IST or Sabiha Gökçen: which Istanbul airport are you landing at?

Airlines sell both airports simply as "Istanbul", so the city name on a booking tells you very little. The airport code is the reliable clue. It appears on the e-ticket, the boarding pass and the airline app, usually next to the arrival time.

• IST is Istanbul Airport, the large hub in Arnavutköy on the European shore, north-west of the historic centre.
• SAW is Sabiha Gökçen Airport in Pendik and Kurtköy on the Asian shore, east of the Bosphorus.

If you booked through a travel agent or a package, the voucher may list only a flight number. Type that number into the airline's flight status page and the arrival airport appears with its code.

Istanbul is split by the Bosphorus, the strait that runs between the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara. The western bank is the European side, home to the Old City, Taksim, Beşiktaş and the business towers of Levent. The eastern bank is the Asian side, with Kadıköy, Üsküdar, Ataşehir and the long shore down to Kartal and Pendik.

Each airport belongs to one bank. IST sits on the European side, so for IST the European districts are the same side and everything across the water is the cross side. SAW sits on the Asian side, so the logic flips: Asian districts are the same side, and the European districts are across.

That one fact shapes the whole trip. A same-side ride stays on one bank of the strait. A cross-side ride has to use one of the three road bridges or the Eurasia Tunnel, which adds distance and a crossing that can slow down at busy hours.

Our fares follow the shore, not a meter. The Eco Van takes up to six people and the price is per vehicle, one way, fixed when you book.

• IST to a European-side address: €50.
• IST to an Asian-side address: €70.
• SAW to an Asian-side address: €50.
• SAW to a European-side address: €70.
• IST to SAW or SAW to IST: €70 in either direction.

Larger vehicles add a fixed amount to the Eco Van fare: +€10 for the Mercedes Vito, +€15 for the V-Class and +€30 for the Sprinter minibus. A hotel in Sultanahmet reached from IST therefore costs €50 in the Eco Van or €80 in the Sprinter. The same hotel reached from SAW costs €70 or €100.

The trip home works the same way in reverse, at the same fare. Day and night cost the same, and a return trip is simply twice the one-way price.

Both, together. The pair of airport and hotel shore sets the fare, so it pays to look at the map before you commit to a flight if you have a choice.

1. 01Find your hotel's shorePut the hotel address into a map and see which bank of the Bosphorus it sits on. Our district pages show the side with a European or Asian label.
2. 02Compare the flightsIf one airline lands at IST and another at SAW for a similar ticket price, the airport on your hotel's side saves the crossing and brings the Eco Van fare down from €70 to €50.
3. 03Check the time of dayA cross-side ride at rush hour can take noticeably longer than the same ride late at night. Landing on the hotel's side avoids the bridge queue altogether.

Sometimes the cheaper or better-timed flight lands on the other side, and that is fine. The cross-side transfer is a normal job for us; it simply takes the strait into account.

Open-jaw trips are common in Istanbul: you might fly in to IST and out of SAW, or the other way round. Book the two rides as separate legs. Each is priced by its own airport and the hotel's shore, so the arrival and departure fares can differ.

Take an example with a hotel in Kadıköy, on the Asian side. Landing at IST, the ride crosses the strait and costs €70. Leaving from SAW a week later, it stays on the Asian bank and costs €50.

If you need to change airports on the same day, between two flights, that is a direct IST to SAW transfer at €70. Leave a generous gap between the flights, because the drive crosses the whole city and depends on traffic.

Write both flight numbers into one booking message if you can. Seeing the whole trip at once lets dispatch spot a tight connection early and suggest a pick-up time that leaves room for the drive.

The Fare Pass on this page asks for the airport first, so the code you found is the first thing to enter. Then add the hotel name or the exact street address, the date, the landing time and the number of people and suitcases.

• Flight number: we track it and adjust to the real landing time. Waiting for a delayed flight costs nothing.
• Name for the sign: your driver stands at the exit door you walk out of, holding a printed sign with this name.
• Return flight: if you know it already, add it now and the ride back is planned together with the arrival.

Nothing is paid online. You settle the fare with the driver at the end of the ride, in cash (EUR, GBP or TRY) or by Visa or Mastercard on the card terminal in the car.