To leave the airport you pass Turkish passport control, so what you need depends on your passport. Most Western travellers need nothing; Indian passport holders need a visa or an e-Visa arranged before they fly.
No visa is needed to leave Sabiha Gökçen with a US, UK, Canadian, Australian or most EU passports: you can enter Türkiye for up to 90 days in any 180. Indian passports need a visa: an e-Visa online if you hold a valid US, UK, Schengen or Irish visa or residence permit, otherwise one from a Turkish consulate. Changing planes on one Pegasus ticket, expect passport control on the way to your gate, and ask at check-in how your connection works.
If you stay airside
Changing planes at Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen International Airport (SAW) on one ticket, your checked bags go through to your next flight and you head for international departures. Pegasus’s own guide to connecting flights says that on an international connection you go through passport control on the way to your gate, so expect a passport check even if you never leave the airport.
- Ask at check-in. When you check in for your first flight, ask Pegasus, or your airline, how your connection at Sabiha Gökçen works, and confirm that your bags are checked through.
- Visa-free passports (US, UK, Canada, Australia, most of the EU): it makes no difference to you. You can pass passport control with nothing arranged.
- Passports that need a visa, such as India’s: ask Pegasus before you book whether you need a Turkish visa or e-Visa for the connection, and if you do, arrange it before you fly.
- Connecting to a Turkish domestic flight means passing passport control and going to the domestic terminal, so the rules for leaving the airport apply.
Past passport control in international departures you’ll find the Kepler Sleep Cabins, by the hour, and the Plaza Premium Lounge: see at the airport.
If you want to leave the airport
You’re entering Türkiye, even for a few hours, so your passport has to let you in.
| Passport | What you need to leave Sabiha Gökçen |
|---|---|
| United States, Canada | Nothing: visa-free for up to 90 days in any 180 |
| United Kingdom (British citizen) | Nothing: visa-free for up to 90 days in any 180 |
| Australia | Nothing: visa-free for up to 90 days in any 180, for tourism or transit |
| Most EU and Schengen countries | Nothing: visa-free for up to 90 days |
| Republic of Cyprus | A visa or e-Visa before you fly |
| India and other visa passports | A visa before you fly; an e-Visa if you hold a qualifying US, UK, Schengen or Irish visa or permit |
Visa-free entry
US, Canadian, British and Australian passport holders can stay up to 90 days in any 180-day period, and Germany and most other EU and Schengen countries are visa-free too. Some British passports are the exception: holders of British National (Overseas), British Subject or British Protected Person passports need a visa from a Turkish consulate. So do Republic of Cyprus passport holders, who can no longer get one at the border and apply online or at a consulate instead. If your country isn’t named here, check its line on Türkiye’s foreign ministry page in the sources below.
The e-Visa for Indian passports
Indian passport holders need a visa to leave the airport. If you hold a valid visa or residence permit for the US, the UK, Ireland or a Schengen country, you can apply for an e-Visa: single entry, valid for one month, on Türkiye’s official site, evisa.gov.tr. It takes a few minutes, at any hour, and you pay by card. It covers tourism or business trips, which a layover in town is. Apply before you fly, and carry the visa or permit you applied with.
Without a qualifying visa or permit, apply for a visa at a Turkish embassy or consulate well before you travel.
Passport validity
Türkiye’s foreign ministry advises a passport valid for at least 6 months from the day you arrive. The legal minimum is 60 days beyond the end of your permitted stay, so 6 months left on your passport meets both.
If you’re on separate tickets
Pegasus treats two separate bookings as two journeys: you collect your bags at Sabiha Gökçen, leave through passport control and check in again for the next flight. So you need to be allowed into Türkiye, even if you never planned to leave the airport. If a late first flight makes you miss the second, you’re on your own, so leave a generous gap.
Flying on from Istanbul Airport (IST) instead means crossing the city by shuttle bus or taxi. On our estimate you need about 6 hours between flights with hand luggage only, or 7 with checked bags: see changing to Istanbul Airport.
At the border
Sabiha Gökçen doesn’t publish queue times, so allow about an hour from landing to sitting on the metro. The queues are usually shorter than at Istanbul Airport, and international passengers have their own lanes.
Fast Track for international arrivals costs ₺1,630 (seen November 2026) and takes you through a shorter lane. It’s worth it only on a tight layover with a long queue, and it isn’t sold to passengers who are changing planes. See getting into the city for the time it all takes.
No free transit hotel or tour at Sabiha Gökçen
Neither Pegasus nor AJet offers a free hotel, stopover or tour for passengers connecting at Sabiha Gökçen. Turkish Airlines’ Stopover hotels and its Touristanbul tour are for passengers connecting at Istanbul Airport (IST) only, on the other side of the city. For a long layover here, book your own room: the Kepler cabins airside, or the ISG Airport Hotel next to the terminal if you can enter Türkiye.
Before you go landside
- Check whether your bags are checked through to your final destination. If you have to collect them, left luggage is on the international arrivals level, open around the clock and charged by the day.
- Keep your onward boarding pass with you, and plan to be back at the airport 90 minutes before departure. Still to check in, or with a bag to drop? Come back earlier: international check-in closes 60 minutes before departure.
- How to get into town, and the last trains back: getting into the city.
A transit tour you can book
If you're allowed to leave Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen International Airport, a tour that collects you at the airport takes care of the timing. Check that the tour's length fits your layover, leaving time to get out of the airport and to be back 90 minutes before your flight.