The Bosphorus on the public boat, and Kadıköy at dinner time
13 playbooks shared · added to 39 trips
- 10:35 am1The Şehir Hatları long Bosphorus tour from EminönüIstanbul
The single best-value thing in Istanbul and it is a municipal ferry, not a tour. The pier you want is the Boğaz Hattı jetty east of the Galata Bridge with the state ferry branding; the men shouting 'Bosphorus cruise' at the waterfront are selling a ninety-minute private boat that turns round at the second bridge. The public boat calls at Beşiktaş, Üsküdar, Kanlıca, Sarıyer and Rumeli Kavağı and ends at Anadolu Kavağı near the Black Sea. Buy the round trip at the kiosk, not with the İstanbulkart, because the tour fare is a separate ticket. Sit on the port side going up for Dolmabahçe, the Rumeli Hisarı fortress and the wooden yalıs, and go up on deck the moment you clear the bridge — the seats inside are warm and useless. Verified 2026-09-06: the Long Bosphorus Tour leaves Eminönü at 10:35 all year and reaches Anadolu Kavağı at about 12:25; the fare for non-Turkish citizens is 560 TL and it is indeed a separate ticket from the İstanbulkart.
21 min by train or taxi · 21 km - 12:35 pm2Midye tava on the Anadolu Kavağı quayIstanbul
Every restaurant on the quay sends a man to the gangway and they are all much the same; prices are posted on boards and are honest, which the touting does not suggest. The fried mussels and the calamari are better than the grilled fish, which is frozen at this end of the strait outside the autumn palamut run. Eat fast — you want an hour on the hill, not two on the quay.
11 min walk · 800 m - 1:40 pm3Up to Yoros Castle for the mouth of the Black SeaIstanbul
Twenty-five minutes of steep lane from the village, past a gauntlet of souvenir stalls that thins out after the first bend. The Byzantine ruin itself is fenced and half-excavated; the terrace below it, where the strait opens into the Black Sea, is the reason to climb. Be back at the pier by 14:50 — there is one boat home and it does not wait, and the alternative is a bus to Üsküdar that takes two hours. Verified 2026-09-06: the castle interior is closed off behind metal gates and the lower castle is a military zone — only the upper castle's exterior and the terrace below it can be walked, which is what this stop is for, and it is free.
11 min walk · 800 m - 3 pm4The same boat back down the straitIstanbul
Same ticket, no second queue, and the southbound run is the better half: you are pointing at the city with the afternoon sun behind you, which is the opposite of the morning. Tea comes round on a tray for a few lira. If you want to shorten the day, get off at Beşiktaş or Üsküdar rather than riding to Eminönü. Corrected 2026-09-06: the return sailing leaves Anadolu Kavağı at 15:00 and takes about two hours, so you are back at Eminönü nearer 17:00 than the 16:40 this day used to assume. Every stop after this has been moved back to match; the 14:50 deadline at the pier is unchanged and still the hard one.
29 min by train or taxi · 29 km - 5:15 pm5Cross to Asia on the commuter ferryIstanbul
A different jetty from the tour boat, a hundred metres along and signposted Kadıköy. This one takes the İstanbulkart, which is the card that makes every ferry, tram and metro cost about a dollar — buy it from a machine at any pier, load it with cash, and tap it once per person. Twenty minutes, no ticket, and the best cheap view in the city; buy a simit on the gangway if you want the gulls to follow the stern.
14 min by train or taxi · 8.8 km - 5:50 pm6Turkish coffee standing up at Fazıl BeyIstanbul
On Serasker Caddesi, and you will smell the roaster before you find the door. Ask for 'orta' — medium sweet — because plain is bitter enough to be a dare and şekerli is syrup. It is a counter with four stools and turnover is deliberate, so drink it standing like everyone else. Buy a bag of beans on the way out; it is a third of what the Spice Bazaar charges for worse coffee.
6 min walk · 450 m - 6:30 pm7Dinner at Çiya Sofrası on Güneşlibahçe SokakIstanbul
Musa Dağdeviren's place, and the reason food writers cross the water. There is no printed menu because the food is whatever regional cooking came in from Anatolia this week — walk to the steam counter, point at four or five things, and they weigh the plate at the end, which is why nobody can tell you in advance what dinner costs. It is roughly half what a Beyoğlu meyhane charges. No alcohol, so this is the sober half of the evening. The kebap house a few doors down shares the name and the family and is a different, also very good, restaurant — do not let a waiter walk you into the wrong one. Verified 2026-09-06: open 11:00-22:00, and it does take tables by telephone (+90 216 330 3190), which is why this is booked rather than a queue. Moved to 18:30 because the return boat now lands at 17:00.
3 min walk · 150 m - 8:15 pm8A Kup Griye at Baylan, in the back gardenIstanbul
The 1961 branch on Muvakkithane Caddesi, not the newer ones. There is exactly one thing to order — the Kup Griye, caramel and croquant and ice cream in a tall glass, invented here — and the waiters visibly relax when you ask for it by name. Walk through to the garden at the back, which almost nobody finds, and which is open long after the front room looks shut. If you would rather drink than eat, Kadife Sokak two streets up is the bar street and runs until three.