Boat and Ferry Travel

Ferries provide the quickest, most pleasant way to get to Bursa or İznik from Istanbul. İDO ferries operate daily between Istanbul's Yenikapı terminal and ports in Yalova and Bursa. The Yalova fast ferries accommodate vehicles and run more frequently, approximately every two hours between 7:30 am and 9:30 pm in summer, with fewer departures in winter; the journey takes just over an hour and costs about 15 TL to 20 TL each way for walk-on passengers and around 60 TL to 125 TL for a car including a driver and one passenger. Ferries from Yenikapı to Bursa (Güzelyalı port) take about an hour and a half and cost somewhat more; some are fast car ferries, while others are passenger-only sea buses. (Check the latest times and fares at www.ido.com.tr/en.) İDO also operates ferries daily between Yenikapı and Bandırma (two hours), a good point from which to make your way to Çanakkale, Assos, or Ayvalık.

If you're traveling without a vehicle, you can also take a BUDO sea bus from Istanbul's Kabataş terminal to Bursa (Mudanya port). Sea buses operate about every two hours between early morning and midevening in summer, and less frequently in winter. Tickets cost about 25 TL each way. (Check budo.burulas.com.tr for fares and schedules.)