GetYourGuide, Headout or Tiqets: where to book a Bosphorus cruise

GetYourGuide vs Headout vs Tiqets is not a contest of prices: for the same boat, all three usually charge the same supplier price. What really separates them on a Bosphorus cruise is how much choice they carry, whether you can cancel, and whether they tell you who runs the boat. On those three points GetYourGuide wins for most travelers, Headout needs a careful look at each listing, and Tiqets is a useful specialist. The counts on this page were taken on 16 October and move daily.

Choice and reviews: who sells what

On the day we counted, the live feeds held 157 Bosphorus cruises on GetYourGuide, 29 on Headout and 22 on Tiqets (two of them unavailable). Reviews are even more lopsided: about 158,000 on GetYourGuide cruises, about 19,000 on Headout and 323 on Tiqets.

The single most-reviewed product in all three catalogues is a GetYourGuide dinner cruise, the Mega Lüfer dinner cruise with private table, with more than 75,000 reviews. Headout's leaders are a yacht sightseeing cruise (4,300 reviews) and a dinner cruise with private table (4,065). Tiqets' best-reviewed Istanbul cruise has 80.

GetYourGuide also covers niches the others skip: New Year's Eve cruises are a GetYourGuide-only market (about 15 listings from $166 to $550), and it lists 32 private yachts against Headout's two and Tiqets' one. See the cruises hub for every type and the best cruise ranking for the leaders by reviews.

Same boat, same price, three logos

Many Istanbul suppliers sell through all three platforms at one euro price, which each platform converts to your currency. Examples we matched:

So choose by cancellation terms and reviews, not by a few cents. Where Tiqets wins on price, it is because a supplier lists a cheaper variant there: Velena Travel's €120 Black Sea cruises against €150 for the standard one (see the Black Sea cruise guide). Where Tiqets loses, it can lose heavily: its 2-hour private yacht was the dearest of the three platforms with no reviews (private yacht guide).

For dinner cruises with a private table, GetYourGuide and Headout sit at the same level and Tiqets is a few dollars higher; the operators may differ, so compare pier and inclusions.

Cancellation and paying later: the real difference

GetYourGuide offers free cancellation up to 24 hours before on most listings, plus "reserve now, pay later", which holds a seat without charging your card (both are described in its app listing). That is the most forgiving set-up for a cruise that depends on wind and on your plans.

Headout sets the rule per listing. Most of its dinner cruises cancel free up to 24 hours before, a few transfer products need 48 hours, one afternoon cruise allows 2 hours. But these cannot be cancelled or rescheduled at all: its yacht sightseeing cruise (Headout's number one by reviews), its sightseeing cruise with optional audio guide, the Princes' Islands ferry, the Golden Horn bus, the private yacht with swim stops, a Büyükada e-bike tour and five ticket+cruise combos (Galata Tower, Basilica Cistern, Dolmabahçe with dinner). Book now, pay later appears only on refundable listings.

Tiqets also sets the rule per product: free until 2 hours before on the Eminönü boat tickets, 11–15 hours on most Black Sea and Velena products, 24 hours on most others, and never on three products (an all-inclusive dinner, a Princes' Islands day tour and a Hagia Sophia + cruise combo). Refunds can be requested until 28 days after the ticket date, and if a supplier cannot deliver your ticket within 48 hours, the order is refunded in full. We found no pay-later option.

Who runs your boat: supplier names

This is Tiqets' strong point. Every Tiqets product prints the legal supplier at the bottom: Bosphorus Tour by Velena Travel, SeaLand Trip, Travelpedia, Cosmic Tickets, Cogito Istanbul and others. You know who you are dealing with before you pay. Two warnings: Tiqets' "Istanbul Yacht Tours" or "Istanbul Dinner Cruises" headings are category names, not companies; and the three Mega Lüfer listings on Tiqets are a 2-hour daytime sightseeing cruise from Balat resold from Klook, not the famous dinner cruise (see our Mega Lüfer review).

GetYourGuide shows an "activity provider" line on the product page but not in its search cards, and many big Bosphorus listings have generic titles. Before paying, open the listing and check the provider, the meeting point and the boat name. Its Originals label means a product designed by GetYourGuide and run by a local partner (Originals review).

Headout shows no operator line at all; at best the boarding point names a kiosk. Several of its ticket+cruise combos turn out to use the Dentur Avrasya ferry from Kabataş.

Reviews: three different counting systems

• Tiqets accepts reviews only from customers who bought a ticket for that product, publishes them immediately and says it does not pay for reviews.
• GetYourGuide marks reviews from verified bookings and moderates them before they appear.
• Headout advertises "verified reviews from real travellers"; whether its totals include ratings imported from elsewhere is not stated.

So 4,300 reviews on Headout and 4,336 on GetYourGuide are not like-for-like, and 80 on Tiqets is a small but strict sample.

Languages, currency and payment

Istanbul suppliers price in euros; the platforms convert to your currency, which is why the same cruise lands on odd dollar figures. Headout accepts the main cards, PayPal, Apple Pay and Google Pay. Tiqets has belonged to Expedia Group since the deal closed in February (Expedia announcement); US customers' payments are collected by an Expedia company, Travelscape LLC.

Which platform for which cruise

Or skip all three: the public ferry tours sell only at the pier, in lira. Our operators hub reviews the companies behind the listings, and how to choose a Bosphorus cruise starts from your budget.

◔ Day or sunset

GetYourGuide2 h⚓ Kabataş

Bosphorus Day/Sunset/Night Sightseeing Cruise & Audio Guide

4.7 (19,877)

from $9Check dates

◐ Daytime

GetYourGuide2 h

Istanbul: Bosphorus Sightseeing Cruise Tour with Audio Guide

4.6 (6,260)

from $8Check dates

☾ Evening

GetYourGuide3 h⚓ Kabataş

Istanbul: Bosphorus Dinner Cruise & Show with Private Table

4.8 (75,584)

from $31Check dates

◐ Daytime

Headout2 h

Bosphorus Yacht Sightseeing Cruise with Soft Drinks & Snacks

4.5 (4,300)

from $26Check dates

☾ Evening

GetYourGuide3 h⚓ Karaköy

Istanbul: Bosphorus Dinner Cruise & Turkish Night Show

4.8 (14,511)

from $29Check dates

◑ Sunset

GetYourGuide2 h

Istanbul Bosphorus Sunset Cruise on Yacht with Live Guide

4.9 (4,096)

from $21Check dates

Prices checked on October 17, 2026