Is It Safe To Travel To Turkey Right Now? (April 2026 Update)

You have probably seen the news about conflicts in the Middle East, especially the tension between the US and Iran. And maybe you are asking yourself, is it safe to travel to Turkey right now? In this video, you will hear real answers from local tour guides in Istanbul. All right Ozan, thank you for joining me today. I'm gonna ask you the questions, the most common questions travelers are asking nowadays. How does the US-Iran conflict affect Turkey? Istanbul is pretty far from those places, like a thousand kilometers away. So we can think like this. So if something happens in France, would you go to England or not? Yes, exactly the same thing. At least like a minimum, like a thousand kilometers away from here. So Turkey has been in between the fires last hundred years. So since like World War I, there is not any war in Turkey. Yeah, yeah. Turkey didn't join the World War II too. So that was actually the safest country you could ever travel to during the World War II. Yeah, you will see like a lot of people just strolling around us right now. So there are millions of people, thousands of people keep coming and visiting that beautiful city. Just because of being very close to Middle Eastern geography, the people, they are questioning this. Should I go there or not? But Istanbul, especially Istanbul, pretty, pretty far from the tension. It is actually prejudice. People think Turkey is a Middle Eastern country, but it is more like European country. It's a transition country. So in between Europe and Asia, there is always like some flows from east to west, from west to east. They can comfortably come and visit the city. By the way, if you want to explore Istanbul with Ozan, you can request a private tour. A court request form is available in the description to submit your details. Once completed, pricing and tour information will be shared with you. Has anything changed in safety recently? Istanbul has always been a safe city actually. Mostly the people's perception in Istanbul, because of being very big city, very metropolitan city. I do totally understand the people's concerns before they come, but we are feeling pretty safe in here. So even in the nighttime, even in the daytime, I can comfortably say Istanbul is one of the most popular, one of the safest destinations that you can travel to. Do people in Istanbul feel any impact from Middle East tensions? Well, financially, because we do have some immigration, so that's why financially people are feeling that. But in the war case, the people also, they have some concerns if Turkey will be involved in this like a war or not. But as I said, last 100 years, Turkey was not involved in any war. Turkey is always peaceful and Istanbul is also. People, when they visit this place, I don't think they will feel unsafe. People do not know that Turkey has one of the strongest armies in the world, so no one wants to mess with Turkey. In other cases, you know, Turkey is the country part of NATO. Are tourist areas like Sultanahmet safe to walk around? Definitely, anytime, in the day, in the night, you can, no matter you're like a solo traveler or with your friend, no matter like a male or female, you can comfortably visit Istanbul day and night. Of course, there are some backstreets you shouldn't be like in every country, like in every city. Overall, Istanbul is pretty safe any time of the day. But how about that backstreets? I never have experienced anything like this. I also never had. We say that, but in Istanbul, nothing happened like that. I mean, you know, when you look at those places, you will see this is the place I should not be in. But there is no like many places like that, that even accidentally you will not be right there. The only issue would be the street sellers. They are bothering you, but they are not harming you. I'm actually kind of disagree with this because they are not aggressive sellers. Their attitudes sometimes might be a little buttery. It's actually, they think this is sort of like being hospitable. They do have a commercial background, so they want to make some money. I mostly say that to my guests. They are not like trying to harass the people. They want to make money. So, they are just becoming a good seller. So, that's why you just need to be careful about this. Are scams or pickpocketing something tourists should be worried about? Thankfully, I have never experienced any pickpocketing in Istanbul during my guiding career. So, I don't say now we're gonna have. In European cities, in Asian cities, there is always this possibility. Yes. But when you compare the population, like the 16 million population in Istanbul, the rate is pretty low actually. And most of the people's concern like crowded places like Taksim Square, like Istiklal Street or Grand Bazaar, I have never experienced. But once again, I can't say it's not going to happen. But the crime rate in Istanbul about this situation is low. There are some scams. I think we should pay a little attention on taxi drivers more than shopkeepers in here. That was what I was gonna ask about actually. What is the best way to travel around Istanbul? Should tourists use taxis or public transportation? Well, there are some applications that you can use. If you definitely need to use a taxi, you can use through the applications. Also, if you're staying in a hotel, I would maybe recommend to book a taxi from your hotel as well. But it depends on where you're living in Istanbul, your location, your Airbnb, whatever it is. If you figure out where to go, have to go, public transportation is the best in Istanbul. Like we have many tram lines, we have a lot of subway lines, we have ferry lines that you can cross both continents. You know, Asian side of Istanbul card. You can get it. Or if you have credit cards, they also accept that too. So just swipe it and you can use it. So it's the most practical way in Istanbul is the public transportation. But of course I don't say you can't use the taxis because not all the taxi drivers are the same. So my recommendation could be like mostly the public transportation. So as a local local Istanbulian, I'm using public transportation mostly. Are there any areas tourists should avoid? There is no. Definitely there is some places, but you know, it's a kind of a water drop in an ocean to me in Istanbul. Generally in touristy places, if you're talking about the touristy places, there is not like many places that you should stay away. I don't know, maybe Tarlabaşı in Taksim area. Tarlabaşı is cleaning up now. It's in the process of cleaning up. Yes, exactly. So it was a bit dangerous zone, but step by step this place also getting cleared up from the, like that was like some crime rate right there. Like now it's getting better and better every day. Still some corners that you will not be there anyway once you come to Istanbul. But generally Istanbul is a safe city. Yeah. Even they opened a lot of Airbnbs in that area. Now it's a touristic area. All the old buildings are getting demolished and then they are building on the new ones. And so demography is also changing and the facades of the buildings are changing too. So it's becoming also one of the popular destinations step by step. Do solo travelers and female travelers generally feel safe here? Well, I'm a tourist guide as I said. I'm running only private tours right now. So I had maybe countless single female solo travelers with me. When they have a day tour with me in here, they were spending their own time by themselves. I never heard any incident in here. You know, the city was also the city of hippies years ago. So the people, they used to travel by passenger Istanbul, going to all like India, Nepal, whatever. So this place was always a city of safety as well. So when you walk around in this square, you will see a lot of police cars, like which is written on a tourism police. And also there is a lot of like securities, which is undercover, like having a civilian clothing. So what simple tips would you give to tourists to stay safe? Well, standard safety procedures, they should do whatever they were doing. And in any country, in any city, they could do the same thing right here. So in Istanbul too. I can't give you any other extra like a safety tips because I never felt unsafe. Just only thing is crowded. If you have anxiety or something, it's just good luck. 20 million people. Yeah. I mean, registered number is 16, but probably this number is much more than 16. So Ozan, I really appreciate for your time and I hope to see you even in the next videos because people are going to be asking more questions and more questions. Yeah. I hope to see you again. See you man.