Bosphorus Cruise

How to do it without overpaying

The Eminönü waterfront is lined with men selling “Bosphorus tours” off small boats, usually a 90-minute loop for a tourist price. You don’t need them. The official city-ferry operator, Şehir Hatları, runs the same water on big traditional ferries with open decks, and it’s the one to use. The Short Circle tour sails up to the second bridge and back in about two hours for roughly 340 TL — around £8 — and that’s the one most first-timers want: it passes Dolmabahçe Palace, the Ortaköy Mosque tucked under the first bridge, Rumeli Fortress and the wooden yalı mansions on both the European and Asian banks.

Board at the Boğaz İskelesi pier at Eminönü, just east of the Galata Bridge, and sit on the right-hand (starboard) side going out — that’s the palace-and-mansion side — then move across for the return. There’s a separate Long Bosphorus tour that runs the full strait to Anadolu Kavağı, a small fishing village near the Black Sea: it leaves Eminönü once mid-morning (around 10:35), parks you there for a three-hour lunch stop, and sails back, so it eats the whole day. The round trip is about 640 TL, roughly £15.

Is it worth it?

The short loop is one of the best-value things you can do in Istanbul — genuinely the cheapest way to see the city’s most expensive views, and the only sightseeing that puts you between two continents at once. Do that one. The long run to Anadolu Kavağı is worth it only if you’ve got a spare day and fancy a fish lunch and the climb up to Yoros Castle; the scenery past the second bridge is quieter and you retrace the same route home. Pay for a private or sunset cruise (from about €25, more with dinner) only if you specifically want an evening sailing, English commentary or food laid on — otherwise the public ferry shows you exactly the same strait for a fraction of the money.