There are three different airports in Istanbul. One in the Asian side Sabiha Gokcen Airport, and two in the European side Istanbul New Airport and Ataturk Airport. The Ataturk airport is not active any more for public flights, it is mostly in use for Cargo and Private flights after the IST airport was built. It is too easy to reach your hotel from other both airports, But in the high season it's too hard to find the airport shuttle service and other airport transfer options.

The international flights by Turkish Airline mostly will land in Istanbul New Airport , meanwhile the international flights by Pegasus airline mostly will land in Sabiha Gokcen airport. The international code for Istanbul new airport is IST and for Sabiha Gokcen airport is SAW . The International Air Transport Association's (IATA) Location Identifier is a unique 3-letter code (also commonly known as IATA code) used in aviation and also in logistics to identify an airport. To do reservation in airport transfer websites it would be the best to right these 3-letter code to avoid any mistakes. Most of historical palaces and hotels are in European side and almost at the same distance from both airport around 45-50 Kilometers, but as the SAW airport is in the Asian side of city, it takes more time to reach to airport than IST airport. There is lots of traffic in the morning and in the evening from/to Sabiha Gokcen airport that you must consider it to arrange your airport transfer.