Istanbul layover guide

Getting around from the crew hotel

Buy an Istanbulkart from the machines at any metro station or the airport (small card fee plus credit); it works on metro, tram, funicular, bus and - crucially - ferries, and one card can pay for multiple people. From IST airport, the M11 metro runs to Gayrettepe with a connection to the M2 line for Taksim and Sisli in under an hour; Havaist buses cover Taksim and Sultanahmet directly if you land outside metro hours. From SAW, the M4 metro connects to Kadikoy on the Asian side.

In the centre, the spine you will use most is the M2 metro (Taksim-Sishane-Vezneciler) and the T1 tram (Kabatas-Karakoy-Sultanahmet-Grand Bazaar). The two funiculars save the steepest hills: Taksim-Kabatas and the historic Tunel from Karakoy up to Istiklal Street. Taxis are cheap but meter refusal is common; use the BiTaksi or Uber app so the route and fare are logged.

• Istanbulkart covers metro, tram, bus, funicular and public ferries
• M11 + M2: IST airport to Taksim in roughly 60 minutes
• T1 tram: the tourist spine - Karakoy, Eminonu, Sultanahmet, Grand Bazaar
• Public ferries from Eminonu, Karakoy or Besiktas to Kadikoy: the best 30-lira cruise on Earth

The 24-hour plan

Do the old city in one focused morning before the tour groups peak: Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque face each other across Sultanahmet Square (dress modestly, headscarves provided for women at mosque entrances), and the Basilica Cistern is a cool, eerie twenty minutes underground. Walk downhill through the Grand Bazaar and the Spice Bazaar to Eminonu - buy nothing on the first pass, everything is cheaper one street outside.

From Eminonu, board any public ferry to Kadikoy on the Asian side. That 25-minute crossing, tea in hand, seagulls alongside, is the single best thing in Istanbul. Kadikoy's market streets are the city's food heart - eat at Ciya Sofrasi if you want one sit-down meal to remember. Ferry back at dusk for the minarets-and-sunset skyline, then finish with a walk up Istiklal Street to Taksim if your legs still work.

Eat well on a per diem

The lokantasi is your friend: point at steam trays of stews, stuffed vegetables and rice, pay very little, eat brilliantly. Balik ekmek (grilled fish sandwiches) by the Galata Bridge at Eminonu remain a crew classic; add a glass of pickled-vegetable juice if you are brave. Simit from street carts, borek from bakeries and a proper Turkish breakfast (kahvalti) spread in Cihangir or Kadikoy will cover every hour your body clock throws at you.

Coffee and dessert culture is a layover sport of its own. Turkish coffee comes with lokum on the side almost everywhere; kunefe (hot cheese pastry in syrup) and fresh baklava in Karakoy are worth the calories. Beer and raki are widely available in Beyoglu, Kadikoy and Besiktas but taxes make alcohol the one thing here that is not cheap - a supermarket Efes on the hotel balcony is the per-diem play.

• Ciya Sofrasi, Kadikoy: Anatolian regional cooking, the one restaurant worth planning around
• Any busy lokantasi at lunch: full tray meal for a few euros' equivalent
• Balik ekmek boats and stalls, Eminonu waterfront
• Karakoy Gulluoglu for baklava; take a box for the crew bus
• Kahvalti (Turkish breakfast) in Cihangir - order one spread between two

If you have 48 hours

Day two, pick a side of the Golden Horn. Option one: Balat and Fener, the old Greek and Jewish quarters - steep lanes of coloured houses, antique shops and third-wave cafes, still more lived-in than touristy. Option two: a Bosphorus ferry further north to Besiktas and Ortakoy for the waterfront mosque photo, or all the way up to Bebek for a long shoreline walk with the fortress of Rumeli Hisari at the end.

Topkapi Palace deserves the half day you could not give it on a 24-hour visit - the harem ticket is worth the extra - and the Suleymaniye Mosque above the Grand Bazaar is grander and calmer than the Blue Mosque with a terrace view over the Golden Horn. A hamam (Turkish bath) is the classic 48-hour treat: historic ones like Cagaloglu or Kilic Ali Pasa cost real money, but neighbourhood hamams deliver the same scrub for a third of the price and fix flying-induced backache better than any hotel spa.

Crew-specific notes

Prices in lira shift quickly with inflation, so think in your home currency and check card acceptance - it is near universal, but small food stalls and ferries prefer the Istanbulkart or cash. Around Taksim at night, politely refuse strangers inviting you to a bar they know; the inflated-bill scam specifically targets airline crew and tourists. Mosque visits pause for prayer times, roughly 20-30 minutes five times daily, and Friday midday is busiest. Traffic is genuinely bad: for any airport departure from the city, respect the pickup time your airline sets, because the metro is often faster than the crew bus at rush hour.