Kibkom North Cyprus Forum

Can anyone tell what transport facilities are available between Ataturk & Sabiha Gokcen Airports ?
My daughter is going back in July & have just noticed that she has a change of airport. Am aware she will now have to get a visa at Ataturk - don't think the dizzy blonde noticed this when she booked

there is a bus service that goes between airports
I am sure
it will be on the net

Contact Libby who is on the Forum regularly and is a the fount of all knowledge Airport and Plane related. She might in fact pick this one up herself.

You can get a Havatas bus from the arrival airport to Taksim square and then another bus from Taksim square to the departure airport. You should allow 3-6 hours for transfers depending on the time of day - the buses seem to run every 30 mins and it should cost less than 25TL for the whole journey. The timetable is here but I'm afraid the English language button doesn't seem to work. http://www.havatas.com.tr/index.html

Hi. Came back Sunday the mini bus charge was 70 euros and it took 3 hours because of traffic.
Best to get your visa on line it is easy .

Was this the Havatas bus? I can't believe it was 70 Eurosm Lira ,maybe but even that sounds unusually expensive

The minibus was one of the buses that park outside the airport exit and yes it was 75euros.Istanbul to sabiha gokcen was 65euros. very expensive like most things in Istanbul.

There are no public minibuses that serve between Atatutrk and Sabiha Gokcen! This must be one of those so called "VIP" or possibly a privately run one! Even then, you probably forgot to say how many of you there were. Taxi to centre of Istanbul costs around 50-75 TL from Ataturk and from centre to Sabiha Gokcen another 100 - 125 TL depending on the time of the day and how heavy the traffic is. 75 Euros = around 210 TL. It just is not right for a minibus. If you avoided the centre of istanbul and carried on along the circular road to the bridge; from Ataturk to Sabiha gokcen would probably cost aroun 150 TL (And if there are 2 or 3 of you together, then it is a good deal).

As for "buses", Havaş service runs every half an hour to and from both airports. The departure times for Sabiha gokçen is on the hour and half past the hour. I thing the ones to Ataturk are at 20 mins past and 10 mins before the hour. If there are a lot of people and bus gets filled up early, usually another bus is put into service. They arrive, wait and depart at the same stop close to Taksim square. It takes around 30-40 mins to the square from Ataturk Apt., and around 60 to 80 mins between ths square and Sabiha gokçen - again depending on the time of the day. Worst times are between 7.30 - 9.00 am and between 4.00 - 7.30 pm.

Few weeks ago the cost of a one way ticket to was 13 TL or 5 euros if you paid in Euros to/from Sabiha Gökçen - and I believe it is around 10 TL or 4 Euros to/from Ataturk Apt. You lose a few TL if you use Euros!

The cheapest way to go and avoid most of the traffic will be to take the Havatas bus from Ataturk Airport to Yenikapi (in traffic around half an hour, 13 lira) or a taxi (twenty minutes, approx. 35 TL), take the metro across to Kadikoy (around 9-10 minutes, Exit 1, 3 lira?), and then the Havatas (8 lira) bus to Sabiha Gokcen or the E11 (5 lira?, both at most around an hour) express bus to Sabiha Gokcen. I have actually done the same trip in exactly one hour and ten minutes, but was lucky that I had no wait time for either Havatas bus.

If the transfer is during rush-hour, to avoid even more traffic you can change to the Kartal metro line, get off a couple of stops later at Goztepe Koprusu (you would need to take Exit 2 at Goztepe Koprusu to get to the bus stop) and hop on the E11 or Havatas bus, avoiding a majority of the rush-hour traffic, and shortening the journey by about 20-25 minutes.

If she is a dizzy blonde God help her!!

Are you sure it was 75Euro on the bus? I don't "do" queuing and ordered a private taxi to be there on arrival, and that was 50Euro (negotiated down to 35 Euro on the day). I suspect you mean TL. I don't find Istanbul that expensive (other than petrol and drinks) provided you move away from the obviously touristy areas. One road back from the front of Taksim square and a meal can be 25% less. The same goes for The Sultanahmet area.