Bosphorus Strait Cruise

Turyol is a private ferry company that runs tourist excursions as well as commuter ferries. They have a nice excursion up to the second bridge (next to the Rumeli Fortress) and back.

I have done both a private charter and Turyol up to the bridge and back. Honestly, I enjoyed Turyol just as much as the private charter. Turyol is cheap and easy, and it runs frequently. I don't remember if it runs every 1/2 hour or every hour, but it's frequent. I think we paid about $5 or so for a ticket in 2021. Of course, inflation is rampant in Turkey, and it's probably more expensive now. There are two ticket kiosks for Turyol, one for commuter trips and one for tourist excursions. If you go to the commuter kiosk, they will direct you to the tourist excursion kiosk a few feet away. I don't recall any narration on Turyol, and so you might want to clip a few pages from a good guide book to explain what you are seeing.

Turyol's website, which is not the greatest, is here: http://www.turyol.com. We didn't buy tickets in advance. We just walked up and bought tickets at the dock.

Turyol might offer an excursion all the way to the Black Sea once a day or so, too. I'm not sure. Going as far as Rumeli, though, will give you a good taste of what the Bosporus is like. Going to the Black Sea is an all day affair, and is probably overkill.

One way or another, I think a Bosporus cruise is a must-do thing in Istanbul. Experiencing the congestion of everything small pleasure craft to enormous tankers and cargo ships really drives home what a critical and strategically important waterway the Bosporus is.

Thank you, Marie. Thus, I need to locate the Turyol kiosk for tourist excursions and then make sure I get on the right boat for a short trip to the Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge. The three of us should be able to figure it out

Turyol is next to the Eminonou tram stop. The ticket booth is well marked and just a few feet from the boat. We didn't have any issues finding it.

We were originally planning on booking a tourist cruise, which started at 110 Euro each. Expensive but doable. On returning to the site to book it had jumped to 175 Euro, no thanks that's completely crazy.

Trip Advisor posters advised just taking the regular ferry on the Long Bosphorus Cruise, which is the one we want. It runs once a day and is only about 10-20 Euro each (until that price goes up too!).

There is also a Short Bosphorus Cruise.

https://sehirhatlari.istanbul/en/timetables/bosphorus-tours/long-bosphorus-tour-91

I came here to ask about a Bosphorus cruise, and am happy to see this thread. My question is for anyone who has taken the long cruise described in Rick's book, to Anadolu Kavagi. Did you feel that it was a bit too much or too long? That the return trip was tedious, since you had seen everything going out? And how about the 2 hours or so in Anadolu Kavagi? Any recommendations for lunch?

I am debating between doing this long cruise and doing a sunset cruise. Any thoughts? I do like the thought of a long trip, especially if it's a nice day. I think at this point in the trip I'm going to want to do something relaxing.

We took the regular ferry on the Bosporous at the end of our trip. We were tired! It was perfect. Go ahead, buy the delicious yogurt that becomes available at one particular stop (I don't remember, sorry). Walk around town, find something to eat (easy), and take in the Black Sea viewpoint. while you await the return trip. We loved it. It was simple, easy and plenty interesting.

We are in Istanbul right now and yesterday we did the cruise to the Black Sea with IBO Cruises which is suggested in Rick’s book. Although we are glad we did the cruise there were several issues.

Communication: the website said we’d be picked up at hotel but my ticket confirmation did not say that. I emailed several times before the trip with no response. When we got here I had an email asking if we would switch to a different day which we did. It was a small yacht with 13 of us. They told us a meeting point which we went to and then received a WhatsApp that changed the meeting point 15 minutes before the cruise was to start.

Our guide had to spent a lot of time on his phone dealing with logistics. Things seemed confused. We stopped for 30 minutes to see a sultan's summer house near the Anatolian Fortress (had to pay to see, don’t think it was worth it). Across the straight to Rumeli Fortress which had very limited access due to renovations. Guide did not know about this although there were signs everywhere it was undergoing extensive renovation. (If you go in you need to pay the entrance fee.) He spoke briefly about the Ottoman take over of the area but was more concerned about our getting back on the boat.

Lunch on the boat was good as continued up to on Anadolu. We got off for another 30 minutes but there wasn’t much but a visit to a tourist shop where nobody bought anything.

It’s a long trip, gives you appreciation for this waterway and its importance internationally. I had several chats with our guide, who was very friendly, but it was me asking specific questions, he wasn’t generally educating the group. He also asked me mid-tour to write a review on Trip Advisor and then wanted to know if I should have him write it.

Additionally this trip was pricey, $300 for 2 people. Bottom line: I’d think twice before using this company.