Istanbul train or tram to Blue Mosque?

[jms2362]

Does anyone know if you can take the train or tram from the airport to the Blue Mosque area. Having read pricing of a taxi it seems that the subway (or train or tram) would be faster and much less expensive. Has anyone done it?

[6rugrats]

No, when we stayed in Istanbul (not on a cruise) we arranged an airport pickup.

 

If you go to the Istanbul forum on Tripadvisor.com, there are many threads with detailed instructions on getting from the airport using public transportion to the Sultanhamet area.

[isutru]

Have not done it, but have researched, and doing this in a week. The tram will take you from the port very close to the Blue Mosque. Rick Steves' Istanbul book gives a great explanation. Maybe someone who has done it can give more information.

[cruisemom42]

You cannot take the subway or tram directly to the Blue Mosque. I looked at doing this on my recent trip but decided not to as it looked like a bit of a hassle. You take the subway (or maybe it was the train, I don't recall at the moment) then transfer to the tram at a certain point. As the other poster says, Rick Steves has good directions on how to do this in his Istanbul book.

[jms2362]

You cannot take the subway or tram directly to the Blue Mosque. I looked at doing this on my recent trip but decided not to as it looked like a bit of a hassle. You take the subway (or maybe it was the train, I don't recall at the moment) then transfer to the tram at a certain point. As the other poster says, Rick Steves has good directions on how to do this in his Istanbul book.

Thanks so much for your help. I do have the book and looked it up. You only have to change once but it might be a big hassle with luggage going down the stairs at the airport to the train terminal. Will have to look into this more.