Where To Buy Istanbulkart
ISTANBULKART Price, Top Up, Refund (Updated → )
Istanbulkart is a credit card sized travel card that provides great convenience for tourists visiting Istanbul. Istanbulkart users can access the most important public transportation vehicles in the city such as metro, tram, ferry and funicular with a single card.
Istanbulkart may also be referred to as &#;Akbil&#; in some old travel guides. This old pass, which looks like a small clock battery, has been replaced by Istanbulkart over time. With Istanbulkart, it is possible to access not only transportation vehicles, but also public toilets in parks and touristic places.
In this article, you can find everything you need to know about the Istanbul travel card, simply named Istanbulkart. I will also try to answer the questions of the current Istanbulkart price, where to buy it and how to top up.
How to Buy Istanbul Travel Card?
The easiest way to buy Istanbul travel card is the newsstands in touristic places. You can see many newsstands where you can buy Istanbulkart in popular districts such as Sultanahmet, Sirkeci, Karakoy and Taksim Square.
Apart from newspapers and Istanbulkart, these kiosks also sell simple snacks and beverages. When buying an Istanbulkart, you first pay a small price for the card itself. Then you can also ask the officer to load Turkish lira on the card.
Where to Buy Istanbulkart in Sultanahmet
The tram is an ideal means of public transportation to travel between the touristic spots of Istanbul. For example, you can find a few of the newsstands I mentioned above in Sultanahmet.
In order to buy Istanbulkart from Sultanahmet, you can go to the kiosk you see in the picture above. To find this place, you can follow the tramway in the direction of the Grand Bazaar, taking Hagia Sophia behind you.
It will be enough to walk for five minutes from the road called Divanyolu Street where the tram tracks are located. After passing the Sultanahmet Tram Station, you will see the kiosk I mentioned on your left.
Where to Buy Istanbulkart in Taksim
You can also use the newsstands to buy Istanbulkart from Taksim. Also, if you go down to the metro station in Taksim Square, there are also official Istanbulkart machines.
In these Istanbulkart machines installed by the Istanbul Municipality, the card is usually a little cheaper than the kiosks outside. You can both buy Istanbulkart from the machine and load Turkish Lira into it.
Price of Istanbul Travel Card for
Istanbulkart price is 60 Turkish Lira as of January When you pay this money to the Newsstands, they only give you a blank card. You can fill Istanbul travel card yourself from the yellow top-up machines, or you can directly ask the staff at the newsstand to load money into it.
What makes Istanbulkart so useful is that it can be topped up easily and it is simple to use. Moreover, you can use it to pay for others (friends, family etc&#;). Therefore, if there are others who accompany you, you don’t have to buy two separate cards. As long as you have enough credits in your card, there is no limit to how many people can use it.
Another feature of Istanbulkart is that it offers discounts for transfers after the first use. The card, which charges the full price in the first time, allows you to get on the other 3 vehicles used within the 2-hour time window, cheaper each time.
Transfer Discounts for Istanbulkart
Istanbulkart transfer discounts allow you to travel for a little less each time you use the card for the second, third and fourth time. For example, while you charge 9,90 TL the first time you use the card, you pay 7,09 TL for the second time, 5,38 TL for the third time and 3,40 TL for the fourth time. Prices were last updated in January
These prices are valid for the metro, tram and ferry, which are the most used public transportation vehicles by tourists. However, it should not be forgotten that some transportation vehicles have different tariffs.
For example, vehicles that provide transportation between the European side and the Asian side, such as Metrobus and Marmaray, will charge more. Buses crossing from one side to the other in Istanbul also charge extra.
How to Get Refund on Istanbulkart?
In order to get refunds on Istanbulkart, you need to be using vehicles such as Marmaray or Metrobus, which have a long route. These vehicles travel a very long distance from the suburbs on the European side of the city to other suburbs on the Asian side.
When you use Marmaray or Metrobus, a price much higher than the normal fare is charged to your travel card the first time. The system assumes that you will go to the last stop and charges the full fare. However, when you get off at the previous stops, the fee is refunded.
To get a refund, you need to find the refund machines at the station exits. There are many of these machines at the central stations to avoid queues. You can get a refund by touching your card to these devices, which you can see from the picture above.
Istanbulkart could be returned to kiosks after being used in the past. The money you paid for the card itself was a kind of deposit and was refunded. So the reclaimed card was sold to someone else. However, in recent years it is not possible to return the card itself. Since there are millions of Istanbulkarts in the market, it has no monetary value anymore.
How to Top Up Istanbulkart?
In order to top up Istanbulkart, you can use the yellow machines at metro, tram and ferry stations. For example, at the tram station you see in the picture above, the yellow-black machine with &#;Biletmatik&#; written on it is an Istanbulkart top up machine. These machines enable passengers to top up only in 30 seconds.
To the left of this Istanbulkart machine, you see a second machine with &#;Jetonmatik&#; written on it. Those who need a one-time ticket can buy a one-way tram ticket from this token machine. However, one-time tickets are more expensive than the Istanbulkart tariff.
No Need to Match HES Code with Istanbulkart
During the Covid period, Istanbulkart had to be paired with the HES code. In this period, Istanbul Card became personalized. Normally, multiple people can use an Istanbulkart, but during the Covid process, everyone had to get a private one for themselves.
However, as of March , the HES code matching requirement for Istanbulkart has been removed. You no longer have to register your Istanbul Travel Card on the online site.
You can use the Istanbul Travel Card practically as before while getting on the vehicles such as the Metro, Marmaray, Tram and Ferry. Istanbul Public Transport Card can now be loaded and used immediately after purchase.
Conclusion
In summary, Istanbulkart is a very useful public transport card for both Istanbulites and tourists visiting the city. Since it is very difficult to use public transportation in the city without an Istanbulkart, I recommend you to get this card while you are at the airport.
On this site, there is more detailed information about the means of transportation you can use Istanbulkart. For example, you can take a look at the article called Istanbul Metro Map about the metro system in Istanbul.
In addition, if you want to learn about the tram, which is by far the most used means of transportation in Istanbul, I recommend the article called Istanbul Tram T1. In this article, you can see how to use public transportation between the most popular tourist destinations such as Sultanahmet and Taksim.
Written by Serhat Engul
Filed Under: CLUES, GETTING AROUNDTagged With: Getting Around Istanbul
How To Get Istanbul Kart?
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How To Get Istanbul Kart?
Istanbul has developed and integrated public transportation facilities that provide convenience for visitors who are eager to discover the city. Like most of the European cities, Istanbul has its own card, called Istanbulkart, that you can use in any vehicle such as the metro, metrobus, tram, buses, or even in public ferries of Istanbul. It is saddening to let you know that there are no day or week passes unlike the major touristic towns, however, it is still utile to get one of them to benefit from the discounted rates for transportation. We will try to summarize how to get an Istanbul kart and use it in the most proper way.
Firstly, to have the advantage, every single person has to have a separate card. The reason is, you will have to get from one vehicle to another and if you have an Istanbul kart you can take the following vehicles much cheaper. When you have only one card, the first transfer is charged with a discount but not the rest of the passengers as they will be charged fully.
Therefore, we will get an Istanbul card from any point of sales such as a kiosk on which Istanbul kart is written, a guiche by the bus terminals, or automated machines where you can also top your Istanbul card up. These machines are everywhere in the city, especially located by the major bus stops, metro stations, or ferry piers. You will definitely need some local currency as the machines and the yellow kiosks would not take credit cards or foreign currencies.
Istanbul Kart is available for public buses
How to top it up?
If you have no money left in your Istanbul kart, you have to top it up in some way. The easiest way is the machines that you could find all over. The only thing that you need to watch is to have smaller banknotes as these machines will not change any money back. The other way is to look for the kiosks by the bus terminals but be aware that they are not all over. There is another way to go online and register your card through the official website. Then you can top your card up with your credit card and your phone that has NFC compatibility.
Istanbulkart
What if you have money left in your Istanbul kart
The vacation is getting to the end and you have some money left in your Istanbul kart. Sorry, but there is no way of getting cash by handing the card but there are some ways that you can spend your money on your card. Please do not forget that you can take the buses to head to the airport from any central location in Istanbul. You may get rid of the taxi fee and find a way to spend your money on the card this way. Or you can spend the money on the card in any major supermarkets as they have the option to pay with Istanbul kart.
Please do not forget that you also may use your Istanbulkarts during your excursions with Guided Istanbul Tours. We also arrange tours with public transportation which occasionally saves time and money. However, in terms of comfort for transportation, our team can provide a private van service with a licensed driver for your tour here in our city. Please feel free to drop us an email to ask for more detailed assistance to plan your Istanbul tour. We hope this travel article helps and we wish you a nice trip to Istanbul.