Shared apartments, spare rooms and roommates in Istanbul

This Turkish city stands out for being multicultural and open to receiving students from all over the world. Thanks to this, if you decide to live in a shared flat, your roommates will surely be of different nationalities than yours. If so, you will be able to learn from their culture and traditions, while sharing yours. It would be significantly positive for your experience to interact with the locals and immerse yourself in the Turkish culture, and even better if one of your colleagues is from Turkey. This will be someone open, fun and willing to teach you their way of life!

Advantages and disadvantages of sharing a flat in Istanbul

In this section we advise you on some pros and cons of living in shared flats in the Turkish city:

Advantages of sharing a flat in Istanbul

• Istanbul has a large number of universities scattered throughout different areas of the city, but you will not have a problem finding a shared flat with a convenient location and good access to the most popular entertainment venues. Some of these neighbourhoods are Kadıköy, Beyoğlu and Taksim.

• If you are lucky enough to have a Turkish flatmate, seize the opportunity to experience different moments and learn more about the local culture and language.

Disadvantages of sharing a flat in Istanbul

• In some cases, utility bills are not included in the price and bills at the end of the month can be high. This happens predominantly in the winter months when it gets very cold and the heating systems are turned on.

Erasmus App for your exchange programme in Istanbul

If you want to have access to different services and information to make the process of your exchange to Istanbul simpler, we recommend that you download one of the apps for Erasmus+. In them, you will find a lot of useful information about the exchange procedures, as well as about life in the city. One of these data is, for example, that you try to choose a flat that is relatively close to your university because, even though public transport is very good, using it a lot every day can be somewhat tedious.

How to meet people in Istanbul

The following are some of the ways you have to meet people in the Turkish city, in addition to sharing moments with your flatmates:

Student associations in Istanbul

The Erasmus Student Network has a presence in several of the universities of Istanbul. For example, you will be able to join the ESN Kadir Has in that institution or the ESN Istanbul that corresponds to the University of Istanbul. On numerous occasions, the ESNs usually get together to carry out activities or excursions together, with which you will also have the opportunity to meet people who go to other universities and not only yours.

Facebook groups for Erasmus in Istanbul

There are many groups you can join. Part of them are divided according to the academic cycle and others belong to the different ESN. In these last ones, you will be able to see the calendar of the activities in which you can participate, such as beer pong tournaments, and trips (such as Cappadocia, Bursa Uludag, etc.), theme parties and nights in bars, among others.

Whatsapp groups for Erasmus in Istanbul

You will find links to student groups on Whatsapp or other messaging services. We suggest you join them, so you can be in contact with other young people before you arrive in the city and find people who have the same interests as you and with whom you can enjoy Istanbul to the fullest.

Tips for living in a shared apartment in Istanbul

Here are a series of tips for you to take into account:

• One of the first things you have to do when you arrive in Istanbul is to get a special transport card for students, called Istanbulkart. With it, you will access discounts on public transport.

• Thanks to being a multicultural city, during your exchange you will surely have the opportunity to enjoy one of the many festivals that take place in the Turkish city, such as the Istanbul Art and Culture Festival and the International Film Festival.

Frequently asked questions about sharing a flat in Istanbul

Flat sharing in other Erasmus cities

Flatshare in Ankara