The Bosphorus Ferry

This is the entry on the list that is not a building, and it is the one to do first. The ferries across and up the Bosphorus are ordinary public transport, run on a timetable for people going to work, and they cost a bus fare on the same card as everything else. The tour boats moored alongside charge many times as much for a worse boat.

What it costs

A single İstanbulkart tap, at the standard fare. Not a tour price, a commuter price.

The long Bosphorus cruise up to Anadolu Kavağı is a separate, more expensive public service, and it is still far cheaper than the private boats. But the plain Eminönü–Kadıköy or Karaköy–Üsküdar crossing gives you nearly the same view for the price of a tram ride.

When to go

Late afternoon, going east, so the sun is behind you on the old city. The commuter crossings run frequently from early until late; the long cruise runs a handful of times a day and less often out of season.

Getting there

Eminönü, Karaköy, Kabataş, Beşiktaş on the European side; Üsküdar and Kadıköy on the Asian. Every one of them is on the tram, metro or funicular network.

If you only have an hour

Eminönü to Kadıköy and straight back, or Karaköy to Üsküdar. Forty minutes, one fare each way, and you pass the whole old-city skyline, the Maiden’s Tower and the mouth of the Bosphorus. Sit outside at the back. Buy tea from the man with the tray.

What people get wrong

Paying for a “Bosphorus cruise” from a tout at the bridge without realising the public boat leaves from the next pier along for a fraction of it.

And treating the boat as a photo opportunity you get off after ten minutes. The point of the crossing is that it is forty minutes of the city rearranging itself around you — the old city dropping behind, the tower coming up, Asia arriving — and it does not compress.