AVOID Taxis in Istanbul – Our Story + Tips to Get Around

When we first flew to IST (the big airport on the European side of Istanbul), we checked Uber and saw that the ride from the airport to the city should cost about 500 – 700 Turkish Lira. We also noticed that these Uber rides were just summoning a Yellow Taxi, and that we would have to pay in cash. (Uber is banned in Turkey for “unfair competition” ) We knew nothing of Taxis in Istanbul before coming to Turkey…

So, we walked out of the airport and hailed a Yellow Taxi thinking: How bad could it be?

The answer is … Pretty Damn Bad.

Our Story – Taxis in Istanbul 🚕

Pretty much every tourist who comes to Istanbul has a story from their taxi experience in Istanbul. We are no different.

By the time we arrived at our hotel from the airport, the meter on the taxi (really, the meter was on the driver’s phone) read 1000 Turkish Lira , plus the driver asked us for 500 Lira (about $20) extra to “pay for the tolls”. This is a common scam in Istanbul. 

The meter includes the tolls. But of course, the driver spoke no English at all, and kept pointing at some paper he had in his hands. (in Turkish, obviously) He gave us a number to call because we told him this made no sense, but of course no one answered the phone, and the answering machine was 100% in Turkish anyway.

He was demanding his 500 extra Turkish Lira, so our options were to (1) turn him down and hope he didn’t try anything, or (2) just pay up. After 5 minutes of arguing, we chose to pay up, but looking back on it we wish we didn’t. 😔 ☹️

➡️ Read: Istanbul 3 Day Itinerary 🇹🇷

Realizing we just got majorly scammed by taxis in Istanbul

Once we got into our hotel, we immediately did some google-ing and found out that taxi drivers in Istanbul are INFAMOUS for this kind of stuff. They are known for charging tourists exorbitant prices for things that don’t make any sense, then complaining and yelling until they get their money.

The taxi drivers almost never speak any English in Turkey, so it’s very hard to converse with them at all. We asked our hotel host about this and she confirmed our suspicions and she told us that we got scammed, and that we should take Uber or Bitaksi from now on. (the problem is that Uber IS quite literally just taxis, and Bitaksi requests are hardly ever accepted)

After reading forums online about taxi drivers in Istanbul, we’ll be exclusively taking public transportation to get around Istanbul from now on. 🚟 🚌 🚏 It’s very good and safe, 👍 and the taxi drivers here in Istanbul are known for being horrible to deal with. It’s just not worth the hassle in our opinion.

➡️ Read: Renting a Car in Turkey – Everything You NEED to Know! ✨

Common Taxi Scams in Istanbul 🚕 🛑

Like we said, taxi drivers in Istanbul are known for scamming tourists. When Uber was banned this past year by the Supreme Court, here is what was argued … 

“… blocking Uber was necessary to prevent irreparable damage to taxi drivers, safeguard fair competition and trade, prevent tax losses and restore order to commercial activities.”

This case is honestly laughable, considering how taxi drivers act in Istanbul. Banning Uber has allowed taxi drivers to prevent fair competition and trade, and scam every single tourist that comes to the city, because there is literally no other option than to use these drivers, who seem to all be in cahoots together. 

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Prepare yourself! Common Scams in Taxis 🚕

Here are some common scams these drivers employ to rip off pretty much anyone they can ⬇️ ⬇️

• Take extra long routes to places in order to drive up the meter.
• Charge you for excessive tolls on top of what the meter says
• Charge you an extra fee for “traffic” once you get to a destination
• Switch the 15 TL you paid him for a 5 TL bill, then wait for you to give him even more money 
• Tell you he has no change, and therefore you must pay him more than the actual fare … because of course he is so busy he has to go RIGHT NOW!
• Put the taxi meter on nighttime mode during the day (more costly)
• Charge you for gas on top of what the meter says

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Note to our readers: ❤️ Outlining our story here is not meant to scare you away from traveling to Turkey and even Istanbul. In fact, we really enjoyed our time in the city minus the taxi scam! Our job is to give our readers honest and real advice, so they are prepared for any situation that may arise when traveling. This is the reality of going to unknown and new places. We are here to help make your life easier. Want specific Turkey travel suggestions? Read our 👉 2 Week Turkey Itinerary ✨

Does The Government Care?

Ostensibly, the Istanbul Airport and government do care. They have a support phone number and email address that you can contact to report a taxi driver for scamming.

I reached out to the Istanbul Airport Customer Support team (ist@igairport.aero). I included a picture of the taxi’s license plate that scammed us, along with details of the situation. They asked for my IBAN (International Banking Account Number) to refund me, but I haven’t provided it yet as I’m not sure I trust them. If you’re feeling trustworthy, you could try this to get your money back.

➡️ Read: 2 Week Turkey & Greece Itinerary 🇹🇷 🇬🇷

What Should the Government Do?

The government should start punishing taxi drivers when complaints are levied against them. Turkey earned a record-setting $46.3 Billion in 2022 from tourism, with numbers only set to go up in the coming years. Russians and Ukranians are flocking to Turkey like crazy, as it is one of the few places they can come to amid the war. These taxi scammers in Istanbul are seriously harming the reputation of such a great city. I would seriously tell people to avoid coming to Istanbul in order to avoid these decrepit scammers.

If the country cared about tourism and fair-business practices in the country, they would do something about this.

Conclusion – Taxis in Istanbul 🚕

We traveled all around Turkey, including Istanbul, Antalya, Kas, Fethiye, and Pamukkale, and only had problems with the drivers in Istanbul. After Istanbul we were much more cognizant of what we were doing in taxis. We didn’t have any problems once we left the city.

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Taking a taxi in Istanbul? Here is what you should do.

If you are going to take taxis in Istanbul, we would recommend filming the whole interaction on your phone from start to finish. Only pay what the meter says and nothing more. And make sure the meter is on and running when you get in the car. Make sure you have change on you to pay the fare so the driver can’t act like he doesn’t have any change. (he most definitely does, we found this to be very common in Turkey in general. Drivers will say they have no change, but once you show them you actually want the change – they manage to find it somehow!)

You can also plot the route on your phone and have the navigation speaker sound out loud, so that the taxi driver knows that you are following the route and doesn’t take random turns and longer routes on purpose.

Finally, if the driver does ask for more than what the meter says at the end of the trip, just pay him what the meter says and walk away. This is what we wish we did. The driver might be mad, but I don’t think he would resort to violence. That would be crazy.

➡️ Read: 18 Turkey Travel Tips 🇹🇷

Avoid taxis in Istanbul at all costs! And if you do get scammed, report the driver to ist@igairport.aero . Maybe they will do something about it. Turkey is an amazing country to visit. Don’t let taxis in Istanbul deter you from the rest of an extremely beautiful country!