Travel: Flights to Istanbul from London Heathrow (lhr)

Duty Free area, inside Ataturk Airport

Planes arrive at Istanbul Atatürk Airport (IST), 20 km west of the city centre. From the airport, there are various options for getting into Istanbul: you can take a taxi (about $20 which equals approx. 30 Turkish Lira), the express bus service (run by the local airport service called "HAVAS", half-hourly, about $5 to Taksim), or by metro to Aksaray and a tram on to Kabata?, which also passes through Sultanahmet, Eminönu and Tophane, among others for 1.3-2.6 YTL (0.88-1.74$).

• See also #By_tram

Note that food and drinks at the airport may cost up to five times more than in the city proper. If you are travelling on a budget and plan to spend some time at the airport, it may be wise to take your own meals from town instead of buying them there.

A smaller airport is the Sabiha Gökçen International Airport (SAW) , located in the Anatolian side of the city. Mostly charter flights as well as European low cost carriers operate from here. A "HAVAS" bus connects this airport with Taksim in the city center for about 7$ (6 € ~ 9.5 L?ra).