Princes' Islands Guided Boat Tour to Heybeliada and Buyukada

Leaving the old city: the trip across the Sea of Marmara

The boat casts off from the waterfront of the old city at Eminönü, beside the ferry piers and the Galata Bridge, and heads out past the tip of the historic peninsula. For the first twenty minutes you have the finest possible view of Istanbul from the water: Topkapı Palace on its point, the domes of Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque, the Maiden's Tower at the mouth of the Bosphorus and the ferries crossing to Kadıköy and Üsküdar. The guide uses this stretch to tell the story of the islands, which the Byzantines used as a place of exile for princes and emperors, hence their name.

The crossing to the first island takes about ninety minutes along the Asian shore, past Kadıköy, Bostancı and the smaller islands of Kınalıada and Burgazada. The boat has indoor seating, an open deck and Wi-Fi, and the Sea of Marmara is usually calm, though people prone to seasickness should take their usual precautions.

Heybeliada

Heybeliada, the second-largest island, is where the boat first ties up, and you have an hour of free time. The harbour village is a cluster of wooden houses with bay windows, a few cafés and a bakery, and from the pier a lane leads up into pine forest that covers most of the island. On the hill above the harbour stands the nineteenth-century naval school, and higher still, on the Hill of Hope, the old theological school with its famous library, visible through the trees. The island is car-free, so the only sounds are bicycles, the small electric buses and birds in the pines.

An hour is enough for a walk along the shore to the picnic grounds, a tea on the quay or a look at the old wooden mansions behind the harbour. Our Istanbul team suggests buying a simit or a pastry here, since lunch comes later on Büyükada and all food on the islands is halal, as everywhere in Turkey.

Büyükada with your guide

A fifteen-minute crossing brings you to Büyükada, the largest and most famous of the Princes' Islands, where the stop lasts three hours. The guide leads a walk from the pier through the clock-tower square and up the main street, lined with ornate wooden villas built in the late Ottoman period by Istanbul's wealthy families as summer houses, with carved balconies, gardens of bougainvillea and views between the trees to the sea. You hear about the island's famous summer residents, its old hotel that was once the largest wooden building in Europe, and the monastery of St George on the island's highest hill, a pilgrimage site for people of all faiths every April.

The walk explains how to use the rest of your time: where the bike rental shops are, where the electric buses leave from, and which lanes lead to the best viewpoints and swimming coves on the far side of the island.

Free time on Büyükada

After the guided walk you have the rest of the three hours to yourself. Many guests rent a bicycle and ride the loop road around the island, a gentle ride of about an hour past pine woods, villas and the cliffs of the southern shore; others take the electric bus to the foot of the monastery hill and climb the steep path to the top for the view over the whole archipelago to the city. In summer, the swim spots and beach clubs on the western and southern shores charge an entry fee at your own expense and give you an hour of clear water.

For lunch, the fish restaurants along the quay and the cafés of the main street serve halal food, from grilled fish and meze to ice cream in the island's famous flavours; prices are a little higher than in the city, as on all the islands. Be back at the pier at the time the guide gives you, since the boat cannot wait.

The return trip and practical tips

The boat leaves Büyükada in the late afternoon for the two-hour return along the Asian shore, slower than the morning crossing so that you can rest on deck, enjoy the sunset light on the Istanbul skyline and arrive at the old city pier in the early evening. Tea and soft drinks are sold on board at your own expense. The whole Princes' Islands day trip from Istanbul takes about eight hours door to door, which makes it one of the easiest ways to escape the city for a day without a hotel change or a long drive.

Spring and early autumn are the best times to visit the Princes' Islands: the mimosa and Judas trees bloom in March and April, the sea is warm enough for swimming from June to September, and September light is the loveliest for photographs. Weekends are busy with local day-trippers, so a weekday departure is quieter.