On my way to South Korea, I had a 24-hour layover in Istanbul, so I had to sleep in the airport. I booked a room in a hotel located inside the airport, the Yotel Airside. If you want to learn more about this option when sleeping in Istanbul airport, keep reading!
The Hotel
There are two Yotel in Istanbul airport : the Airside, which is located after security, so you don’t need to go through customs when you land, and the Landside, which is before security. I chose the Airside, as I landed after midnight and I wanted to be able to go my hotel as fast as possible.
After landing, when you enter the airport, you will see many signs indicating the direction of the hotel, so it’s very easy to find. However, the airport is huge, so it’s quite a walk to the hotel.
I had booked a room in advance on their website, but you are not charged until you check in. I arrived around 12:30 am, and there were still two employees at the counter. The check in process was very quick, and I got the key to my room. The whole hotel has this neon purple light, which gives it a sort of futuristic look.
The room
There were several type of room available. I got the Premium Plus Queen, which has a bathroom, a queen size bed, a smart TV, and free wifi.
I paid 281€ for one night. It was not the cheapest room, but it was only about 10€ more than the Premium Queen, and some rooms in that category didn’t have any windows.
So my room was quite big. It has a shower cabin and a separate toilet, as well as a desk, a smart TV (although I didn’t use it), a fridge and a safe. The hotel provided towels, body wash and shampoo, which was very convenient as I only had my carry-on backpack with me, so I didn’t have to bring those myself. They also provide a pair of sleepers. And the room was extremely clean, which is always nice.
The room had a few fun features: it has switch that allows you to control the color of the lighting. I found it fun to take some pictures, but if you want to read or browse on the internet for example, it’s not very convenient, so I quickly changed it back to regular lighting. But still, I enjoyed changing the colors and taking fun pictures for a little while.
The bed is also a “smart bed”, which means that you can change the angle of the of top part of the mattress, if you want to be in a sitting position for example (like in a hospital bed).
Breakfast
Breakfast is not included in the price of the room, but you can buy a pass to get access to the lounge for the whole day, which includes a breakfast. The pass was around 30€. However, I had planned to join the Touristanbul programme, which offers free tours of the city, so I had to leave at 8 am. I wouldn’t have had a lot of time to enjoy the lounge, so it was not worth it for me. Besides, the hotel is conveniently located right in front of a big food court of traditionnal turkish food! So of course, I didn’t want to miss that opportunity to taste local dishes.
I didn’t take many pictures of the food court (I was too busy trying to decide what to eat, I guess!), but it had a quite a large selection to chose from. Everything looked very good, and I wish I could have spent more time there.
Overall
If your budget allows it, I would really recommand this hotel if you want a clean and comfortable place to spend the night. I wish I had to more time to enjoy the room though, as I arrived late at night and I left very early in the morning. It may be quite pricey for only a few hours, but for me it was very convenient, and it was nice to have a place to take shower and rest comfortably in-between my two flights. It was definitely not the cheapest option though; I read that the airport has sleeping pods that you can rent by the hour.
Note that you can also rent the room by the hour during the day, so it may be a good option to be able to rest.
Yotel Air Side Istanbul
From 271€ per night
Website