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Istanbul Princes Island Tour: Full-Day Excursion with Lunch and Hotel Transfers
4.0
145 Ratings
Fatih
Escape the hustle and bustle of Istanbul on a full-day excursion to the picturesque Princes Islands. Cruise past iconic landmarks, learn about the islands’ history, and enjoy free time to explore at your own pace.
Escape the hustle and bustle of Istanbul on a full-day excursion to the picturesque Princes Islands. Cruise past iconic landmarks, learn about the islands’ history, and enjoy free time to explore at your own pace.
Duration:
7 hours
Cancellation:
24 hours
Highlights
- Istanbul - The Prince Island Tour begins during the morning from the city centre of Istanbul. Minibus will pick you up from your hotel and drive you to Ahırkapı, where you will meet our boat.
- Heybeliada - When you arrive at the Golden Horn, you will enter in a comfortable ferry boat and enjoy 1 hour journey towards the first stop of the…
- Istanbul - The Prince Island Tour begins during the morning from the city centre of Istanbul. Minibus will pick you up from your hotel and drive you to Ahırkapı, where you will meet our boat.
- Heybeliada - When you arrive at the Golden Horn, you will enter in a comfortable ferry boat and enjoy 1 hour journey towards the first stop of the schedule. Do not miss the chance to snap some photos while you are on the ferry boat.
- Heybeliada - Heybeliada or Halki is the closest island to the shore and the second largest of the Princess Islands. Since the very first moments, the beauty of the natural setting will capture your attention. Blue waters surround the island which is full of intense greenery. Beautiful houses, charming streets and welcoming people are the island’s main characteristics. As you walk around, the tour guide will take you to visit some important sites such as the Theological School, the Beth Yaakov Synagogue, a monastery, and a church.
- Buyukada - When you finish the island’s exploration, you will enter the ferry boat again. On the boat, a lunch break will take place which includes an open buffet. Take your time to enjoy some typical recipes and relax before reaching the next island.
- Buyukada - Buyukada is the largest and most famous islands of all. This is because it seems to have a flawless charm in every season of the year. During your time there, the tour guide will take you to explore the charming streets which are full of imposing and picturesque houses. The island has also some sites of great importance such as the Clock Tower, Aya Yorgi Church, and the Greek Orphanage.
- Istanbul - By the end of your exploration, the ferry boat will take you back to the pier. From there, a car will transfer you to your place of accommodation during the afternoon.
What's Included
- Transportation by air-conditioned bus
- Hotel pickup and drop-off from the European side and city center
- Entrance fees to islands
- Lunch
- English Speaking Staff
- Boat trip
- Transportation by air-conditioned bus
- Hotel pickup and drop-off from the European side and city center
- Entrance fees to islands
- Lunch
- English Speaking Staff
- Boat trip
What's Not Included
- Drinks
- Drinks
Additional Information
Princess Island Tour offers a chance to break away from the bustling city center and explore the alluring Princess Islands. Experience the tranquil environment, soak in the peaceful ambiance, engage with the indigenous people, and forge unforgettable moments.
t Escape the hectic urban life and the throngs of Istanbul for a day-long journey to the Princes…
Princess Island Tour offers a chance to break away from the bustling city center and explore the alluring Princess Islands. Experience the tranquil environment, soak in the peaceful ambiance, engage with the indigenous people, and forge unforgettable moments.
t Escape the hectic urban life and the throngs of Istanbul for a day-long journey to the Princes Islands.
Get a scenic cruise past landmarks such as Topkapi Palace, Galata Tower, and Maiden’s Tower, then sail over to the isles of Heybeliada and Buyukada.
Discover the history of the Byzantine Empire’s nobility who once used these islands as a retreat, as you roam around the islands.
Relish the independence to wander at will, enjoying the shores and antiquated sites in your own time before you head back to Istanbul.
- Bike rental and Electric Buggy ticket (available to purchase on the attraction)
Location
Ahırkapı İskelesi
We will inform you with more details and one of our guides will welcome you.
Cancellation Policy
For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.
For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.
Customer Ratings
4.0
(145 Ratings)
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917ethelm
Jun 11, 2025
Worth the money - We had so much fun and the food was great.We were both picked up from our hotel and though we have to wait for some passengers but the van was comfortable.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Wayne_b
Sep 11, 2025
Good value trip to beautiful islands - Nice break from the city, good value for money trip to scenic and peaceful islands. Good quality lunch included.
Review provided by Viator
Tvrtko
Aug 1, 2025
Nice break from busy Istanbul - It was interesting to see the new place like princess islands after few days in busy istanbul streets. However, it wasn't a top notch experience due to a few things we didn't like:
1. Boat was late and we were waiting for 30 minutes on the pier
2. The music was too loud. There were people of all ages but it seemed as we are all group of teenagers in late hours.
3. The bus for pickup was old and lacking air condition.
We later realised there is a normal ferry to the islands so if you want to spend all day there without the stress of running to boat at exact time, don't book tours like this but go by ferry and organise your time as you wish. We had 2 hours and 45 minutes of free time on Bukuyada which is too tight to fully explore and relax.
The best part was a ride back and enjoying a view and marvelling at how big Istanbul really is.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Stephanie
Jul 6, 2025
Read the inclusions carefully - After boarding the ferry the tour leader went on to explain some finer points. In the Incusions section, it states that pick up and drop off at your hotel is included. It then goes on to state that a bus with AC is included. You are then informed by the tour leader that the bus tour of the main island will cost an extra 400 TL. This is not stated in the inclusion/ exclusion section, so not exactly upfront I thought...
To add insult to injury, after disembarking, you walk some distance and are taken into a leatherworking shop, not on the itinerary, to watch a 'free' fashion show and check out the stock and make purchases if you like whilst waiting for a bus to become available for your return trip home.
Talk about a captive audience. An extra hour was added after disembarking. This too was not in the itinerary.
The lunch was very ordinary and no tea or coffee was offered at any stage of the trip (except for purchase).
VERY TRICKSY.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Mdrashedul_h
Jul 5, 2025
It’s better to go by yourself rather than the package - Firstly I never received pickup and drop off from my hotel I had to walk for pickup and for drop off I was dropped 15 minutes from the hotel.
Secondly the tour itself was 50$ , so at the boat they say they will offer a bus service for 400 lira however it was just to take upto the hill to a restaurant where probably they have setup previously and the original cost of bus it 50-80 lira to go and come back.
The food provided was very basic 3 items, even that is a buffet you cannot have such food more than once. The boat ride was nice , serene and nice breeze over the sea. However loud music was not very pleasent.
In the end they took us to an apparel factory and store so that people buys expensive cloths, which was really unnecessary and waste of time.
I forgot my cap on the bus while I was returning, I messaged them however they did not return it.
Overall not recommended. It’s better to take a ferry to the island your self and go with that.
Review provided by Viator
Megan_w
Jun 17, 2025
It felt pretty... - It felt pretty unorganized - we were told pick up at one time and then when waiting said it would be much later. The DJ on the boat was great. Only got about 40 minutes on one of the islands but really brought the rating down was they were making everyone go to a leather factory before bringing back to the hotel which was not mentioned in the original itinerary on Viator. We weren’t up for a high pressure sales pitch so we ended up just walking a mile up hill to our hotel. Islands are cute towns however.
Review provided by Viator
Yilmaw2017
Sep 26, 2025
Not a good experience - This was poorly organized. The pick up was very late than the promised time, the tour guide in the bus didnt speak English (or didnt want to spoeak English) and in genral, I dont recommend this tour for English speaking tourists.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Roulak766
Aug 12, 2025
Not worth it - This Princes Island tour is not one I would recommend. While advertised as English speaking you only get basic messages in English no information about the islands that are visited. This means that when you arrive at the island you have no idea what you’re visiting, what is worth seeing or any other information. The 3 islands we visited all looked interesting & locals were very friendly. However when something is advertised as a tour you do expect there to be some touring information. This tour was more like a ferry service with a meal provided. Also the air conditioned bus to take you to & from the hotel to pier is old, air conditioning is very suspect and some of the seats are damaged. On the boat the staff play music so loud that if cancels out any ocean noise and ability to have a conversation. Also no safety briefing was provided & given the diversity of people on the boat in terms of differing languages, ages some quite young at least pointing out where life jackets were & what to do in an emergency would have been reassuring. The lunch was good, chicken, rice pasta & salad. Given the rest of the trip I would have preferred to not pay for that & be able to eat on the island at one of the local eateries & support the local population. All in all go on local ferries rather than choose a tour, or at least this tour. Also the trip finishes at a leather factory. While I don’t have an issue in visiting local industries there is no mention of this in the advertising materials that this would occur. Given the overall length of the day already tacking this on at the end does not appear to benefit either party, the tourist or the manufacturer. It got even worse on the return trip to the hotel with the buses not being on time, no one knowing when they were arriving, people getting on wrong buses and a family of 5 with a young baby being left behind at the leather factory while staff attempted to work out how to get them back. Not sure how long that took as our bus eventually left. The level of disorganisation in this group is marked, they desperately need a good logistics manager and an actual tour guide.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
629heshamm
Aug 3, 2025
FALSE INFORMATION - no hotel pickup - No hotel pickup even I’m in the mentioned area “European side of Istanbul”, they refused the pickup before trip by 6 hours.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Nidhi_r
Jun 7, 2025
Avoid the princes islands - Please don’t waste your time on this. The island is cute but very very crowded and looks nothing like the features picture. The ferry is not great and the whole excursion was pretty poorly organised. We were picked up an hour before time even though the pier was 6 minutes away from our hotel. The van that picked us up drove by our hotel 2 times after picking us up and even went out of its way to pick up a family that was NOT part of the tour. There was no guide as such to tell us anything and everything was so poorly managed that we chose to come back from the first island to Istanbul by taking a public ferry rather than go to the second island.
June is very very crowded and it’s bloody hot. Avoid it.
Review provided by Viator
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