8 Apps for Travelling Around Turkey
Travelling around Turkey is easier with mobile phones and our apps. Gone are the days of paper maps, getting lost, language barriers and eating in the worst restaurants in town. Apps help to make a trip around Turkey smooth and easy-going, therefore turning it into one of the best trips of your life.
However, with thousands of apps for travelling around Turkey available for download, which are the best? It depends on where you are going. In many locations like Cappadocia, local apps are plentiful, and the insider's guides often list the best restaurants, bars and places of interest. Three also stand out for the large, bustling city of Istanbul.
Travelling Apps for Istanbul
Grand Bazaar: This colossal maze of narrow streets and more than 3000 shops can be a nightmare to get around, and without a map, you will most certainly get lost and miss the best spots. The Grand Bazaar App is your portable map for getting around the labyrinth, learning about its historical past and knowing which the best shops are as rated by users.
City Mapper Istanbul: Getting around on public transport can seem like a nightmare especially during rush hour, but City Mapper Istanbul displays Metro, bus, trams, and ferry routes as well as fees. Latest additions also include cycling routes as well as calculating taxi fares.
BiTaksi or Uber: BiTaksi, the Turkish equivalent of Uber, operates in Istanbul and Ankara, and one tap gets you a ride that can be paid for using cash or credit card. If you prefer Uber, they run in Istanbul only.
8 Apps for Travelling Around Turkey
Welcome Turkey by Vodaphone
Available in English, Russian and Arabic, think of Welcome Turkey by Vodaphone as your own personal travel guide. Find out weather conditions for the next five days and easily handle finances by using the exchange rate function from your home country currency to Turkish lira.
Welcome Turkey by Vodaphone also helps displays top tourist attractions, recommended Turkish cuisine and make hotel reservations. In specific areas, discounts are also available, and in the unfortunate event that things go wrong, just pull up the handy list of consulates and embassies.
Metro Turizm
Bus Travel is a favorite way to get around Turkey and Metro Turizm, a top bus company offers a handy app in English that displays all routes, time schedules and allows you to buy tickets online. Kamil Koc and Pamukkale Turizm are two other bus companies with mobile apps, but they are only available in Turkish.
Google Trips and Maps
Google Trips is for super-efficient travellers who want to make the most of their day. Also working offline, Google Trips allows you to synchronise reservations for hotels and flights and plan out the rest of your trip by finding top tourists attractions, museums and places to see.
Another alternative is the free plan for Tripit, or upgrade to the paid version for real-time flight alerts, tracking reward programs and receiving V.I.P discounts. If you don’t want to plan your itinerary but still want to know your whereabouts, Google Maps is a great alternative.
TAV Airport
TAV manages Istanbul Ataturk, Ankara, Izmir, Gazipasa, and Bodrum airports of Turkey. Their app displays all information for airports including real-time flight info, duty-free promotions, car parking services and rates, and transfer options. They also offer a handy travel guide for the destinations where their airports are located.
Meanwhile, Antalya Airport has their own official Android and Apple apps that offer the same information. The App in The Air is another organiser but with more personalised functions to track flights, boarding time, check-ins as well as your flight history.
Google Translate
Getting around language differences is a big hurdle when we travel, but Google Translator allows you to copy and paste text, use cameras to take a picture of signs or use the conversation mode to translate from 103 languages into Turkish and vice versa. Save phrases and sentences into a handy phrase book for later and use the app offline.
Hot Spot VPN
With the ability to upgrade to an elite plan, Hotspot VPN App allows users to browse the web anonymously while keeping your details secure. Used to bypass censorship and firewalls, the Hot Spot App goes one step further by promising 100% anonymity as well as identity protection from online trackers.
Live Trekker Travel Diary
Live Trekker helps you make lasting memories by recording your travels around Turkey through maps, photos, videos and reviews. Share exciting moments with family and friends in real time, or later as a complete diary.
If you want to make the best travel scrapbook of a lifetime but are not sure where to go or what to do, use in conjunction with the Time Out App that lists the best restaurants, bars, events and tourist attractions for many destinations of Turkey.
XE Currency
Finally, last on our list of useful apps for travelling around Turkey, we know that money makes the world go around, and this is where XE Currency Converter dominates the scene. Convert bills in restaurants to your home country currency or know how much that hotel or flight ticket actually costs. It works in real time and is one of the best apps for managing finances as you travel.
Further Reading: If you plan to live and work in Turkey, our article about apps for expats will be useful. Alternatively, follow us on Facebook for more travel advice and current news coming out of the country.
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