Full-Day Bosphorus Cruise and Ottoman Palaces

Overview

Full-day Istanbul tour with lunch: a Bosphorus cruise past Ortakoy and Rumeli Fortress, the Spice Bazaar, and the Ottoman palaces of Dolmabahce and Yildiz.

This full-day tour brings together Istanbul's two great themes, the Bosphorus and the Ottoman palaces. After an 08:00 hotel pick-up you start at the Spice Bazaar, cruise the strait past Ciragan, Ortakoy and Rumeli Fortress, and stop for lunch before touring Dolmabahce Palace and Yildiz Palace. It is an easy way to see the city's waterfront and royal heritage in a single day.

Visit the magnificent palace of the Ottoman sultans, Dolmabahce, built in the mid-19th century by Sultan Abdulmecid, with 56 columns and a huge 750-bulb crystal chandelier weighing 4.5 tons; it has an impressive 600 m frontage on the Bosphorus, and Ataturk, the founder of the Turkish Republic, died here in 1938. Then visit the Yildiz Palace, which was built over a long period and finally completed by Abdulhamid II at the end of the 19th century. A traditional excursion by boat along the waterway separating Europe and Asia: the shore is lined with old wooden villas, palaces of marble, fortresses and small fishing villages. Spice Bazaar (Egyptian Bazaar): the air here is filled with the enticing aromas of cinnamon, caraway, saffron, mint, thyme and every other conceivable herb and spice. Rumeli Fortress: built by Mehmet the Conqueror in 1452 prior to the conquest of Istanbul and completed in only four months to control and protect the Bosphorus, it is one of the most beautiful works of military architecture anywhere in the world.

Price: 75 USD per person. Children aged 0-3 join free of charge and children aged 4-12 receive a 25% discount.