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
833 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
833 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.