Quote:
Originally Posted by no_joke
Sorry Chris, amongst the plethora of information out there I can't figure out the difference between the ferries (or is it sea buses?) that depart from Karakoy and Eminonu. If one only had time to do one round trip between the European and Asian sides, what would you recommend for departure stations/ports?
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The one we took from the European side was from
Karakoy (north side of the Galata bridge) over to
Kadikoy.
(find
Karakoy on the Google map above, and then look South-East on the map, across the river to find
Kadikoy).
It's only a short walk across the bridge to the other European station, which is called
Eminonu. I'm not sure exactly where leaving from
Eminonu gets you to on the Asian side, they might even have ferries to
Kadikoy as well.
UPDATE: Looking on TurkeyTravelPlanner, it looks like you can get from Eminonu to Kadikoy as well...
http://www.turkeytravelplanner.com/g...inonu_dox.html
As far as I know,
Eminonu is the 'major' ferry station in Istanbul, with ferries to practically everywhere you'd want to go. But like I say, we just left from
Karakoy, and I think there's ferries every 20 minutes, so it's nothing that requires any real advance planning. Just show up and head on over. It's practically like a shuttle bus in Istanbul.
At the end of the day, I think you just want to get to
Kadikoy (which seems to be the 'place to be' on the Asian side), from either
Eminonu or
Karakoy, both of which are right across from each other on the Galata bridge, and both of which have plenty of ferries that leave every 20 minutes. Just choose whichever one is more convenient for you to depart from.
Just look for the crowd of locals lining up to get on the official government run ferry. It's a big boat, you can't miss it. Head to the back, top deck, for the best views. Don't get fooled/pressured into taking one of the expensive private cruises.
The other thing you can do is take a 2.5 hour 'short bosphorus' cruise for something like 10 lira (5 dollars). It doesn't go to the Asian side, it takes you up and down the Bosphorus. There's an all day Bosphorus one too, but apparently that's a bit long for some people.We wanted to do the short one, but it only leaves once a day, at 2:30 from
Eminonu, here's the official timetable:
http://sehirhatlari.com.tr/en/timeta...ruise-363.html
Some info on going up and down the Bosphorus:
http://www.wittistanbul.com/magazine...e-in-istanbul/
Oh and if anyone wants to ride in the third oldest passenger terminal in the world, check out the Tunel, which is near the Karakoy station (it's a little tricky to find). It opened in 1875 and is a one-stop funicular that saves a *lot* of steep walking up to Istiklal street from the bridge.
http://www.istanbultrails.com/2009/0...-in-the-world/
At the top of the one-stop funicular you'll hit Istiklal street, where you can also jump on a tram to take it from one end of Istiklal to the other. It's a bit of an experience, especially at night-time (especially on a weekend). Try to imagine a tram running straight through the crowds on the Red Mile in 2004, with a constantly ringing bell to warn people to get out of the way for some idea.
http://www.turkeytravelplanner.com/g...klal_tram.html
All of these things, the ferry, the trams, the funicular, can be accessed with an IETT card. Anyone heading to Istanbul, I would recommend buying one right when you get there, just for the convenience. The card has a 7 lira deposit, and then you just need to find somewhere to add credits to the card (25 lira worth was enough for 4 days of all transportation for two of us). And then no matter what form of public transport you're taking, you just touch the card to the reader when you get on, and it will withdraw the appropriate amount.