Flying from Istanbul to Dubai?
Add a departure date and see which side gets the sun.
Flying from Istanbul to Dubai?
Add a departure date and see which side gets the sun.
Flying from Istanbul to Dubai?
Add a departure date and see which side gets the sun.
Istanbul → Dubai
A medium flight from Türkiye to United Arab Emirates. Dubai is 1 hour ahead. Remember to put your watch forward when you land.
The city on two continents
Istanbul straddles the Bosphorus, the only major city set on two continents, with most of its life on the European side and a fast-growing Asian side across the water. It is huge and hilly, layered with Byzantine and Ottoman history around the old core and dense modern districts running for miles. Ferries, trams, and metro lines tie it together, though traffic across the bridges can be heavy. Its two airports sit far apart on opposite sides of the city, so the one you use shapes the trip.
City access
Istanbul Airport is the large main hub, well to the northwest of the city on the European side. It connects by metro and airport buses, but it is a long way out, so allow a generous hour or more into the center depending on traffic. It sits far from the second airport, so the two are not easy substitutes.
Nearby airports
| 64 km / 40 mi |
Surrounding hubs
| 789 km / 490 mi | |
| 877 km / 545 mi | |
| 424 km / 263 mi |
The city that rose from the desert
Dubai is a coastal city on the Persian Gulf that grew in a few decades into a dense spine of towers strung along a single highway. Most of what visitors come for sits near the water or that main road: the beaches, the malls, Dubai Creek, the old trading waterway, and the tallest building in the world. It is hot for much of the year and built around cars and taxis, though a driverless metro runs the length of the city. Distances look short on a map but stretch out in the heat.
Nearby airports
| 116 km / 72 mi |
Surrounding hubs
| 855 km / 531 mi | |
| 874 km / 543 mi | |
| 347 km / 216 mi |
Find out which side of the plane to sit on.
Pick your airports, set your departure time, and you're done.
We calculate the sun's position based on your flight path and departure time, then tell you which side of the plane gets direct sun and which stays shaded. No guessing, just math.
Enter your flight
Pick your departure and arrival airports and set your departure time at the departure airport. FlightSide estimates the duration and you can adjust it if you know the exact schedule.
We track the sun along your route
Your flight path is broken into hundreds of points. At each one we check where the sun is and which side of the plane it faces.
You get a recommendation
Which side of the plane to sit on, left or right, depending on whether you'd rather avoid the sun or enjoy it. The percentages and the map are there if you want to see why.
Want to go deeper? Accuracy, edge cases, polar routes — see the FAQ →
Notes from the product.
Small updates, route observations, and clearer explanations for how the app keeps evolving.
Type less, wait less, wonder more
Airport search now understands metro codes and old city names, FlightSide loads noticeably faster, and a new Feeling lucky button chooses a flight for anyone without one in mind.
A closer look at the route, not just the seat
FlightSide now shows the two cities and key details about the flight alongside the seat recommendation: confirm you picked the right airports, read the time change off two clocks, and check the return leg.
It's all about the sun (after all)
Not all sunlight reaches the side windows. FlightSide now weighs the sun’s angle to the cabin and shows twilight along the route.