Bosphorus Cruise, Istanbul, Turkey

Whether you take a traditional Istanbul ferryboat, or a faster TurYol boat, you're sure to enjoy a tour-cruise up the Bosphorus. You can do it in as little as 1.5 hours.

You set out from the Eminönü ferryboat docks (on the Golden Horn between Galata Bridge and Sirkeci Station) and head north toward the Black Sea. (More...)

Here are the sights you'll see (including six Ottoman palaces), divided into two parts, the Southern Bosphorus (from the Golden Horn and city center to the Bosphorus Bridge) and the Northern Bosphorus, (from the Bosphorus Bridge to the Black Sea):

Southern Bosphorus
The most impressive sights are along the southern shores of the Bosphorus, nearest to the city: Topkapi Palace, the mid-Bosphorus Maiden's Tower, the Selimiye Barracks (where Florence Nightingale worked), Dolmabahçe Palace, Çiragan Palace, Yildiz Park & Palace, the chic art-boutique-and-cafe scene in the village of Ortaköy, the pretty Ottoman baroque Mecidiye Mosque, and the Bosphorus Bridge. More...

Northern Bosphorus
Beyond the Bosphorus Bridge there's plenty more to see: Beylerbeyi Palace, the village of Çengelköy, Kuleli Naval Academy, Arnavutköy with its photogenic Ottoman yalis (wooden Bosphorus seaside mansions), Rumeli Hisari (the mighty Fortress of Europe), the town of Bebek with its pretty bay, and Bosphorus University.

North of the Fatih Bridge, second to be built across the Bosphorus, is Anadolu Hisari (the Fortress of Anatolia), Küçüksu Kasri (a fine little rococo palace), the Hidiv Kasri (fine Art Nouveau villa (1900) of the Khedive of Egypt), the pretty restaurant village of Tarabya, the town of Büyükdere (with its excellent Sadberk Hanim Museum), Sariyer (with a fish market and several seafood restaurants on the shore).

Rumeli Kavagi (the farthest northern dock on the European shore of the Bosphorus), and Anadolu Kavagi (the final dock on the Bosphorus cruise-tour) are about 10 km (6 miles) south of the Black Sea, but these docks are as far as the Bosphorus cruises go.

If you take the traditional ferry's Bosphorus tour all the way to the end, you will have to wait three hours at the northern terminus of Anadolu Kavagi for the ferry's departure for the return to Istanbul. But you can get off the boat in Sariyer, have lunch, then ride south along the shore.

If you take the TurYol boat, you'll be back at the Galata Bridge in less than an hour.

Here's how to tour the European shore of the Bosphorus by road from Sariyer to Istanbul, and here's an hour-by-hour itinerary to hit the main sights.

Tour the European Shore of the Bosphorus

A Day-Trip Cruise-Tour of the Bosphorus

Southern Bosphorus Sights

Northern Bosphorus Sights

Bosphorus Tour by Traditional Ferry

Bosphorus Tour by TurYol Boat

Bosphorus Cruise

The Bosphorus

Dolmabahçe Palace

Beylerbeyi Palace