Swimming near Istanbul: Black Sea beaches, swim-stop cruises and the Bosphorus race

Swimming in the Bosphorus itself is not an option on a normal day. The strait is an international shipping lane, and the surface current at the narrows can reach several knots. Tour boats do not stop for a swim anywhere between the Old City and the bridges. Swimming near Istanbul means three things instead: a Black Sea beach at the northern end, a lunch cruise with a swim stop off Poyrazköy at the mouth of the strait, or a boat trip to a cove near the Princes' Islands in the Sea of Marmara.

Swim-stop cruises: Black Sea lunch cruises

The full-Bosphorus lunch cruises sail up the strait to its Black Sea mouth, and some of them anchor off Poyrazköy, on the Asian shore by the third bridge, for a swim off the boat. It is a summer extra, weather and daily bans permitting. For the cruise itself (route, lunch, timings), see our Black Sea cruise guide.

What the listings promise:

• Headout 11971 "Bosphorus & Black Sea 2-Course Lunch Cruise with Swimming Opportunity": 4.5 from over 1,900 reviews, by far the most-reviewed. The swim is an "opportunity", not a promise.
• Tiqets 976924 (Velena Travel): leaves Kabataş at 12:00, 4.5-hour cruise, lunch of grilled chicken, meze, fruit and soft drinks, and a swim at Poyrazköy. Rumeli Hisarı entry and hotel pick-up are not included.
• Tiqets 976917 (Velena Travel): a 9-hour day from Taksim with an Anadolu Kavağı stop and a swim off the boat near Poyrazköy, but only 3 reviews.
• GetYourGuide 145065: the same kind of lunch cruise to Anadolu Kavağı; its description does not mention swimming, so do not count on it.

The same Black Sea lunch cruise sells on all three platforms. On the day this page was updated, Tiqets (Velena's variant) was cheapest, Headout in the middle and GetYourGuide dearest. Inclusions differ, so check the swim line on each:

Swim boats near the Princes' Islands

The other way to swim from a boat is in the Sea of Marmara, in a bay near the islands:

• GetYourGuide 704916, a 7-hour boat trip with a swimming stop "in a peaceful bay near the Princes' Islands", 4.6 from 39 reviews.
• Headout 52098, a swimming yacht to the islands with sandwiches and soft drinks, 5.0 from only 5 reviews.
• GetYourGuide 1270375, an afternoon or group swimming cruise, 4.9 from 39 reviews. Check the listing for where it anchors.

Private yachts with swim stops exist too (GetYourGuide 460360, Headout 43303). Headout 43303 cannot be cancelled. If you only want to swim on the islands, the public ferry and a beach on Büyükada or Burgazada costs much less; see the Princes' Islands guide.

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GetYourGuideFull day

Istanbul: Bosphorus and Black Sea Cruise with Swim Stop

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From Istanbul: Swimming Tour in the Marmara Sea by Boat

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See everything on GetYourGuide →See everything on Headout →See everything on Tiqets →Prices checked on October 17, 2026

Black Sea beaches you can reach by bus

The Black Sea coast north of the city has long sandy beaches, and also the most dangerous water around Istanbul.

Kilyos (European side, Sarıyer): the closest. Take the M2 metro to its last stop, Hacıosman, then İETT bus 151 to Kilyos (about 48 minutes). Uzunya beach sits in a deep natural cove at the tip of the Bosphorus. Solar Beach is the famous beach club, with live music at weekends; even the tourism board says swimming is "low on the list" there. Burç Beach, run by the Boğaziçi University alumni association, is the one for windsurfing and kiteboarding. Jet skis are a beach activity at Kilyos, not on the strait.

Poyrazköy (Asian side, Beykoz): the village at the mouth where the cruises anchor. In summer, İETT runs bus 135 between Poyrazköy and Sultaniye (40 minutes) as a beach line.

Şile and Ağva (Asian Black Sea coast): Şile has Uzunkum, a public beach with big waves and shallow ends for families, and wild coves at Akçakese. Ağva is a riverside village with Kilimli Bay and İmrenli beach. Bus 139A from Üsküdar to Ağva takes about four hours one way, so these are overnight trips, not half-day add-ons. More ideas on our trips page.

İETT lists its summer beach buses on iett.istanbul.

Rip currents and daily swimming bans

How to stay safe, following the coastal engineers' advice:

Daily bans. When the poyraz (the north-easterly wind from the Black Sea) raises waves, the district governors (kaymakamlık) of Şile, Beykoz and Sarıyer ban swimming day by day. On 31 July 2026 Şile banned swimming across the district except in two lifeguard-controlled zones; Şile and Beykoz banned it again on 15–16 August 2026, and Sarıyer temporarily closed Kısırkaya beach in July 2026. Check the day's notices in the Turkish press before you go (example report). Expect cruise swim stops to be dropped on those days too: the swim is always weather-dependent.

When the water is warm enough

Average sea temperatures around Istanbul climb from about 9 °C in February–March to about 25 °C in August. Swim stops run in summer, when the sea is 21–25 °C; September is still warm (about 23 °C), and early October is around 19 °C. The Black Sea beaches run cooler than the city figures.

The one day you can swim the Bosphorus

Once a year the strait closes to shipping for the Bosphorus Cross-Continental Swim, organised by the Turkish National Olympic Committee. Swimmers cover about 6.5 km from Kanlıca on the Asian side to Kuruçeşme on the European side, with the current. It is held on a Sunday in July or August, and recent editions drew around 2,500 swimmers from close to 80 countries. International places have sold out within half an hour in the past, so watch the official site, bogazici.olimpiyat.org.tr, for the application date. The same site sells tour-boat tickets to watch the race.

Other water activities are on our activities page, including the canoe trip by the Maiden's Tower. There are no diving, jet-ski or fishing-boat trips on the strait to book.

Swimming FAQ