Asian side of Istanbul by ferry: Üsküdar, Kadıköy and Çamlıca

An Asian side tour of Istanbul starts with the simplest boat ride in the city: the commuter ferry across the Bosphorus (Boğaz in Turkish). Şehir Hatları, Turyol and Dentur Avrasya all cross from the European piers to Üsküdar and Kadıköy, from every few minutes at peak to every half hour, and they charge the same İstanbulkart fare on the same route. Nobody on the boat cares if you came with a guide.

What a guide adds is the walking part: the mosques and lanes of Üsküdar and Kuzguncuk, the market streets of Kadıköy, the hill of Çamlıca. Our view: cross on your own for Üsküdar's waterfront and the Salacak sunset, which cost nothing beyond the fare; book a guided food tour if you want Kadıköy explained bite by bite; and take a full-day "Eurasia" tour only if you want Çamlıca Tower and the Asian shore in one day without working out buses.

Ferry to the Asian side: which pier, what it costs

Istanbul prices its ferries by route, not by company. The municipality (İBB) set the current tariff on 20 July 2026, and the same fare applies on Şehir Hatları, Turyol and Dentur boats doing the same crossing:

Which pier to use depends on where you sleep. From Sultanahmet or Sirkeci, walk or take the T1 tram to Eminönü. From Taksim, ride the F1 funicular down to Kabataş. Beşiktaş–Üsküdar is the cheapest crossing. Each European pier has several separate landings run by different companies, so read the destination board above the turnstile rather than following the crowd; the Kadıköy pier guide and the Üsküdar pier guide show which boats land where.

How to pay: an İstanbulkart (the city transport card, which you can call "the card" at any kiosk) costs 165 TL and gives the fares above. A contactless bank card tapped at the turnstile also works, but it is charged as two passes, 120 TL per ferry ride, about double. There is no cash on board, children under 7 ride free, and fares double between 00:30 and 05:30. The tourist "İstanbul City Card" is a different, pass-limited product. Current fares and limits are on istanbulkart.istanbul.

The Marmaray rail line runs under the strait between Sirkeci and Üsküdar. Keep it in mind for winter: when the lodos (the south-west gale) blows, exposed ferry lines are cancelled. On 3 January 2026 the cancellations included Eminönü–Üsküdar and Kadıköy–Üsküdar–Ortaköy. A tunnel does not care about wind.

Üsküdar: mosques, the waterfront and the Salacak sunset

Üsküdar is the more traditional of the two Asian districts and the easiest half day. The Mihrimah Sultan Mosque, built in 1548 by Mimar Sinan for Süleyman's daughter Mihrimah, stands right by the pier. Şemsi Pasha Mosque (1580) sits on the shore, small enough to take in from the promenade. The Atik Valide Mosque (1583, also Sinan), the Ayazma Mosque (1760) and the modern Şakirin Mosque complete the set if you like Ottoman architecture. Visits pause around prayer times, and modest dress is expected.

Walk south along the promenade past the fish market and the anglers to Salacak. This is where locals sit on the steps with a glass of tea at sunset, facing the Maiden's Tower (Kız Kulesi) about 200 m offshore and the Old City skyline beyond it. It costs nothing. In December the sun drops behind the Topkapı and Hagia Sophia skyline; in mid-October it sets behind Süleymaniye; in June and July it sets far to the right, behind the hills of Beyoğlu.

The Maiden's Tower boats leave from the Salacak visitor centre about every 30 minutes, 09:30–17:00, with the last boat back at 17:45. The boat is 110 TL and entry €27; the Museum Pass covers entry but not the boat. Times and rules are on kizkulesi.gov.tr. The same shore is the launch point for the canoe trip around the Maiden's Tower, which is $30 booked direct with the operator, has no places for under-16s and keeps you about 50 minutes on the water.

Kadıköy: the market, Çiya, Moda and the murals

Kadıköy is livelier and younger: cafés, bookshop-cafés, bars and boutiques start the moment you leave the pier. Ferries into Kadıköy pass the old Haydarpaşa station. Five minutes from the landing, the Çarşı (the market lanes around the fish market) is where most food tours end. It is also home to Çiya, three separate restaurants a few metres apart; Çiya Sofrası is the one with the counter of regional home cooking.

North of the market, the Yeldeğirmeni streets carry the large murals painted for the Mural İstanbul street-art festival since 2012. South of it is Moda, reached on foot or by the T3 nostalgic tram from Kadıköy; vintage shops line Recaizade Sokak. Kadıköy is also the Asian-side terminus of the M4 metro to Sabiha Gökçen airport, which makes it a sensible last afternoon if you fly out from there.

If food is the point of crossing, read the food tour with ferry guide: the evening Kadıköy tours have hundreds of reviews, unlike the walking tours below.

Çamlıca Tower and Çamlıca Mosque: price and how to visit

The two landmarks on the Çamlıca hills are often confused, and they are not on the same hill.

Çamlıca Tower opened on 29 May 2021. It is 369 m tall and its top stands 587 m above sea level, the tallest structure in Istanbul. The observation terraces on floors 33–34 are fully enclosed, so think glass, not open air. The official booking page sells the terrace for 900 TL to non-citizens (Turkish citizens pay 390 TL). Visits run in 1.5-hour slots, waits can reach an hour at peak times, and tickets are valid only on the day you buy them. Tripods, big lenses, binoculars, suitcases, travel backpacks, bottles and pets are not allowed; there is a cloakroom after security. A café on floor 39 needs no booking; the restaurant on floor 40 does. Check opening times and buy at camlicakule.istanbul.

The platform tickets above are resold entries, priced in dollars and from $19 to $39 today. The Tiqets one adds tea or Turkish coffee in the café but does not promise a seat. The Headout ticket has no reviews yet. Since the slots are timed anyway, "skip-the-line" means little here; buy wherever cancellation suits you.

Grand Çamlıca Mosque (Büyük Çamlıca Camii) opened for worship in 2019: six minarets, room for 63,000 worshippers and a Museum of Islamic Civilisations in the complex. Entry is free. Most "two continents" day tours stop here and not at the tower, so check the itinerary if the tower view is the reason you are booking.

Beylerbeyi, Kuzguncuk and the shore north of Üsküdar

North of Üsküdar the Asian shore runs past Kuzguncuk, a small waterside neighborhood that most guided walks pair with Üsküdar, to Beylerbeyi Palace, built in 1861–1865 for Sultan Abdülaziz by the architect Sarkis Balyan, right beside the Asian foot of the 15 July Martyrs Bridge. Entry is 800 TL (gardens only 100 TL), the ticket office is open 09:00–17:00, and the palace is closed on Mondays. A free audio guide comes with the ticket, and phone photos without flash are allowed inside. Details are on millisaraylar.gov.tr.

No regular Bosphorus cruise lands at Beylerbeyi; get there by bus or taxi along the shore from Üsküdar. If you want to photograph its façade from the water, take an afternoon cruise: the afternoon light falls on the Asian palaces.

Further north, Çengelköy and Kanlıca are villages you mostly see from a boat. Kanlıca is the one place where shared cruises actually stop (next section), and the public Long Tour calls there too; see the Bosphorus landmarks guide for what lines the shore.

Asian side tours: guided walk, full day or on your own

The honest weakness of the guided walks is volume: the best of them have 14 to 43 reviews, against hundreds for the Kadıköy food tours. Our ranking:

Asian side tours worth booking

1

One day, everything

Nine hours with the ferry crossing, Çamlıca Tower and lunch, 4.9 from 43 reviews. Remember the tower ticket alone is 900 TL at the gate.

◐ Daytime

GetYourGuideFull day

Istanbul: Eurasia Tour with Camlica Tower, Ferry Ride, Lunch

4.9 (43)

from $40Check dates

2

A half day in Üsküdar and Kuzguncuk

A 3-hour guided walk on the quieter shore, 4.7 from 31 reviews.

◐ Daytime

GetYourGuide3 h

Istanbul Asian Side Tour: Hidden Gems

4.7 (31)

from $40Check dates

3

Üsküdar, Kuzguncuk and Kadıköy

3.5–4 hours, small group or private, 4.9 but only 14 reviews so far.

◐ Daytime

GetYourGuide3.5 h

Istanbul: Asian Side Tour with Ferry Ride

4.9 (14)

from $40Check dates

4

Short and cheap

A 90-minute walk with the ferry ride; the same price on all three platforms, 4.3 from 261 reviews.

◐ Daytime

GetYourGuide1.5 h

Istanbul: Asian Side Walking Tour with Ferry Ride

4.3 (261)

from $28Check dates

Two listings need a second look before you pay. The Üsküdar and Kadıköy tour with lunch shows "from $561" because it is priced at a private-tour level, not per person in a group. The private car tour (from $153, 4.2 from 6 reviews) adds Beylerbeyi Palace, Çamlıca Mosque and Kadıköy, but it is a car day, not a ferry day. One Kadıköy walk resold on Tiqets covers only the outbound ferry; the return is on you, in lira, whatever its page says about euros.

Cruises with an Asian-side stop

If you mainly want to be on the water and set foot in Asia for half an hour, a yacht cruise with a stop does that in about 2–2.5 hours. On every listing that names the stop, it is Kanlıca, for 30 minutes: you can buy the local yoghurt with powdered sugar at your own cost at the waterfront café. One listing offers Beylerbeyi instead; that only makes sense on a day the palace is open (not Mondays), and check how long the stop is and whether the 800 TL entry is included. Reviewers regularly call the stop short. Full details are in the yacht cruise with Asian side stop guide.

A comparable cruise sells on GetYourGuide and Headout for nearly the same price today; check the boarding pier and the cancellation terms on each, since boat and times can differ. The $11 "day cruise with optional Asian side stop" is a big shared tour boat, not a yacht, and the place of the stop is not published.

◐ Daytime

GetYourGuide2 h

Istanbul: Bosphorus Yacht Cruise & Visit to the Asian Side

4.9 (1,503)

from $22Check dates

◐ Daytime

GetYourGuide2 h

Istanbul: Bosphorus Yacht Cruise with Stopover on Asian Side

4.9 (978)

from $45Check dates

◔ Day or sunset

GetYourGuide2 h

Istanbul: Morning or Sunset Cruise with Guide and Snacks

4.5 (96)

from $51Check dates

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

A do-it-yourself day on the Asian side

This is the order we would follow on a clear day, to end with the sunset at Salacak:

On a Monday, skip Beylerbeyi (closed). In summer, swap the order and do Çamlıca in the morning: sunset is after 20:00 in June and July.

Practical: pick-ups, weather and staying on the Asian side

• Pick-ups run from central European-side hotels only. None of the cruise or tour listings collects from Kadıköy, Üsküdar or airport hotels. If you stay on the Asian side, take the ferry to the meeting point, and allow for the crossing.
• Prayer times and dress. Mosque visits pause around prayers, and modest dress is expected.
• Winter weather. Lodos gales (worst in December) cancel exposed ferry lines; Marmaray is the fallback. Fog is usually a morning problem.
• Bayram holidays. On the religious holidays ferries and Asian-side waterfronts are packed with local visitors.
• Wheelchair access on ferries is patchy; ask at the booth before you go through the turnstile.
• Princes' Islands. Kadıköy has its own island ferries, so an Asian-side stay pairs well with the Princes' Islands by ferry.

For the bigger picture of what runs on the strait, see the public ferry guide and the Istanbul tours overview.