NONSTOP

Direct Flights to Istanbul

13 cities fly nonstop to Istanbul IST, Turkey. Pick your city to see airlines, schedule, and what to do when you land.

Cities with a nonstop to Istanbul

About Istanbul

Hagia Sophia
Photo by Adli Wahid · CC BY-SA 3.0

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

  1. Hagia Sophia
    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).
  2. Constantinople
    Constantinople, the modern Istanbul, was the capital of the Roman and Byzantine Empire from 330 until its takeover by the Ottoman Empire in 1453.
  3. Topkapı Palace
    The Topkapı Palace or the Seraglio, is a large museum and library in the east of the Fatih district of Istanbul in Turkey.
  4. Byzantium
    Byzantium or Byzantion was an ancient Greek city in classical antiquity that became known as Constantinople in late antiquity and Istanbul in modern times.
  5. Galata Tower
    The Galata Tower, officially the Galata Tower Museum, is a medieval Genoese tower in the Galata part of the Beyoğlu district of Istanbul, Turkey.
  6. Sublime Porte
    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.
  7. Maiden's Tower
    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.
  8. The Chora
    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.
  9. Chalcedon
    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.
  10. Şehzade Mosque
    The Şehzade Mosque is a 16th-century Ottoman imperial mosque located in the district of Fatih, on the third hill of Istanbul, Turkey.
  11. Basilica Cistern
    The Basilica Cistern, or Cisterna Basilica, is the largest of several hundred ancient cisterns that lie beneath the city of Istanbul, Turkey.
  12. Istanbul Archaeology Museums
    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).

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

Which cities have nonstop flights to Istanbul?
13 cities fly nonstop to Istanbul, including New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, Washington, Atlanta, Boston, Dallas. The full list is on this page.
Which airlines fly nonstop to Istanbul?
Turkish Airlines flies nonstop to Istanbul (IST).
Where do most nonstop flights to Istanbul come from?
New York has the most, at about 4 departures a day to Istanbul.
What is the shortest nonstop flight to Istanbul?
Boston, about 4,801 miles away.