Turkish Grand Prix 2027. Formula 1 back in Istanbul, and the Bosphorus crossing planned for you.

Istanbul Park sits at Tuzla, near the eastern edge of the city on the Asian shore. Sabiha Gokcen airport is fifteen to twenty kilometres away on the same side, which is convenient and is why the aircraft conversation usually starts there. The complication is that visitors overwhelmingly stay on the European side, in Besiktas, Nisantasi, Bebek or the old city around Sultanahmet, and the only ways across are the bridges and the tunnels. On an ordinary weekday Istanbul's crossings are slow. On a Grand Prix weekend, with the whole race crowd heading east at the same time of morning, they are slower.

So the honest planning question is not which car but which side of the water you sleep on. Staying on the Asian side, in Kadikoy or out towards the circuit, turns a two hour crossing into a twenty five minute drive and costs you the city. Staying on the European side gives you Istanbul properly and costs you two long journeys a day. Both are legitimate. Choosing without knowing is not, and it is the single most common mistake people made in the years this race was last on the calendar.

Sabiha Gokcen is the closest field to the circuit and the obvious first choice if you are staying on the Asian side. Ataturk, the city's original airport on the European shore, no longer takes scheduled passenger traffic and now operates as a general and business aviation field around the clock for authorised flights, with a dedicated general aviation terminal, roughly fifteen kilometres from the middle of the city. Istanbul Airport, the very large newer field on the European side, has the widest international connections and is around eighty kilometres from the circuit, which is a long way in Istanbul traffic.

If your days are in the city, Ataturk is usually the better arrival. If your days are at the circuit, Sabiha Gokcen is. A split plan, arriving at one and departing from the other, is often the neatest answer and is easy enough to arrange when it is decided early rather than on the Thursday. Odyssey arranges the aircraft, the handling and the cars as one job. See private jet charter, super midsize jets and Istanbul Airport.

The 2027 calendar puts Turkey between Azerbaijan and Singapore, on consecutive weekends: Baku on 24 to 26 September, Istanbul on 1 to 3 October, Singapore on 8 to 10 October. For anyone following more than one race, that is a fortnight of travel that works far better as a single plan than as three separate bookings, particularly where the same aircraft and crew can be held across it.

It also means the whole travelling circus arrives in Istanbul straight from Baku, so hotels, handling and ramp space are under pressure from the Tuesday. Cars in Turkey are arranged through operators we know, with one person at Odyssey responsible for the itinerary from the London doorstep to the paddock gate. See Azerbaijan Grand Prix and Singapore Grand Prix.