At SAW we stayed at Marriott Pendik (the old Asia Divan). Another spotter had suggested a Junior Club Suite, but I would say a Junior King Suite with Sea view room was a better selection. We were allocated 105 which was excellent. The approach to 06R (predominant runway for arrival) is close to the hotel, and from the panoramic bay window you can see departures off 06L, which is about 2.5 miles away). So you shouldn’t miss any SAW traffic. You can also go up to the rooftop bar where you can see all SAW arrivals (but not departures).
From the room and the roof you can also get a reasonable chance with IST arrivals from east and north east, and outbounds to the South East (assuming predominant landing direction to the North). But you are at the mercy of both the weather and ATC.
Despite good weather forecasts before departure, each day there was a build up of cloud and thunderstorm over Black Sea in the vicinity of IST which then gradually drifted SE to SAW. Although cloud base was often 6,000ft plus, which meant traffic was often still visible, you then have the ATC effect! ATC seem to use the whole area from the Bosphorus Channel to well east of SAW in a random manner. That includes routing and heights. So, just when you think you know where to look they change things about. At one point they had an inbound from the N and one from SE opposite direction over the same point east of SAW 3,000 feet apart.
Credit: Paul Rainford
