Buying Istanbul Transportation Card – Begginer’s Guide

Learning all about city cards is a mess, so here is all you need to know on one page. To provide you with more details about purchase and activation of said card, we wrote in length the whole process of obtaining the cards. There are two types of transportation cards for tourists in Istanbul, Istanbulkart and Istanbul City Card. Both cards can be purchased from the designated machines at metro stations, docks, airports, and main bus terminals.

All you need to know about Istanbulkart

How to purchase Istanbulkart?

Easy, just go to black-yellow, blue-yellow and blue machines with inscription ‘Istanbul’ and ‘biletmatik’, but not those that also have “Istanbul city card” sign on top, as those are for other type of card explained further below. First, choose your language and click – “Istanbulkart Buy“, select cash or credit/debit card option for payment and then proceed by either placing your card in the card reader that says – bank/credit card or contactless transaction by credit card, or by inserting your money in the designated place that says – Banknote entrance. Something to point out, some older machines take cash only, while other brand-new machines take card only payments.

How much Istanbulkart costs?

The card now, in 2024, costs 70 Turkish lira (2,17 $), but you can put 100 TL and 30 TL balance will be added to your card to spend for rides. The machine doesn’t return change! If you only put 70 TL for the card, you will get your card first and then you must top-up the card by adding money on it.

How to top-up Istanbulkart?

Simply put the card on a white window on your right and choose – Istanbulkart Top-up, then proceed by putting the money in the machine, and clicking accept, but you can only take the card once the voice in Turkish/English stopped talking (successfully loaded) on the machine, if you lift your card too soon, your money won’t get added on the card and you will lose it. To check your balance, just put card on a white window on the right and it will show your balance. With this card, you pay for each ride and recharge it when needed on the same machines.

This card can be used for up to 5 people. The machine accepts 5,10,20,50,100 and 200 TL banknotes and don’t forget the machine doesn’t give back change (it simply puts change as credit on the card)! Each ride is about 17,7 lira (0,55 $), but price may vary, typically some ferry rides and metrobüs are a bit more expensive, up to 30 lira. It’s also important to note that the maximum loading amount on the card is 2750 TL (85,47 $), after that you have to get another card. Only limited number of old machines support debit/credit cards as payment option so make sure you always have some cash with you. There are also brand new machines that are entirely blue with touch screen and accept only debit/credit card.

New rule for tourist using this card is that you can no longer get a refund if using Marmaray, you pay for the full ride to final destination even if you exit before. Locals can only get a refund.

Some machines have 3 choices to choose from when buying the card – Istanbulkart Buy, Istanbulkart Top-up, and 3 pass ticket/10 pass ticket. Some machines have 3 pass options while others have 10 pass option. 3 pass ticket option costs 70 TL (2,17 $) and 10 pass ticket option costs 200 TL (6,21 $). Those are also anonymous cards but with limited rides, only 3 or 10, which is not a lot. Istanbulkart pays off more when you take into the account the price and the rides.

Can I use Istanbulkart new mobile app?+

There is a new official app to buy Istanbulkart called “İstanbulkart – Dijital Hesabım“, but that is only for the Turkish citizens. To use it, you must have Turkish ID number!

All you need to know about Istanbul City Card

How to purchase Istanbul City Card?

To purchase the card, first choose the language and then proceed by choosing number of days you’d like. Prices are listed below.

Prices for Istanbul City Card are the following:

We don’t recommend buying either card online because there are a lot of scam pages, but also legit businesses that will make you pay more for it, or you won’t even receive it, you will just waste your money.

*Our recommendation: Istanbulkart is definitely more affordable – 2 people could stay in Istanbul for 15 days and one card would be more than enough!

Istanbul Public Transportation Card Comparison – Istanbulkart vs Istanbul City Card