I'm a single female who will be taking a taxi from Istanbul Airport (I believe Ataturk) to the ferry docks. How can I do my best to not get ripped off by taxi drivers. I know NO Turkish. I can learn a few phrases, but honestly, I'm not going to become fluent in the next month before I leave. I worry being alone, female, and not speaking the language, of potential hazards.

Taxis are better now than 5 or 6 years ago. Before, they had the old meters that didnt work. You paid whatever the driver said after you argued a bit. Now, its electronic so you can see the price as you go.
Just make sure he drives on the kennedy along the seaside.

Of course he can always make the drive longer. This happened to me this summer. My flight got in at 6:00am. So i fell asleep in the taxi. He assumed I was a foreigner and drove 30 minutes longer. He wanted 60 YTL and I gave him 35YTL. he assumed i was tourist, so we argued in front of my flat for 10 minutes before he finally drove away angry.
Moral of the story, Stay awake!!

Thanks, Keith. Would it be acceptable to tell the driver where I'm going and to take the Kennedy Expressway so that he has a clue I know where he's going? Or would that be rude?

when you are leaving the airport (first stoplight) make sure he turns right. If he is not turning right, tell him you want to drive by the seaside. If you say Kennedy, he will understand also, even if he speaks no english.

Gosh..taxi drivers are terrible!either do not speak english or pretend not to speak!from my personal experience make sure what is on taxometer..gun or geceler fee and to tell the truth you can always negotiate for how much is the ride..anyway..good luck with them..since I learnt their attitude I have preferred Subway or buses)))Easier!

My experience of taxis is mixed feelings and to tell you the truth I am glad I have my fiancee in them when I have to take one. We had to take one in Istanbul once from the supermarket as we had bought too much and we do not have a car, he took the longest route back home which is barely 2 miles away, you should have heard my fiancee she really laid into him I was helpless if I was on my own, she knew what he had done and told him so in raised Turkish, when we got to our home she told me to only pay him how much it should be and not what he wanted. There are good and bad experiences I think

We simply cannot be proud of our taxi drivers. It doesn't help much to speak the same language either. Taxis are very much like the stock exchange when there is traffic to one direction or if it rains they become hot commodity. When you hail them they ask you where you are heading and rush away instantly if they don't like your destination. Under the circumstances, you can just expect a hitch hike class service at inflated rates. That being said taxi rates in Turkey are cheaper than elsewhere in Europe although fuel is way more expensive here.

Be very careful when giving or taking money from/to a taxi driver. Some crooks will change your money with a bad one and return it to you asking you to give him a good one.

What is the point of dealing with such wrong people? It would be best to stay away from them as much as possible. As some friends said, there are very good taxi drivers as well. I wish there were more of them.

This is disgusting. Things like this really put me off a country - you feel you are constantly being ripped off.

Why don't they regulate the taxis better? In most other countries I have visited you can agree a price in advance (particularly from airports) and there is normally a standard fee, whichever taxi you use. These taxis are better off in the long term because most people tip them well

if ur female and alone,dont sit on the front seat next to driver,you should always sit on back seat cuz something more than being ripped off may happen,especially if ur a foreign.i dont mean that all the taxi dirivers are pervert or abuser or disturbing but some of them...

Dudu was a taxi driver...

to be honest I've never had any problems in a taxi in Istanbul before :-S I nearly always agree a price before I get in the taxi and not once has there been an argument about it when I got dropped off, even when the driver got totally lost looking for my hotel!

One time though I asked 2 taxi drivers near the blue mosque how much they thought it would be from kadikoy to sabiha gokcen, so got that amount of money out...the next day when I was in kadikoy I found a taxi, asked how much it would be and it was about 80 lira cheaper than what the other drivers had said! bjk was not a happy bunny

Turquoise said: Dudu means ive just fart in turkish

It means MORE than farted in English. It is a childish word for a bowel movement! EWWW... like "bird doo doo" or as said to a child, "OH honey! Did you step in doo doo?"

well...
i took a taxi home from work today.
the driver seemed to have no knowledge at all about how to avoid traffic so i had to guide him.
he started to make advances on me. almost touch my leg. phew! and i remebered this forum topic about cabdrivers in Istambul, which later turned into experiences with proposing cabdrivers.
I got quite hard on the man while i was almost bursting into laugh remembering the remarks from this topic.
And in the end, as i said him, i kept back from the fee the money for a (quite expensive) coffee he offered me to drink during a niiiiiiiiice cooooooooooooozy chat in the night.
After all, i had to show him all the shortcuts!

Haha Libralady, your mind is much more dirtier than mine!

What did you think by shortcuts?
See, i use cabs for no other purposes than to get me to destination.
Safe, well and untouched.

Do not judge me after your ways of having fun with a driver tapping you.
And after you even pay for the ride.
BTW, do you pay more when a driver touches your leg?