A stopover is a long stopover during a flight, which allows you to spend from a day to several days in an intermediate city or country.
When flying with a stopover, you fly on one ticket, but with a complex route and a long layover – usually from 24 to 72 hours; During this time, you can walk around the city without haste, see the main attractions, try the local cuisine, sleep in the hotel and calmly continue your journey. New emotions and sometimes much-needed respite along the way are provided. Therefore, stopovers are especially popular for long-distance flights, for example, to Asia or the USA.
Prices for tickets with a stopover, as a rule, are no higher than for a direct or regular transit flight with a stopover of several hours. Some airlines will also pay for your airport transfer, excursions and even hotel accommodation. It is important that the entire flight must be operated by one airline or several different ones that are part of an alliance.
How to buy tickets with stopover?
Major online ticket search services, including OneTwoTrip, automatically calculate the possibilities of stopovers and offer different options. To do this, you need to select the “complex route” option (“composite route”, multi city). The second option is to search and arrange stopovers directly on the websites of airlines flying in the desired direction.
Let’s look at the situation using an example. Let’s say you’re planning to bask in Thailand in winter, but don’t mind looking at another country along the way. With a regular search we find out which airlines fly to Bangkok and through which cities. The choice is large, but for example, you have long dreamed of seeing Istanbul, and Turkish Airlines is flying to Asia with transit in this city. And not only to Asia, by the way. It’s no wonder that Istanbul is one of the most popular stopover cities. For Russians, stopping here is also convenient due to the visa-free regime.
If the transit time is more than 20 hours, you will be entitled to free hotel accommodation. Economy class passengers are accommodated for free for one night in a four-star hotel in the historical part of the city – the Sultanahmet district. If you fly business class, you can expect two nights in a five-star hotel in the iconic Taksim district, where the local intelligentsia usually hang out.
Please note that to receive the Stopover service you must fly on Turkish Airlines from the following airports: Vnukovo (Moscow),
Pulkovo (St. Petersburg),
Koltsovo (Ekaterinburg),
Kurumoch (Samara),
international airports of Ufa, Kazan, Sochi, Voronezh, Stavropol, Rostov-on-Don. Stopover in Istanbul is valid for flights to the countries of North and South America, Asia, the Far East, Africa, as well as to Prague, Vienna, Rome, Paris, Belgrade, Baku, Bucharest, Munich, Hamburg and Dusseldorf. Tickets must be issued round-trip, with return to Russia.
If everything is fine, feel free to book a flight with a long transit. After this, be sure to book a stopover service in advance – contact the airline’s representative office in Russia by phone or email and reserve a hotel room. You will be sent a special voucher, with which you will immediately go to the hotel upon arrival. Don’t forget to pick up your luggage if the connection is more than 24 hours. You need to get from the airport to the hotel and back on your own – use the metro, the final station of which is located right inside the airport terminal. Ataturk or catch a bright yellow taxi on the way out.
In this video, OneTwoTrip recreation director Evgeniy Trofimchuk explains why taking a taxi of this color is the most profitable.
What to do in Istanbul during stopover?
Two or three days is enough to see the main attractions of the city and feel its spirit. In the historical part – the Sultanahmet district – nearby there are places of worship: the famous Hagia Sophia, which managed to be an Orthodox cathedral, a mosque, and a museum, the impressively decorated Blue Mosque and the mysterious Basilica Cistern – a huge underground water storage facility. If time permits, visit Topkapi, the main palace of the Ottoman Empire.
Take the tram to the most famous and popular tourist area – Beyoglu. This is a neighborhood with trendy restaurants, coffee shops, clubs and shops. Its heart is the famous Taksim Square. There are also many museums and art galleries in Beyoğlu. Stroll along the pedestrian Istiklal Street or take a ride on the famous red retro tram. Climb the Galata Tower on the hill to admire the panorama of Istanbul, the Bosphorus Strait and the expanse of the Sea of Marmara. Take a walk along one of the symbols of the city – the Galata Bridge, which offers views of both banks of the Golden Horn Bay. At the Eminonu pier along the strait, have a snack on the famous fish sandwiches and take a boat ride along the Bosphorus. But the best view of the Bosphorus and the Asian part of the city, in the unanimous opinion of tourists, opens from the embankment in Fyndikli Park. From here ships make regular voyages to the Princes’ Islands.
