Direct Flights from San Francisco to Istanbul
Istanbul · Turkey
Nonstop service from SFO to IST on Turkish Airlines. Here's the schedule at a glance — plus what to do once you land.
How rare is this nonstop?
Only 13 cities have a nonstop to Istanbul, so this is a route worth knowing about — most travelers connect to get there.
How long to go to Istanbul for, from San Francisco
13h 55m in the air, 6,689 miles. Give Istanbul a week: the first day goes to the journey and the jet lag, whatever you intend.
About Istanbul
Istanbul is a very large city of fantastic history, culture and beauty. Called Byzantium in ancient times, the city's name was changed to Constantinople in 324 CE when it was rebuilt by the first Christian Roman Emperor, Constantine. The name "Istanbul", perhaps surprisingly, comes from Greek and could be translated as a corruption of "to the city". While the term had been in widespread use for centuries, it only became the official name of the city upon the foundation of the Republic of Turkey in the 1920s.
Summary from Wikivoyage (CC BY-SA).
Top things to do in Istanbul
- Hagia Sophia, officially the Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque, is a mosque and a major cultural and historical site in Istanbul, Turkey. It was formerly a church (360–1453) and a museum (1935–2020).
- Constantinople, the modern Istanbul, was the capital of the Roman and Byzantine Empire from 330 until its takeover by the Ottoman Empire in 1453.
- The Topkapı Palace or the Seraglio, is a large museum and library in the east of the Fatih district of Istanbul in Turkey.
- Byzantium or Byzantion was an ancient Greek city in classical antiquity that became known as Constantinople in late antiquity and Istanbul in modern times.
- The Galata Tower, officially the Galata Tower Museum, is a medieval Genoese tower in the Galata part of the Beyoğlu district of Istanbul, Turkey.
- The Sublime Porte, also known as the Ottoman Porte or High Porte, was a metonymy used to refer collectively to the central government of the Ottoman Empire in Istanbul.
- The Maiden's Tower, also known as Leander's Tower since the Byzantine period, is a tower on a small islet at the southern entrance of the Bosphorus strait, 200 m (220 yd) from the coast of Üsküdar in Istanbul, Turkey.
- The Chora Church or Kariye Mosque is a Byzantine church, now converted to a mosque, in the Edirnekapı neighborhood of Fatih district, Istanbul, Turkey. It is famous for its outstanding Late Byzantine mosaics and frescos.
- Chalcedon was an ancient maritime town of Bithynia, in Asia Minor. It was located to the south of Chrysopolis and almost directly opposite Byzantium across the Bosporus strait, in Europe.
- The Şehzade Mosque is a 16th-century Ottoman imperial mosque located in the district of Fatih, on the third hill of Istanbul, Turkey.
- The Basilica Cistern, or Cisterna Basilica, is the largest of several hundred ancient cisterns that lie beneath the city of Istanbul, Turkey.
- The Istanbul Archaeology Museums are a group of three archaeological museums located in the Eminönü quarter of Istanbul, Turkey, near Gülhane Park and Topkapı Palace.
Attraction descriptions from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA); place data from Wikidata (CC0).
Istanbul weather, compared with San Francisco
Within 1° of San Francisco on the annual average, so pack much as you would at home — but the two cities do not track each other month to month:
- January
- Istanbul 48°F · San Francisco 57°F · 9° colder
- April
- Istanbul 63°F · San Francisco 65°F · 2° colder
- July
- Istanbul 87°F · San Francisco 72°F · 15° warmer
- October
- Istanbul 69°F · San Francisco 71°F · 2° colder
Istanbul also swings harder through the year than San Francisco does — 38° between its coldest and warmest months against 17°.
Daily highs averaged from Meteostat station records (CC BY 4.0), measured at the nearest weather station to each city.
Planning a trip to Istanbul
- Best time to visit
- The best time to visit Istanbul is April–June and September–November, when daytime highs are a comfortable 61–81°F.
- How long to stay
- Istanbul rewards a longer visit — a full week lets you explore its many sights, from Hagia Sophia, Constantinople, and Topkapı Palace and beyond.
Frequently asked questions
- Is there a direct flight from San Francisco to Istanbul?
- Yes — you can fly nonstop from San Francisco (SFO) to Istanbul (IST) on Turkish Airlines.
- Which airlines fly nonstop from San Francisco to Istanbul?
- Turkish Airlines flies nonstop between San Francisco (SFO) and Istanbul (IST).
- How many nonstop flights are there from San Francisco to Istanbul?
- There is about 1 nonstop departure per day (roughly 7 per week) from San Francisco to Istanbul.
- How far is Istanbul from San Francisco?
- Istanbul is about 6,689 miles from San Francisco by air.
- Is there a direct flight from San Francisco to Turkey?
- Yes — Istanbul (IST) has nonstop service from San Francisco on Turkish Airlines, making it a nonstop gateway to Turkey.
- What is there to do in Istanbul?
- Popular things to do include Hagia Sophia, Constantinople, Topkapı Palace, Byzantium, and more.
More nonstop destinations from San Francisco near Istanbul
Airports near San Francisco
The closest other departure airports to San Francisco — each opens up more nonstop destinations.