questions about ferries in istanbul
 

i'm having a difficult time finding a website that lists ferry routes / times / stops.

we'll be traveling in early july and staying at the W Hotel, and i was curious as to whether or not we can take regular passenger ferries easily from besiktas and eminonu during the day or late into the evening (after dinner). (or besiktas to/from orkatoy?)

another ferry question involves going from eminonu to kadikoy. we plan to visit the kadikoy historical market and eat at ciya sofressa (sorry about spelling!), and i was wondering if we could walk to the bagdat street area, or need to board another ferry?

also, if we took a ferry to yenikoy for dinner from besiktas, about how long and how much would a cab cost?

thanks so much, in advance, for any insights!
dina

The ferries owned by the city of Istanbul are being reorganised. The car ferries and fast catamarans are run by IDO (www.ido.com.tr) while the passenger ships are now run by Istanbul Sehir Hatlari (www.sehirhatlari.com.tr). There are also ferry services run by several private companies.

Welcome back dina.

the following turkish site gives the winter timetable till June 19th. The summer one may not be very different.

http://www.sehirhatlari.com.tr/en/20...t-m-26-43.html
http://www.sehirhatlari.com.tr/en/20...t-m-26-37.html
(the pier closer to W)

Taxi from yenikoy to W hotel may cost up to 40TL either because of the traffic on the coast road after 9PM or because of the longer (preferred) upper route.

If you take up on my previous recommendation of stopping for drinks (age limit! 18) at Sortie or Reina, taxi from yenikoy will be about 30-35TL

There are frequent municipality and smaller private enterprise ferries from besiktas to Kadikoy (the main pier on the left) and back. Every 20 or 30 minutes.

You will need to get to the main street by walking to the right of Ciya to take a taxi to Saskinbakkal (pronounced shushkaenbuckkaal) and then walk back towards Kadikoy. Bagdat street is about six kilometers lonk and the busiest part is the two to three kilometers from Saskinbakkal.

Oh, thanks to both of you!

Other Chelebi -- a few question (no suprise)...

I am trying to read the table... just to make sure i'm reading this right...
-- it looks like the last ferry from bestikas to yenikoy leaves at 18:25?
-- it also looks like you can't get an afternoon ferry to eminonu from besiktas (only morning ferries and one in the early evening)

do the ferries tend to run later in the summer evenings, since the sun doesn't set until 8ish?
i seem to have read so much about people taking ferries at dusk to see the sunset over the city...

also.. <<You will need to get to the main street by walking to the right of Ciya to take a taxi to Saskinbakkal (pronounced shushkaenbuckkaal) and then walk back towards Kadikoy. Bagdat street is about six kilometers lonk and the busiest part is the two to three kilometers from Saskinbakkal.>>
--"main street" are you speaking about bagdat street or the historical market here. i'm thinking we will skip bagdat street and try to just explore the kadikoy area. then take a ferry back to bekistas.

lastly,
when we take a taxi back from yenikoy... should we ask for the longer route? why is it preferred? (and is it still preferred in the dark?)

thanks so much,
dina

All the ferries except listed as different are commuter ferries and follow movements of people who work on one side of the Bosphorus and live on the other side. so daylight has nothing to do with the schedules.

there is lots of traffic between eminonu or besiktas and Kadikoy, so those ferries are very frequent and run until 112PM or so. However, you can get the smaller ferry lines running 24 hours from and to besiktas from and to uskudar and possibly Kadikoy.

The main street near Ciya is not Bagdat.

You will need a taxi to get to the Tuesday market as well.

The coast road on the Bosphorus gets packed from 7PM to 2AM because of all the restaurants and clubs and fun places frequented by all the locals who prefer to drive.

okay, that's great news about the ferries.

so coming back from yenikoy, it will be faster/cheaper or just less frustrating on the higher (preferred) road. how long would the cab ride back actually be?? are we talking about 30 min or over an hour?

we are used to traffic, in L.A., but it's nice to know what to expect...

thanks so much.
hope i'm not driving you crazy with questions!

dina

others including the immediate family have already driven me crazy. you're just augmenting. Why else am i doing this instead of reviewing the new commercial Law, or preparing my speech for the coming lecture or preparing for this semester's class, or thinking about the deal i am working on between a hospital group and an insurance company, or joining my wife and his brother in stimulating(?) conversation.

shore road could be 75 minutes or even more especially on a Friday or saturday night. the hill road could be 30-45 minutes.

Another idea is taking a Sea Taxi from Yenikoy pier, which can drop you at Besiktas in 15-20 minutes. Check their web site for sample fares. Unless it also changed hands, you could find it under IDO.

ok, thanks! i really like the water taxi idea. are they quite expensive?


and so glad i'm helping you procrastinate....