Ortaköy pier: the Short Tour pick-up below the mosque and the bridge

Ortaköy pier is a place to look at the Bosphorus more than a place to board a cruise. Every sightseeing, sunset, dinner and night boat passes it, because the Ortaköy Mosque under the 15 July Martyrs Bridge is the classic picture of the strait. The pier itself serves the public Short Tour and a handful of commuter ferries. If you want a dinner cruise or a yacht, the boarding points are at Kabataş or Karaköy.

What leaves from Ortaköy pier

• The Şehir Hatları Short Bosphorus Tour calls at 15:10 after Eminönü and Üsküdar, then sails up the strait without further stops.
• Bosphorus commuter ferries: the zig-zag Bosphorus line calls here, as do Şehir Hatları lines between Eminönü, Beşiktaş and Ortaköy, and between Kadıköy, Üsküdar and Ortaköy.
• Crossings to Üsküdar for 51.81 TL and to Kadıköy for 71.07 TL with an İstanbulkart (the city's rechargeable transport card).
• An evening Dentur sailing from Eminönü to Bebek calls here on its way up the shore.

What does not leave from here: we found no dinner cruise boarding at Ortaköy on any operator's site, and no shared sunset yacht that names it as its pier. Some listings show a map point in this area, but the boarding point on the voucher is usually Kabataş, Karaköy or Bebek. Commuter sailings are few and mostly at rush hour, so check the board at the pier.

The Short Tour from Ortaköy

The municipal Short Tour (Kısa Boğaz Turu) is the cheapest way to board a full sightseeing loop at Ortaköy:

• 14:40 from Eminönü, 14:55 Üsküdar, 15:10 Ortaköy, then non-stop up the strait and back, about 2 hours in all.
• 340 TL for foreign visitors, 170 TL for Turkish citizens, 85 TL for children under 12, free under 7.
• An extra sailing leaves Eminönü at 16:45 on public holidays.

These are the winter times. Şehir Hatları's site is often hard to load, so check sehirhatlari.istanbul or ask at the pier on the day, including whether the Ortaköy booth sells tour tickets. Boarding here saves you the trip down to Eminönü, but the best seats on the open deck may already be taken by the time the boat reaches Ortaköy.

Is it the right tour? Compared with Dentur's 75-minute loop from Beşiktaş pier, one stop south (250 TL, last departure 17:55), the Short Tour is longer and runs once a day. Dentur turns at the Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge; the Short Tour's turning point is not published. For the whole strait up to the Black Sea mouth you need the Long Tour from Eminönü or Beşiktaş. See Şehir Hatları and the public ferry guide.

The Ortaköy Mosque and the bridge view

The Ortaköy Mosque, officially the Büyük Mecidiye Camii, stands on the waterfront just south of the bridge. It was built for Sultan Abdülmecid I by the architects Garabet and Nikoğos Balyan and completed in the mid-1850s, and reopened after a long restoration. It is an active mosque: entry is free outside the five daily prayers, with modest dress.

The 15 July Martyrs Bridge (15 Temmuz Şehitler Köprüsü), the first Bosphorus bridge, opened in 1973 between Ortaköy and Beylerbeyi on the Asian side. Every cruise passes under it. The classic photo, the mosque with the bridge behind, works from the square by the pier or from a boat heading north.

On the water, the European shore is on your left going north. Sit on the left on the way up and you pass Çırağan, then the mosque, then the bridge. In June and July the sun sets roughly behind the European end of the bridge, so from the water south of it a summer sunset puts the bridge tower and the Ortaköy hill in silhouette. See landmarks seen from the water and the sunset cruise guide.

Seeing Ortaköy from a cruise

You do not need to board at Ortaköy to see it. Every cruise from Eminönü, Kabataş or Karaköy reaches Ortaköy within the first stretch of the trip, and the lit mosque and bridge are the highlight of the night cruises. The cheapest way to see them after dark without paying for a dinner show is a night cruise without dinner, from about $11. See night cruises.

Dinner boats pass Ortaköy too. They cruise the lower strait between the Old City and the bridges, which puts the mosque and the lit bridge in view for much of the evening. See the dinner cruise guide.

A few full-day Bosphorus tours sold on Tiqets, starting from Taksim, list Ortaköy as a stop on land. Check the day-by-day stops in the listing, since some sights in these itineraries depend on the day of the week.

New Year's Eve at Ortaköy

Fireworks have been held at Ortaköy in recent years, with crowds on the square watching them over the bridge and the strait. The plan for the coming New Year's Eve is announced in late December, and nothing is guaranteed until then. Expect the square to be packed. If you would rather watch from the water, the New Year's Eve dinner cruises are sold on GetYourGuide only; see New Year's Eve cruises.

Getting to and from Ortaköy

There is no tram or metro at the pier. By water, the easiest arrival is the ferry from Üsküdar (51.81 TL), or the Short Tour itself. On the European side, Beşiktaş pier is one stop south, and Kabataş, where the T1 tram and the F1 funicular end, is beyond that.

Hotel pick-ups for cruises do not stop at Ortaköy as a pier; they collect from central hotels and drive to Kabataş or Karaköy. If you are staying here and want a dinner cruise, ask the operator whether your hotel is on the pick-up list. For an overview of every landing, see the pier overview and Üsküdar pier.

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