great country!! Awesome, thanks for sharing…!
April 18th, 2011 at 3:54 am
My husband and I have a 9 hr layover In Istanbul, traveling from Bahrain to Prague in May, on Turkish Airlines. Would we be able to take advantage of this as well? I’ve emailed them but haven’t received a response yet.
May 24th, 2011 at 6:53 pm
Turbcast is a great app for travelers.
July 20th, 2011 at 12:20 am
[...] provide very-short term visitors with opportunities to spend money locally. Turkish Airlines offers similar tours in Istanbul and the StarLine Tour company offers a similar, if tackier, experience in Los [...]
July 30th, 2011 at 4:59 pm
Not quite a free tour, but my mother was given a complimentary day-room at the Hyatt Incheon by Korean Airlines during a 6 hour stopover. Very generous of the airline since she was traveling on a discounted consolidator fare.
August 15th, 2011 at 4:43 pm
[...] provide very-short term visitors with opportunities to spend money locally. Turkish Airlines offers similar tours in Istanbul and the StarLine Tour company offers a similar, if tackier, experience in Los [...]
September 8th, 2011 at 9:32 am
Personally, I’d take a free tour above sitting in Istanbul airport for six hours any day. A friend went there recently and did have to spend six hours in transit and related that it was overcrowded and not a fun experience.
November 8th, 2011 at 1:45 am
This is the great opportunity of travelers… Thanks for sharing this information..
January 9th, 2012 at 10:34 am
The picture is awesome. I actually spent a week this past summer in Istanbul, not my favorite place, however the tour idea for layovers is a good one.
January 13th, 2012 at 1:35 am
actually turkish airlines is the best airlines to do the work…amezing…….
Hi, there, we have an international plan for all who love to go in rotaionally outdoor / holidays / business meetings / short term vacational plans. we have a portal that provides such kind of fascilities, there are thousands of posts are available to their nearby visiting locaitions, so try this one also and have fun…….VEEMOY.COM
regards………….
January 24th, 2012 at 7:56 am
Istanbul is an incredible city .. if you get the chance to stop off here, make the most of it. Combining stunning architecture with modern facilities and excellent restaurants and hotels, Istanbul is one of the most amazing cities in the world.
January 30th, 2012 at 12:48 am
nice photo,I like it.
thanks for posting.
Rajasthan Tour Packages
February 4th, 2012 at 6:25 am
Informative post! Thanks for sharing! Good choice of picture too..
February 15th, 2012 at 7:26 am
It is a wonderful idea and I’m sure very popular as well. What an excellent opportunity to spend the time between two flights! I would love to see Istanbul.
March 18th, 2012 at 4:13 am
Hi.this is great promo, it it still valid,if so which part of the airport is Hotel travel desk situated.appreciated if somebody can reply asap.
tks
March 19th, 2012 at 11:23 pm
Wow! Istanbul is really a nice place to visit. Thanks a lot for sharing this.
Cheers!
May 19th, 2012 at 1:03 am
That is a great deal travel to a Istanbul.It’s wonderful thing to spend days in Istanbul.How viable is it to actually take advantage of this tour. We can get various choice of travel to Istanbul.In this blog the content is very clean to read it
June 3rd, 2012 at 3:27 pm
This is very useful news, especially for me since I quite often have international transit flights with a stopover in Istanbul and sometimes it takes a lot of time which is so exhausting for me. And now there is a chance to make a sightseeing tour free of charge in one of the most beautiful and oldest cities in the World. Istanbul is an incredible city; it is a combination of stunning architecture with modern facilities and excellent restaurants and hotels, with friendly people. It is one of the most amazing and glamorous cites in the World that connects Europe to Asia as land and also as culture. It definitely will not be enough to see everything in six hours tour but at least you will be able to experience the beauty and uniqueness of this city. l will use this service with a lot of pleasure plus it is free…Why not?!
Good information and I find it very interesting, Thank you.
June 4th, 2012 at 4:26 am
This place is similar to taj mahal in india. I like this place very much, I enjoy visiting such kind of places, nice pic
July 13th, 2012 at 9:38 am
An amazing service – and Istanbul is so very much worth seeing. Allow about 45 minutes each to the old historic centre and you still have a good amount of time to explore. Does anyone know of any other airline offering something similar?
Keep up the good posts!
Best wishes, Peter
Peter Sommer Travels
July 17th, 2012 at 2:36 am
Aha? it is a special free tourism. I’m a student heading to Uganda for 10 weeks and recently booked flights through Turkish Airways. If I have the chance fight to there, I will try it.
July 31st, 2012 at 10:01 am
this is very nice information about airline.
August 9th, 2012 at 4:00 am
this is really cool
September 11th, 2012 at 1:11 am
Hi, Many thanks! You just made my day. I’m looking forward to this trip very much.
Thanks you
Istanbul Tour Packages
October 15th, 2012 at 6:48 am
Very nice offer by Turkish airline. Turkey is very beautiful place and you must visit is once in your lifetime.
October 16th, 2012 at 9:26 am
To take the advantage of the Istanbul tour, all connecting flight tickets must belong to Turkish Airlines international flights and must be the first connection between those destinations.And this is very nice offer by Turkish airline.
October 17th, 2012 at 8:09 am
I can’t say definitely that this poll based result “Best” 100% trustworthy, there are some uncertainties, and along with I appreciate for your efforts and promotional write up for bringing some read worthy blogs travel for savvy guys.
October 18th, 2012 at 1:30 am
Turkish Airlines provides best offers.This is very helpful for every traveler.
November 18th, 2012 at 6:53 pm
Really cool promo and nice picture of the dawn at Istanbul.
December 19th, 2012 at 5:48 am
If you can take full taste of Istanbul in six hours then its amazing dude..
December 22nd, 2012 at 5:15 am
Really an informative and great post
December 22nd, 2012 at 5:16 am
It is really an awesome concept and main advantage is that it is free of cost. It is really a good service by Turkish airlines and it will of course help to increase the number of visitors to Istanbul city. I have heard so many praising words about Istanbul travel attractions but I never get chance to see this beautiful city. My some of the friends have visited Istanbul and they always tell me to visit this place but unfortunately I can’t yet. I am very eager to see the Saint Sophia’s church and Topkapi palace.
February 5th, 2013 at 8:31 am
Amazing museum of istanbul. Thank u for posting the wonderful museum of istanbul and giving very nice offer by Turkish airline
February 12th, 2013 at 6:26 am
I have just come back from a trip where I was in transit inTurkey, and went on the tour that was provided. It was wonderful. We were taken to the sites, out for breakfast and lunch. I really recommend this.
February 14th, 2013 at 3:05 pm
Being that the flights all need to be with Turkish Airlines, for International travelers that are Using the Star Alliance for flights, usually there will be a connection that’s not with Turkish Airlines. Another issue is that when the stopover is pretty long, most people would like to sleep over. Turkish Airlines offers free accommodations, but if you choose to take the tour you will not get put up in a hotel. We had a client that flew first class and had approximately an 8 hour stop over. He said it was definitely worth seeing.
March 3rd, 2013 at 8:20 am
Turkish Airlines is not the not offering cheap tickets. So, they must have to improve their services.
May 17th, 2013 at 4:58 am
Usually I don’t learn article on blogs, however I would like to say that this write-up very pressured me to take a look at and do it! Your writing taste has been amazed me. Thanks, quite nice article.