CPT - IST

Find cheap flights from Cape Town to Istanbul

1 adult
1 adult, Economy, 0 bags

KAYAK searches hundreds of travel sites at once for deals on flights to Istanbul Airport

 
These are the airlines KAYAK users have selected most often from within our search results in flight searches from Cape Town to Istanbul, as well as popular online travel agencies
These are the airlines KAYAK users have selected most often from within our search results in flight searches from Cape Town to Istanbul, as well as popular online travel agencies
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Everything you should know

Nonstop flights
Every day
You can fly direct with Turkish Airlines. Average duration is 11h 00m
Direct flights
Direct flights
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Direct flights
Direct flights
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Avoid delays
Most punctual • 93% on-time
Best time • Fewest delays
Insights
Insights
Insights
Insights
Top layover airports
Cheapest • Avg $658 (round-trip)
Shortest trip • 13h 37m (one-way)
Insights
Insights
Insights
Insights
When to book
in advance
Our data shows that travelers who book at least 8 weeks in advance save around 21% compared to booking last minute.
Insights
Insights
Insights
Insights
When to travel
Cheapest • 12% price drop
Most popular
Good to know
Good to know
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Good to know
Good to know
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KAYAK searches 100s of sites at once to find you the best travel deals.
We hope you love your trip to Istanbul!
Flight Deals
Booking Insights
Expert advice
Flight Deals

Cheap Flights from Cape Town to Istanbul (CPT-IST)

 
Here are some of the best deals found on KAYAK recently from the most popular airlines for round-trip flights from Cape Town to Istanbul that are departing in the next months. While these flights were available on KAYAK in the last 72 hours, prices and availability are subject to change and deals may expire.
Discover the best prices for you by selecting your travel dates on KAYAK.

Recent round-trip flight deals from Cape Town to Istanbul

Multiple Airlines Logo
CPT
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IST
5235 mimulti-stop
Multiple Airlines Logo
IST
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CPT
5235 mimulti-stop
Multiple Airlines
Booking Insights

KAYAK's insights & trends for Cape Town to Istanbul flights

Get data-powered insights and trends into flights from Cape Town to Istanbul to help you find the cheapest flights, the best time to fly and much more.

What’s the cheapest day of the week to fly from Cape Town to Istanbul?

The average price of all round-trip flights from Cape Town to Istanbul Airport clicked on KAYAK for each day over the last 12 months.

Your flight ticket price will generally be cheaper if you fly to Istanbul on a Tuesday and more expensive on a Sunday. On your return trip to Cape Town, you should consider flying back on a Saturday, and avoid Wednesdays for better deals.

What is the cheapest month to fly from Cape Town to Istanbul Airport?

To calculate monthly average prices, KAYAK takes all prices for each month over the last year for round-trip flights from Cape Town to Istanbul Airport, removes the top 0.1% to account for outliers, and then takes the median of all values for each month.

The cheapest month for flights from Cape Town to Istanbul Airport is November, where tickets cost $598 (return) on average. On the other hand, the most expensive months are December and July, where the average cost of round-trip tickets is $795 and $743 respectively.

Can I save money by flying with a layover from Cape Town to Istanbul Airport?

The average round-trip price for all non-stop flights, flights with one layover, and flights with two layovers for the route found by users searching on KAYAK in the last 2 weeks.

No, with an average price for the route of $640, prices are generally cheapest when you fly direct.

How far in advance should I book a flight from Cape Town to Istanbul Airport?

To calculate weekly average prices, KAYAK takes all prices for each week before departure over the last year for round-trip flights from Cape Town to Istanbul Airport, removes the top 0.1% to account for outliers, and then takes the average of all the values for each week.

To get a below average price on the flight from Cape Town to Istanbul Airport, you should book around 8 weeks before departure, which saves you about 21% compared to booking last minute. For the absolute cheapest price, our data suggests you should book 21 weeks before departure.

Expert advice

Expert advice for your flight from Cape Town to Istanbul

 
AI-powered summary based on content written by travel experts. AI can make mistakes.
KAYAK teamed up with top travel experts to share the best tips for your journey.
Our travel experts
Daniel Scheffler

Daniel Scheffler

Expert on CPT

Daniel Scheffler is a travel writer, podcaster, and producer. Born in Africa, bred in Europe and now living in America he has traveled to 140 countries (and all 50 U.S. states). Plus he has stayed at over 2500 hotels across the globe. His original shows Everywhere and Without Maps (available on Spotify) showcase his beliefs, travel is about humanity and sharing that beauty. And thus it reminds you that you shouldn’t believe everything you think.

Jenna Scatena

Jenna Scatena

Expert on IST

Journalist and Travel Writer, Jenna Scatena is an award-winning travel writer with a love for sharing stories and exploring new places, especially by Vespa. Though she's from San Francisco, she has spent a significant chunk of her vacation days over the last decade eating her way through Texas and sleeping in hotels around the world—especially in California, the Middle East, and Europe.

Good to know

Low seasonJanuary
Best time to beat the crowds with an average 3% drop in price.
Most popular time to fly and prices are also 2% lower on average.

When to book flights from Cape Town to Istanbul

Are your dates flexible? Find out the best times to travel from Cape Town to Istanbul based on our flight data from the last year. Discover the cheapest month and even day to fly.
Estimated round-trip price
KAYAK looks at all historical flight data for each date to provide a predicted price for one-way trips or round-trips with a duration up to 40 days. While we try to provide actual minimum prices for each date, some prices are predictions and actual prices may differ.

FAQs for booking Cape Town to Istanbul flights

  • Do I need a passport to fly between Cape Town and Istanbul?

    A passport is required to fly from Cape Town to Istanbul.

  • Which airlines offer Wi-Fi service onboard planes from Cape Town to Istanbul?

    Lufthansa, South African, and KLM offer inflight Wi-Fi service on the Cape Town to Istanbul flight route.

  • Which aircraft models fly most regularly from Cape Town to Istanbul?

    The Airbus A350-900 is the aircraft model that flies most regularly on the Cape Town to Istanbul flight route.

  • Which airline alliances offer flights from Cape Town to Istanbul?

    oneworld, and Star Alliance are the airline alliances operating flights between Cape Town and Istanbul, with oneworld being the most commonly used for this route.

  • On which days can I fly direct from Cape Town to Istanbul?

    There are nonstop flights from Cape Town to Istanbul on a daily basis.

  • Which is the best airline for flights from Cape Town to Istanbul, Emirates or Turkish Airlines?

    The two airlines most popular with KAYAK users for flights from Cape Town to Istanbul are Emirates and Turkish Airlines. With an average price for the route of $765 and an overall rating of 8.1, Emirates is the most popular choice. Turkish Airlines is also a great choice for the route, with an average price of $959 and an overall rating of 7.4.

  • How does KAYAK find such low prices on flights from Cape Town to Istanbul?

    KAYAK is a travel search engine. That means we look across the web to find the best prices we can find for our users. With over 2 billion flight queries processed yearly, we are able to display a variety of prices and options on flights from Cape Town to Istanbul.

  • How does KAYAK's flight Price Forecast tool help me choose the right time to buy my flight ticket from Cape Town to Istanbul?

    KAYAK’s flight Price Forecast tool uses historical data to determine whether the price for a flight to Istanbul from Cape Town is likely to change within 7 days, so travelers know whether to wait or book now.

  • What is the Hacker Fare option on flights from Cape Town to Istanbul?

    Hacker Fares allow you to combine one-way tickets in order to save you money over a traditional round-trip ticket. You could then fly to Istanbul with an airline and back to Cape Town with another airline. Booking your flights between Cape Town and IST can sometimes prove cheaper using this method.

  • What is KAYAK's "flexible dates" feature and why should I care when looking for a flight from Cape Town to Istanbul?

    Sometimes travel dates aren't set in stone. If your preferred travel dates have some wiggle room, flexible dates will show you all the options when flying to Istanbul from Cape Town up to 3 days before/after your preferred dates. You can then pick the flights that suit you best.

KAYAK’s top tips for finding a cheap flight from Cape Town to Istanbul Airport

  • Looking for a cheap flight? 25% of our users found flights on this route for $631 or less one-way and $925 or less round-trip.

Prefer to fly direct from Cape Town to Istanbul?

 
Direct data is based off flight results for the next 60 days. Find direct flights from all airlines flying direct from Cape Town Intl to Istanbul.
Find which airlines fly direct from Cape Town Intl Airport to Istanbul Airport, which days they fly and book direct flights.

Direct departures

Cape Town Intl to Istanbul

Monday

Turkish Airlines

Turkish Airlines

Tuesday

Turkish Airlines

Turkish Airlines

Wednesday

Turkish Airlines

Turkish Airlines

Thursday

Turkish Airlines

Turkish Airlines

Friday

Turkish Airlines

Turkish Airlines

Saturday

Turkish Airlines

Turkish Airlines

Sunday

Turkish Airlines

Turkish Airlines

See more direct flights

Direct returns

Istanbul to Cape Town Intl

Monday

Turkish Airlines

Turkish Airlines

Tuesday

Turkish Airlines

Turkish Airlines

Wednesday

Turkish Airlines

Turkish Airlines

Thursday

Turkish Airlines

Turkish Airlines

Friday

Turkish Airlines

Turkish Airlines

Saturday

Turkish Airlines

Turkish Airlines

Sunday

Turkish Airlines

Turkish Airlines

See more direct flights

Reviews of the top 4 airlines serving from Cape Town to Istanbul

 
See real verified KAYAK customer reviews for airlines flying from Cape Town to Istanbul. Airline scores are aggregated from all reviews left by passengers on KAYAK after flying with an airline. KAYAK doesn’t show reviews that are older than 5 years. Learn how KAYAK collects reviews.
Need help choosing which airline to fly with from Cape Town to Istanbul? KAYAK airline reviews give an overall score for each airline based on loads of factors, including comfort, boarding, in-flight entertainment and more, to make your decision easier. See airline scores according to verified KAYAK customer reviews.
8.1
EmiratesOverall score based on 3591 reviews
8.4Crew
7.9Food
8.1Boarding
8.2Entertainment
8.0Comfort
Airline reviews

Difficult to find some food option for gluten and dairy allergy. May be a fruit salad would be better

8.0 ExcellentAnonymous, Jun 2026
SEA - DXB
Read more Emirates reviews

Difficult to find some food option for gluten and dairy allergy. May be a fruit salad would be better

The flight was delayed and the service was not good. All the new serve was beef and we don’t eat beef so we ended up buying our own meals at the airport twice.

I love to travel again and again in Emirates. Keep up the good work.

Fly Dubai takes low cost and thrift to new depths in terms of service levels, terminal 2 is grossly inadequate for capacity and resembles a crowded buss or railway station,, the fly dubai( Emirates) flight is never on time(was 2.5 hrs delayed), and this is not an isolated experience, the flght air conditioning was turned low while we waited on the tarmac for take clearance to save fuel, should say more!!!! The depths! I only fly this airline from a compulsion, emirates code shares for connections to Muscat

Food was great. More vegetarian options on menu would be great!

Both flights to and back from Lyon with buses taking extra time and delaying flight at DXB. Food serving needed work.

There is an issue with A380 when it arrives in Munich, because a business class passengers like me have to wait for the first class passengers to disembark, which takes some time while you are also offloading economy passengers this causes an issue at customs where your business class passengers end up behind a large bulk of economy passengers This is a frustration and the early dislocation should be and is supposed to be a benefit of business class

I would have liked less packaged snacky stuff, more fruit. The crew was great.

The journey was nice, all the crews were very good and services are excellent

The food options were excellent for Economy. It was difficult to find the lounge after clearing security and boarding was clunky

I had 2 flights on the same day ( beautiful sunny non windy day)both had a touch and go -around on the runway. My husband said they were training a co pilot. The bathrooms were stinky dirty and the the floor was sticky. On one flight I had the worst food option I have ever had on an overseas flight.

Entertainment system is okay, flight attendants were ok. Leg space very narrow, I couldn’t get what I wanted to eat, dinner nor breakfast.

Staff are friendly and the pilot when we landed very smooth.

Turkish Airlines made a long flight from YVR to IST a great flying experience. From the attendants, to the food, to the entertainment program to all the extras, a twelve hour flight ‘flew by’. Late departure and arrival was not the airline’s fault.

Excellent experience with business class area. Staff was attentive and food was amazing. Only one bathroom for business class which was logistically difficult for the staff while preparing meals. Need to offer fluids with meals. I did not get enough water to drink. But overall I rate it 5 star.

On time. Great service, friendly crew. Great food. Everything went without a hitch. We will not hesitate to fly Turkish Airlines again.

It was great. The service was excellent and the timing was very good.

On time, great food, good drink selection! Only down was alcohol-free lounge. Lufthansa had a much better offering!

Seat assignments for family traveling with 2 children. Loud crowd during sleep time

It was crowded… the bathrooms dirty and smelly. The seats have been made even smaller.

Qatar was pretty OK for their services but Arangrant was awful at theirs and frankly lied to me. Qatar offers four business class fares and only three of them allow lounge access. This is a horrible policy when you pay so much for business class and shame on them for denying the simple use of their lounges for this confusion. When I requested my business class ticket with Arangrant I knew this and specifically told them I would only purchase the lowest class business seat that would still permit me lounge access on all legs of my trip. They lied to me and said I did and then I was refused this service on my return flights. I had no less than 4-8 schedule changes and got screwed by a late departure from DCA on my double connection to JNB. I lost nearly a full day on my outbound and then had little to no use of the lounges on my outbound flights. To then be denied access on my return flights made the 27 hour trip home pretty awful. Kayak should no longer work with Arangrant as they are dishonest and liars. Qatar should price all four of their business class fares to include lounge access and stop the insanity they have forced on people. My return trip home nearly ruined my entire trip to South Africa and I blame Arangrant for telling me lies and for Qatar for offering insane rules and regulations on such expensive business class fares. For the money I paid to Qatar, I did not receive the full services I was promised. I will probably never use Arangrant and their ignorant services ever again. I will question whether I ever fly on Qatar Airways again as well. When you pay so much and get such little in return, it leaves a bad taste in your mouth. Arangrant gives the whole industry a bad name and Qatar is not far behind them. I can honestly say that the wretched service and way I was treated by both have soured me on travel companies and airlines. It is bad enough that we have an idiot, felon, racist and bigoted president and administration to contend with while he has started an illegal war, I did not expect to get screwed over by Arangrant and Qatar as well. Shame on all of you.

My journey with Qatar Airways from Ahmedabad to Jacksonville on 3rd February 2026 was truly exceptional. The entire experience reflected comfort, care, and world-class service. Complimentary high-quality Wi-Fi throughout the journey was a welcome luxury, especially on a long-haul flight. The vegetarian meals were thoughtfully prepared, delicious, and served with attention to detail, along with a fine selection of snacks and beverages. What truly elevated the experience was the cabin crew — graceful, courteous, and genuinely attentive, delivering outstanding hospitality at every step. This journey perfectly showcased the premium standard Qatar Airways is known for, and it left a lasting impression. I would gladly fly with them again.

Qatar Airways is an excellent service provider. The crew members were attentive and helpful. The aircraft was very clean. This was the longest leg of our journey, so it would have been nice to have more leg room for comfort. We appreciated the crew's service of four hot meals to all of us during this long flight. Also, it was helpful that the crew asked us to keep the window shades down for the entire journey, allowing the environment to get lots of rest during the trip. For families traveling with little children, this was helpful to them to keep them settled.

Flight departed punctually on time. Unfortunately it seems because the destination airport is a secondary airport the airline sees it fit to operate a plane with lower comfort and offerings. There was no inflight entertainment, wifi or let alone a screen to at least track flight status for remaining flight time.

It would help id flight crew were not rude and showed some courtesy. They were shouting at passengers and yelling instructions as if we were school children at lunch cafeteria!!

I always fly with Qatar air and you are the best. Keep up the good wor, after travelling with Qatar Air More than 80 times, you never offer to upgrade me.but it happened to my friend companion some time. Any how i still enjoying travelling with Qatar air and wait one day to upgrade me too. Best Regards

no qatar did noting wrong Kayak messed up my whole vacation . Went early to check in at The Cairo, Egypt airport to find our I had not tickets to board , Kayak and/or Affirm never sent the money for my flight that I paid for and booked. So I had no flight at 12am in a foreign country and I had to scramble and find anther very costly other option just so that could fly home. Fucken horrible experience.

I prebooked a comfort plus seat on this flight and therefore the flight was comfy. I got the correct seat in the correct section of the plane that I have booked, that's this. Flight was comfortable. Staff were average on the flight, appearing to be rushed and short in engagement with travellers, perhaps this to maximise there rest time on the flight.

Overall the experience was neat with crew being nice and caring especially to parent with kids. The free snacks option was okay. The kiosk at Philly airport didn’t work.

Reason for travelling Tampa to Orlando is to fly Qatar Airline. we end up with American Airline. This was the miserable experience I ever had in my entire travel history. Flight attendants were rude. They hit my knee with the food cart and I was holding ice pack for 2 hours. I still have the pain after a week. WE boarded the flight twice because of the temperature inside the plan.

The following is a review for a flight from Johannesburg to Washington, DC with a connection at Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and refueling landing at Rome, Italy. The flight was provided by Ethiopian Airlines. There were two of us: me and my wife on this flight. Everything was on time. Enough legroom between the seats, I was able to stretch my legs and sleep for at least some time during the 14 hour second flight (19 hours in total for both flights). Very decent meals that included two lunches and one breakfast on the flight from Addis Ababa to Washington and one lunch on the flight from Johannesburg to Addis Ababa. The lunch choices were beef, chicken and fish, I think the vegetarian option was available as well, accompanied with beans. The breakfast was a choice between egg and pancake, accompanied with a fruit salad. The egg breakfast was awesome, it came with a scrambled egg and a sausage. However, my wife mentioned unusual taste of the pancake breakfast meal, by all means those were not pancakes. What wasn't good: Externally initiated commercials on the infosystem screens, you couldn't turn the screen off. These commercials were accompanied by loud and annoying music, transmitted through the entire cabin. Obviously, there was no escape from this music as well. Additional moment: on the flight from Addis Ababa to Washington, DC, we landed at Rome for refueling. This was totally fine and it was in the flight itinerary. But, the flight attendant asked me to straighten the seat while we were at the steady position during the refueling. I can't rationalize this order except that some people just like to be a boss of some kind. Keeping the light lit in the economy cabin while keeping it dimmed in the first class also didn't improve my and my wife's feelings. Overall, the services were very good and the flight, despite its longevity, went on very smoothly.

The flight was very smooth, however, the quality of food was mediocre.

The TV wasn't working No music for the whole flight from JFK to LOS It was too burring.

Flight was delayed by two hours. This really messed things up because I missed my connecting flight in Addis. I had a meeting in Entebbe which was scrapped because my flight from Addis landed later in the day.

I will fly this going forward especially for ORD to EBB and the reverse.

We had a good flight experience with this airline despite reading many negative comments

Planes are good. However the entertainement system is slow. The headphones are of low quality and I could hardly hear a movie The movies lack subtitiles

The crew were amazing. They should improve the inflight entertainment

The crew was unfriendly and very rude to name a few (Helina). I felt unsafe due to most of the cabinets were open while on flight. All in all the flight was ok, but the crew needed more training on customer service most of all for international flights.

The plane was ok, I was in business class and was surprised there were no pods and each seat was right next to another one. That said it was comfortable and the food and coffee were good. Entertainment wise again I was surprised to see only movies and no TV shows. Check-in at Toronto Pearson was an absolute disaster, which was especially disappointing as I was a business class passenger. There was no dedicated staffing for the business counter and four (4) airlines employees assisted one economy class passenger for about 15 minutes when one could have easily assisted me. Overall room for improvement, particularly in the on-ground experience and airplane infrastructure.

Everything you need to know for your flight from Cape Town to Istanbul

Information on your arrival and departure airports