Henda

I am planning a trip to Turkey this December and will arrive and depart Sabiha Gokcen airport. Can anyone suggest how to get there by public transport. I will be doing a Trafalgar tour that depart from the Holiday Inn city. I will be in Istanbul 2 days prior to the start of the tour and thought of reserving these 2 days also at the Holiday Inn. Any feedback will be appreciated.

tarquin

There are inexpensive airport to hotel shuttles, but allow plenty of time.

otherchelebi

Definitely not a preferred location for tourists or business travelers to istanbul.

Compares poorly to almost all Sultanahmet and Sirkeci hotels written about in trip reports of travelers to Istanbul on Fodors.

Also, very far from SAW airport (although close to IST airport). I do not understand the warped logic of choosing this hotel in combination with flights using SAW airport.

If your tour already includes visits to the museums amd historic sites in Istanbul, pick a hotel in Cihangir or Besiktas or if you can afford one,on the Bosphorus. You will reach it quicker and see parts of Istanbul the tour will not show.

If you need to the the historic sites yourself, you may prefer a Sultanahmet or Sirkeci hotel. Pick one of those recommended by recent travelers in their trip reports on Fodors.

otherchelebi

There is a reasonably frequent Havatas bus from SAW to Taksim Square, which is easy luggage rolling distance from Cihangir or taxi to Besiktas $4-5, Sirkeci $6-7, Sultanahmet $7-8. Holiday Inn $10-11 depending on the time of day.

The bus from SAW can take up to 100 minutes in heavy traffic or half that in light traffic.

Taxi transfers to SAW will be rather expensive.

Check the shuttle costs on the internet. Hotels will usually take a commission on the price, and not tell you about it.

Henda

Thanks for all the suggestions. I will look into other hotels like Uyan which was recommended on this site.