Last year, we booked a trip using our airline points with an outrageous itinerary. Buenos Aires to Istanbul. 3.5 hour layover. Istanbul to Singapore. 23 hour layover. Singapore to Bali. Hang on a second. 23 hour layover? Why would we plan such a ridiculous itinerary?
First off, the entire trip was in business class with an excellent return on our Aeroplan points (approx. 7-8 cents/mile instead of the usual 1-2 cents).
Secondly, we were flying on two very good airlines, Turkish and Singapore). We figured we’d get a hotel and spend the night in Singapore.
That’s when we discovered the Free Singapore Transit Tour! This was our first experience with a free transit tour and since then, we’ve taken a second one in Singapore and another one in Istanbul. Below is a review of how these free airport transit tours work and what to expect.
Free Singapore Tour
Where: Singapore Changi Airport
Stipulations: Must have a 5.5 – 24 hour layover until connecting flight on any airline.
Tour Length: 2.5 hours
Tour Options: 2 (Heritage Tour runs five times during the day and City Sights runs twice in the evening). You may only take one tour on your layover.
How To Sign Up: The tours are first come, first served at the registration booths. One booth is in terminal 2, transit area between Transfer Lounge F and Skytrain to Terminal 3.
The other booth is in terminal 3 in the transit area near transfer lounge A and gate A1–A8.
Note: Each registration booth reserves a certain number of spots. If one booth is fully booked, try the booth in the other terminal as well. They fill up fast. The first time we took the tour, we managed to get the last two spots for the evening City Sights Tour. On a different layover, we signed up for the Heritage Tour. When we arrived to the booth, the next two available tour times were already full. Thankfully, our layover was long enough to still qualify.
Other items needed: Tour participants will be clearing customs, so an immigration form needs to be filled out. They also must have a visa (if required). Carry on luggage must be checked (for a fee) if it’s too big. You can bring backpacks with you on the tour.
Process: After signing up, were were required to report back to the booth approximately one hour before the tour. Each participant was given a sticker with the time of their tour.
At this point, we sat and waited for quite some time. The group that signed up in Terminal 2 was ushered to Terminal 3 to join the other participants. Eventually, a guide informed us it was time to go. We needed to clear immigration first.
Upon clearing immigration, we needed to wait for all the other participants to also clear and had one final chance to use the toilet before departing. After multiple checks by the guide, we headed outside to the bus.
As mentioned earlier, we took the tour twice. The first time, we did the evening City Sights Tour and the second time we did the daytime Heritage Tour. On both tours, the guide speaks over a microphone on the bus and points out various points of interest as the bus drives through the city. Also, both tours had 2 stops. On each stop, the participants were given approximately 20 minutes to explore the area.
On the City Sights tour, the stops are at Merlion Park and Gardens by the Bay.
The Heritage Tour also stops at Merlion Park, as well as the Kampong Glam neighbourhood. The traffic was particularly bad on the day we took the Heritage Tour, therefore we were limited to less than 15 minutes in Kampong Glam. It was essentially only enough time to look at the Sultan Mosque and its surrounding streets.
The bus returns to Terminal 3 at the airport and the re-entry is automated and quick. A simple scan of our passports and fingerprints and a quick check by an officer and we were back in Changi Airport.
Overall Opinion: Both tours give a small snapshot of what Singapore has to offer in a very limited time. For a free tour, it is totally worth it as a way to kill some time and see something other than the airport (although Changi Airport is our favourite in the world).
The guide and the other participants’ behaviour make a big difference in the tour enjoyment level! During the City Sights Tour, the other bus riders were talking so loudly and obnoxiously that we had great difficulty hearing the guide. However, on the Heritage Tour, the guide had more charisma and had no qualms with telling rude passengers to stop talking (he needed to do that multiple times, but was much appreciated by us!). Obviously, it would be nice to have more time at the sights, but under such a short timeframe, only so much is possible.
More information: http://www.changiairport.com/en/airport-guide/facilities-and-services/free-singapore-tour.html
Touristanbul
Note: We took this tour mere days before operations shifted to the new airport, so some of the information and our experiences may be different than what is presently offered.
Where: Istanbul International Airport
Stipulations: Must have a layover of no less than 6 hours and no more than 24 hours on an international Turkish Airlines flight
Tour Length: As short as 3.5 hours to as long as 9.5 hours. There is now an evening Bosphorus tour available from May 1-Oct 31!
Tour Options: 6 at different times throughout the day
How To Sign Up: All participants must sign up no later than 30 minutes before the tour begins. We took the tour from the old Ataturk Airport and the sign up location was the Hotel Desk. From all accounts, this is still the case at the new airport. There is no limit to the number of people attending the tour.
Other items needed: Tour participants will be clearing customs, so they must have must have a visa (if required). Backpacks can be brought with participants on the tour. We stored ours at the airport lounge before departing.
Process: We took a 9:00-15:00 tour (NOTE: Our itinerary is the same as the 8:30-18:00 offered from the new airport). Upon sign up, participants must wait in the arrivals area until the tour is ready to begin. Luckily, we were flying business class and were able to relax in the Turkish Airlines arrival lounge until a representative came to get us.
We were then escorted to the buses. Our bus was a small 8 seater, while the rest of the passengers were on a much larger 40+ seat bus. Since the tour guide could not be in two places at once, we were treated to a crackling, barely audible broadcast of him talking on the other bus.
The first stop was for a traditional Turkish breakfast (bread, cheese, olives, hard boiled egg, and vegetables) at a local restaurant called Tamara Restaurant and Cafe.
We then followed our guide to the next stop, the hippodrome (Sultanahmet Square) where he explained the history behind the various monuments in the area. Our guide had a passion for Ottoman history and provided a lot of interesting information at each stop.
We then visited the Blue Mosque and had 10-15 minutes of free time to explore.
Following the mosque, we walked past the famous Hagia Sophia and then to Topkapi Palace. This was a highlight for us, as we did not visit the palace on our previous visit to Istanbul!
The grounds were huge and we only had about 30 minutes of free time to explore, so we made the most of the time we had.
After that, we walked back to the same restaurant to have lunch (salad, kebab, chicken, and Turkish dessert), and then headed back to the airport.
Overall Opinion: We appreciated the complimentary breakfast and lunch, the free time given at the various locations and that the tour was mostly on foot. We learned a lot on the tour from our passionate guide. It was definitely worth it for the free price tag. However, the only downside for us is that visas for Canadians to enter Turkey are pretty expensive (over $80 CAD each), so the free tour ended up costing us quite a bit.
More information: https://www.turkishairlines.com/en-ca/flights/fly-different/touristanbul/index.html
Free transit tours are an awesome way to get a brief snapshot of a city on a long layover! Currently, there are 7 airports that offer them and we look forward to hopefully taking some more tours in the future.
The other airports that offer free transit tours:
Seoul, Korea (Incheon Intl Airport)
Taipei, Taiwan (Taoyuan Intl Airport)
Tokyo, Japan (Tokyo Narita Airport)
Doha, Qatar (Doha Intl Airport)
Salt Lake City, United States (Salt Lake City Intl Airport)
Disclosure: Please note that this site may contain affiliate links to products. We may receive a small commission for purchases made through these links at no extra cost to you.
Be First to Comment