We would like to take a short cruise on the Bosphorus Strait. There seem to be options. #1 Take a cruise towards the Black Sea, but get off at the Sariyer stop and take a taxi, Uber or bus back. #2 Rick mentions a tour as short as 1.5 hours from the Old Town end of the Galata Bridge that goes to the Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge. He also mentions a company Turyol. I don't see such a tour on their website. If we take option #1 do we look for a particular company when we get to the ferry terminal in the Eminonu district? I'd like a plan before I get there and would appreciate your help.
Posted by
Atlanta, GA
839 posts
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.
Posted by
OP
Sacramento, California, USA
154 posts
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
Posted by
Atlanta, GA
839 posts
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.
Posted by
323 posts
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
Posted by
2 posts
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.
Posted by
88 posts
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.