Hop on Hop Off Bosphorus Cruise

Istanbul E-pass includes Hop on Hop Off Bosphorus Cruise. Present your Istanbul E-pass at the counter and get access.

One of the most beautiful places in Istanbul is the Bosphorus. The city attracts that much attention in history because of this crucial waterway separating the continents. If you want to enjoy Bosporus in a relaxing way by ferry and give stops in essential locations of this vital body of water, Hop on Hop off Bosporus Tour is an excellent tour for you.

The boat starts from the Kabatas and follows the north, making stops at Besiktas, Emirgan, Kucuksu Pavilion, and returns to Kabatas, where the tour starts from. At any stop, you may step off the boat and walk around the area. When your visits are over, you can continue with the next ship and follow the same steps. The tour is over when you complete the whole circle. Let's have a look at what you can see at every stop step by step.

Besiktas

Besiktas is one of Istanbul's centers where the locals come on the weekends and spend some time in this neighborhood's lively streets. There is the Naval Museum, one of the oldest museums in Istanbul when it comes to places of visit. You can see how the sultans were cruising the Bosphorus with a good display of Sultanate Boats or enjoy the history of the Ottoman Turks' marine history. You may visit the Barbarossa tomb after the Naval Museum, the biggest name of a navy admiral in Ottoman history. Barbarossa lived in the 16th century and conquered most the Northern Africa himself. After the visits, you may enjoy the streets of the famous fish market of Besiktas and observe what the locals are doing on a typical day out.

Emirgan

Emirgan has one of the most beautiful parks in the city that attracts many tourists every year, especially for a particular festival. Every year in April, the tulip festival is celebrated here and millions of tulips can be seen with tens of different colors. Other than the festival, many locals come here for a nice picnic or have breakfast in the park's cafes and restaurants on the weekends.

Kucuksu Pavilion

There are beautiful palaces and pavilions for the royal family built in the Ottoman Empire's times in the Bosphorus. One of these beautiful constructions is the Kucuksu Pavilion. This construction was designed for the royal family as a temporary residence. When the Sultan wants to spend some time with the family outside of the palace, Kucuksu Pavilion was one of the places he may choose to stay. Today the pavilion serves as a museum with the original furniture of the 19th century.

Beylerbeyi Palace

Beylerbeyi Palace was built in the 19th century by order of Sultan Abdulaziz. This is the second-largest palace in the Bosphorus after the primary residence of the Sultan in the 19th century, Dolmabahce Palace. Rather than a home for the royal family, this palace was a place for the Sultan's guests to stay. The palace hosted lots of notable people in the course of history and functions as a museum today.

The Final Word

What can be better than visiting a lot of attractive locations at your pace? At every place, you have the option to hop off the boat, wander around and start your trip from there. This site seeing boat is an excellent opportunity to see many places on a budget.