Bosphorus

About Bosphorus

The Bosphorus is the strait that splits Istanbul in two, separating the European and Asian sides of the city while connecting the Black Sea to the north with the Sea of Marmara to the south. It has been one of the world's busiest and most strategically important waterways for thousands of years, a shipping route, a natural border, and the reason Istanbul grew into the city it is. Along its roughly 30-kilometre length you get a running view of the city's history: Ottoman wooden mansions called yalis lining the shore, the fortresses of Rumeli Hisari and Anadolu Hisari facing each other across the water, waterfront palaces like Dolmabahce and Beylerbeyi, and the bridges that now link the two continents overhead.

The most common way to see it is by boat, and the options vary a lot. Short public ferry crossings get you from one side to the other in a few minutes and cost very little, while longer sightseeing cruises run up the strait and back, often with commentary pointing out the main sights. Sunset and dinner cruises are popular in the evenings, and some longer tours go all the way up toward the Black Sea mouth with a stop at a fishing village. If you just want the crossing without the tour, the regular scheduled ferries between piers like Eminonu, Karakoy, Uskudar, and Kadikoy do the job for the price of a transit fare.

You don't strictly need a cruise to enjoy the Bosphorus. Waterfront neighbourhoods such as Ortakoy, Bebek, and Kuzguncuk are pleasant to walk, and the tea gardens and cafes along the shore give you the same view for the cost of a drink. That said, seeing the city from the water is a genuinely different experience from seeing it from land, and it's one of the things most visitors to Istanbul end up remembering. Bring a jacket even in summer, since it gets breezy out on the open deck.