Istanbul Airport

Istanbul International Airport took over the reins as Istanbul's main airport from Atatürk and hosted 90 million visitors yearly, which is eight times that of the Hagia Sophia.

Since opening in 2018, the airport has solidified its reputation as one of the world's largest and most impressive airports. The airport has become an attraction and icon in its own right.

Istanbul Airport

Istanbul International Airport is located in the Çatalca- Göktürk-Arnavutköy area on the European side of Istanbul. It is 40km from Taksim and 52km from Kadıköy and is set in the middle between Tayakadin and Akpinar villages.

The airport's striking design reflects Istanbul's rich history and culture while also embodying the city's character as a truly global city that lives up to Napoleon's famous praise: "If the world were only one nation, Istanbul would be its capital!"

It is easy to fall for the lofty Ottoman-esque pillars and the hypnotizing Iznik tiles of the airport. One could even mistake the splendid features of this airport for those in a room tucked away in the Grand Bazaar or Topkapi Palace. But this isn't one of Turkey's ancient historical landmarks—it's the new and futuristic Istanbul Airport.

In addition to its striking architecture, Istanbul International Airport also boasts many amenities that cater to even the most discerning traveler, from designer stores to fine-dining restaurants.

Istanbul Airport's cutting-edge design and exceptional facilities make it a world-class destination that sets a new standard for air trips in the 21st century.

Unsurprisingly, as part of Condé Nast Traveler's 35th Annual Readers' Awards, Istanbul International Airport won "Best International Airport." Here are just a few reasons why.

Standout Design

Istanbul International Airport has already been awarded the best airport in Europe by Airports Council International, an award given to the airport with the highest score in a customer satisfaction survey.

Istanbul Airport is designed to maximize efficiency. Although massive and intricate, it is connected by a central hub to allow passengers to quickly and easily reach their gates.

Walking to the entrance is a unique experience, thanks to the calm environment that echoes the feeling of being in nature, with a vast open space in the center that resembles a bird's-eye view of a forest.

Art

You will be forgiven if you mistake Istanbul International Airport terminals for a museum at first glance. Although the airport has a museum, it is also home to various paintings, from traditional Turkish artworks to modern sculptures, spread throughout the building like a scavenger hunt for travelers to find.

One of the highlights of the airport is the "Wish Tree," decorated with colorful ribbons and wishing cards. Other notable pieces include the "Dreams of Childhood" installation, which comprises hundreds of colorful hand-painted tiles and the "Istanbul in Motion" mural, which captures the city's vibrancy.

There are also activities available through the İGART studio, which curates a regularly updated program of weekly cultural events, concerts, and workshops for itinerant art lovers.

Facilities and Services at the Istanbul Airport

The airport offers multiple lounges for domestic and international flyers. The lounges serve as oases of calm with a wide range of amenities, including free snacks and drinks, comfortable seating, and even showers and spa facilities.

Domestic Lounge

Turkish Airlines Domestic Lounge

This lounge is open to you if you are using Turkish Airlines to travel within Turkey. The lounge has a sophisticated design and excellent service, with stunning views of the runway and a range of top-notch dining options, meaning you might be OK with missing your flight.

In addition to all these top-notch amenities, you can enjoy a lavish hot and cold buffet inside the lounge and a self-serve bar.

There is also an area dedicated to console gaming to have fun while waiting for your flight and an indoor playground for children.

There are also many meeting rooms to do your work while waiting and a particular gate that allows you to board your flight directly from the lounge.

International Lounges

Turkish Airlines Business Lounge

The Turkish Airlines Business lounge is open 24/7 and available to all premium passengers on Turkish Airlines and other Star Alliance airlines.

The lounge has storage lockers, so you don't have to worry about your luggage while exploring the lounge. It also has comfortable seating, including some overlooking the terminal and a small business center featuring workstations with computers.

There is also a TV viewing space with a dozen Tv screens displaying different shows, and many daybeds are available in curtained booths if you want to nap.

If you're about to board a Turkish Airlines flight of eight hours or coming off one and have a layover of four to nine hours, you are eligible to sleep in a private bedroom with a TV and desk.

The lounge also has a dining area featuring an open kitchen to watch Turkish chefs preparing your meals. Food stations are also available all over the lounge, including self-serve buffets with a massive array of salads, spreads, soups, and hot dishes.

You can even ask for grilled meat at the live cooking stations and take advantage of the enormous dessert spreads. Coffee bars serving espressos and cappuccinos are also stationed throughout the lounge.

If you're looking for entertainment during your layover, visit the golf simulator to hit a few balls and if you have a kid, visit the play area for children featuring a large model airplane to play in and plenty of games.

Turkish Airlines Miles & Smiles Lounge

This lounge is only for the Elite and Elite Plus members of the Turkish Airlines Miles & Smiles frequent flyer program, regardless of their flight class.

This lounge has many private suites with showers to rest, nap, and refresh. A children's playground, a cinema and a dedicated gaming console center are available.

If you prefer a quiet place or want to focus on your work, you can go to the library or meeting rooms in the lounge.

The Miles & Smiles lounge duplicates the food and beverage offerings of the Turkish Airlines Business Lounge. It also has an open-kitchen area, grilling stations, and a large and varied cold and hot buffet that features spectacular desserts.

IGA Lounge

IGA lounge is where to head if you are not flying with Turkish Airlines or a Star Alliance partner airline. It is like all other airline passengers on Oneworld Airlines.

Inside the IGA lounge are many lockers for passengers to stow their luggage. The lounge also has showers, a terrace, resting places, and even a billiards table that begs for a more extended layover.

It also features an extensive food and drink buffet serving a wide range of desserts, snacks, and salads. You can also head to the full-service bar for some time at the snooker table.

Some seats let you overlook the entire terminal or the tarmac. A dedicated TV room featuring multiple screens with different shows and a couple of private conference rooms are available.

The İGA lounge also has the unique benefit of its very own spa offering 30-minute beauty treatments—including facial treatments, massages, and manicures —to reinvigorate your body from the tiring traveling experience.

Hotel

As if there was more need to prove that Istanbul International Airport is a destination by itself, the luxury hotel, Yotel, proves it. The hotel has intelligent beds, ultra-fast Wi-Fi, and blackout cabins for syncing your circadian rhythm. The hotel is ergonomically designed and facilitated with high-tech "cabins" featuring smart TVs that stream directly from your devices, monsoon rain showers, a 24/7 gym, and self-serve food.

Services at Istanbul International Airport

The services and facilities provided at the Istanbul airport are one-of-a-kind, and the cutting-edge technology applied all over the airport makes it environmentally friendly.

Istanbul Airport features two art exhibition centers, one exhibiting the work of famed Turkish photographer Ara Güler and the other featuring a photographic narrative of the development of the airport. In addition, the airport offers additional services to travelers, including:

Banks and ATMs

If you want to withdraw cash or make transactions, the airport has ATMs for many banks. You can even find some European bank ATMs scattered throughout the departures and arrivals areas of the domestic and international terminals. The airport also hosts three bank branch offices in the domestic section of the terminal.

IGA Pass premium services

The IGA Pass available at Istanbul Airport allows you to access the IGA Lounge and will enable you to take advantage of some extra services. You can use the IGA Pass to skip the queues and use buggy services that get you to your gate quickly without walking.

Prayer rooms

If you are a Muslim, you don't have to worry about a place for prayer since Istanbul airport has 44 prayer rooms, 22 for men and women.

Playgrounds

There are many playgrounds for children to make traveling easier for them and their parents.

Tourism and Travel Services

The airport hosts about 20 tourism services and travel agencies to help you plan for sightseeing in Istanbul or other regions of Turkey and provide the services you need to arrange the next leg of your journey.

Shopping at Istanbul International Airport

Istanbul Airport is home to one of the largest duty-free shopping centers in the world. This shopping center is accessible to international and domestic passengers once they transit through their security checkpoints.

The Istanbul Airports shopping plaza is inspired in its design by the Bosphorus. It is divided into seven areas, each focusing on a particular type of product (for example, watches, jewelry, or a family-themed region featuring children's fashion and toys).

Here you can find designer fashion from world-renowned names, including Emporio Armani, Celine, Lora Piana, Gucci, Ermenegildo Zegna, Michael Kors, Prada, Yves Saint-Laurent Paris, and Etro.

Luxury leather products and accessories are available from top brands, including Fendi, Bottega Veneta, Tumi, Louis Vuitton, Salvatore Ferragamo, Hermes and Furla.

If you want luxury timepieces, you can head to Bulgari, Longchamp, and Swatch to bring home watches and fine jewelry you'll always treasure.

In addition to these popular international brands, you can find fashion goods and accessories from some of Turkey's most famous luxury brands, including Atasay, Rue, Vakko, Guard Leather, Mavi, and Ipekyol.

Istanbul Airport's shopping plaza also incorporates new technologies to make shopping fun and easy. They have intelligent shopping baskets that fast-track your shopping and mobile payment points that shorten checkout lines.

They also have Electronic customer profiling, which allows stores to offer exclusive products and services geared to your preferences, and a Magic Mirror, which makes it possible to preview accessories, makeup and outfits without even trying them on.

Dining at Istanbul International Airport

Travelers just passing through on a layover will be thrilled to find that they can taste traditional regional fare without leaving the airport. The airport restaurant offers a variety of Turkish and international dishes.

You can taste centuries-old Antakyan kebabs and Anatolian recipes or venture farther afield with cuisine from worldwide. You are at a global hub, after all.

You can also find fast food and coffee. Familiar names like Sbarro, Burger King, Starbucks, and Yo are available.

Sushi and other international cuisines are also available in the international terminal. One of the International restaurants in Istanbul Airport includes Zafer Kaptanoglu.

Airlines flying from Istanbul International Airport

As the largest Star Alliance Hub in Europe, with connectivity to over 200 destinations in Europe, Africa, and America, it's arguably the capital of connectedness. Flights from Istanbul International Airport's main terminal and four runways take passengers worldwide. From here, you can connect to and from your final destination through the following airlines:

Airlines flying to the Americas

· Turkish Airlines

Airlines flying to Europe

· Aegean Airlines

· Aeroflot

· Air Albania

· Air France

· AtlasGlobal

· AtlasGlobal Ukraine

· Air Moldova

· Belavia

· British Airways

· KLM

· LOT Polish Airlines

· Lufthansa

· Onur Air

· Rossiya Airlines

· TAROM

· Turkish Airlines

· Ukraine International Airlines

Airlines flying to Africa and The Middle East

· Afriqiyah Airways

· Air Algerie

· Air Astana

· ATA Airlines

· AtlasGlobal

· Buraq Air

· Corendon Airlines

· EgyptAir

· Emirates

· Ethiopian Airlines

· Etihad Airways

· Fly Baghdad

· Ghadames Air Transport

· Gulf Air

· Iran Air

· Iran Aseman Airlines

· Iraqi Airways

· Jazeera Airways

· Kuwait Airways

· Libyan Airlines

· Libyan Wings

· Mahan Air

· Meraj Airlines

· Middle East Airlines

· Nouvelair

· Oman Air

· Onur Air

· Pegasus Airlines

· Qatar Airways

· Qeshm Air

· Royal Air Maroc

· Royal Jordanian Airlines

· Saudia Airlines

· Taban Air

· Tunisair

· Turkish Airlines

· Zagros Airlines

Airlines flying to Asia and Oceania

· Ariana Afghan Airlines

· Asiana Airlines

· Azerbaijan Airlines

· China Southern Airlines

· IndiGo

· Kam Air

· Korean Air

· Singapore Airlines

· Somon Air

· SCAT Airlines

· Sichuan Airlines

· Turkish Airlines

· Turkmenistan Airlines

· Uzbekistan Airways