Asian Side Istanbul Tour: Kadıköy, Üsküdar and Çamlıca in One Day

An Asian side Istanbul tour takes one full day, starts with a 20-minute ferry that costs 65.21 lira from Eminönü to Kadıköy (Şehir Hatları fare with an Istanbulkart since 20 July 2026), and covers Kadıköy, Üsküdar, Çamlıca Hill and the Bosphorus villages beyond. Most visitors to Istanbul never cross, which is the main reason to go: the Asian side is where a large share of the city's 15.7 million people live, shop and eat, and it looks very little like Sultanahmet.

One correction before you plan. Several tour listings still describe the Maiden's Tower as a café. It reopened in May 2023 as a museum after a long restoration, and foreign visitors now pay €27 for entry, with the shuttle boat charged separately. Plan it as a sight with a ticket, not as a coffee stop.

Why take an Asian side Istanbul tour at all?

Istanbul's European side holds the postcard sights. Hagia Sophia, Topkapı, the Grand Bazaar and the Blue Mosque all sit within a 15-minute walk of each other on the historic peninsula, and on a busy October morning they are shared with tens of thousands of other visitors. Cross the water and the ratio flips. In Kadıköy market or on the Üsküdar waterfront, almost everyone around you lives there. If you are still unsure where the line runs, our explainer is Istanbul in Europe or Asia covers the districts, airports and bridges.

That is the honest pitch for the Asian shore. It has fewer famous monuments, but better food for the money, the best view of the European skyline, and the feel of a working city rather than a museum district. It also suits second-time visitors who have already done the Old City and want a different day.

It is not for everyone. If you have only two days in Istanbul, spend them on the historic peninsula and a Bosphorus cruise first. The Asian side rewards a third or fourth day, or a traveller who has been before.

How to get to the Asian side of Istanbul

The ferry is the classic way, and the crossing itself is part of the trip. Şehir Hatları boats run from Eminönü, Karaköy and Beşiktaş to Kadıköy and Üsküdar from early morning until close to midnight. The Eminönü to Kadıköy crossing takes about 20 minutes, and you pass the mouth of the Golden Horn, Topkapı's sea walls and the Maiden's Tower on the way. Private companies such as Turyol run the same routes on smaller boats, and every boat takes the Istanbulkart.

The fastest way is the Marmaray rail tunnel. Trains from Sirkeci reach Üsküdar in about four minutes, 60 metres below the Bosphorus. It is useful when the wind is strong or when you are carrying luggage, but you see nothing.

By car, the 15 July Martyrs Bridge and the Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge both carry heavy traffic. From Sultanahmet to Kadıköy by taxi takes 25 minutes at 10:00 on a Sunday and well over an hour at 18:00 on a weekday. The Eurasia Tunnel under the sea is quicker but charges a car toll.

Fares are the full Istanbulkart prices that the city council raised by 10 percent on 20 July 2026. Single-use cards cost more, so buy an Istanbulkart at the first machine you see. Our guide to getting from Sultanahmet to Taksim explains how the card and the transfer discounts work.

Kadıköy: the market, Moda and the street food

Step off the ferry in Kadıköy and walk up past the bull statue into the Kadıköy market streets around Güneşlibahçe Sokak. This is the best food market in the city for daily shopping: fishmongers with turbot and bluefish on ice, pickle shops selling the juice by the glass, cheese and olive counters, and small lokantas serving stews from steel trays. Çiya Sofrası, the Anatolian kitchen that put Kadıköy on the food map, still serves dishes you rarely see on the European side.

From the market it is a 15-minute walk south to Moda. The tea gardens at the end of the promenade look across the Sea of Marmara toward the Princes' Islands, and on a clear evening the Old City's minarets line up on the horizon. Moda's streets are full of small bars, record shops and bookshops; in the evening the district has one of the city's busiest nightlife scenes, which our Istanbul nightlife guide covers bar by bar.

Back near the pier, Haydarpaşa station stands on the water with its German-built towers. Trains have not left from here since 2013, and the building is still under restoration; a terminal, an exhibition space and an archaeological park are planned. You can photograph it from the ferry, but do not expect to go inside yet.

On Tuesdays, the Salı Pazarı in Hasanpaşa fills a covered site a short ride inland with clothes, textiles, household goods and produce. It is chaotic, cheap and authentically local; leave valuables at the hotel.

Üsküdar: Sinan's mosques and the Maiden's Tower

Üsküdar is older and more conservative than Kadıköy, and it has the better monuments. Opposite the ferry pier stands the Mihrimah Sultan Mosque, built by the architect Mimar Sinan for Suleiman the Magnificent's daughter in the 1540s. A few minutes south along the water, the small Şemsi Pasha Mosque, also by Sinan, sits right at the edge of the Bosphorus and is one of the most photographed corners of the shore. Üsküdar is also where the buses to the Black Sea leave from, covered in our Şile day trip from Istanbul guide.

Walk on along the Salacak promenade and the Maiden's Tower appears a few hundred metres offshore. The tower has stood on its rock in some form since Byzantine times and served as a lighthouse, quarantine station and customs post. Since the restoration it is a museum with exhibits on its history and a viewing balcony; entry is €27 for foreign visitors in 2026, and shuttle boats leave from Salacak, with the fare paid separately at the pier. If the ticket feels steep, the view of the tower from the Salacak tea gardens at sunset costs the price of a glass of tea.

North of the centre, Kuzguncuk is a quiet village of wooden houses, where a mosque, a synagogue and Greek and Armenian churches stand within a few hundred metres of each other. Turkish television series use its streets constantly, so you may walk into a film crew on a weekday.

Çamlıca Hill and Turkey's largest mosque

Çamlıca Hill rises about 260 metres above Üsküdar and gives the widest view of Istanbul: both bridges, the old peninsula, the Sea of Marmara and, on clear winter days, the mountains behind Bursa. The hill has tea gardens and pine woods and is a weekend picnic spot for local families.

On the neighbouring summit stands the Grand Çamlıca Mosque, opened in 2019 and the largest mosque in Turkey, with room for about 63,000 worshippers and six minarets. Entry is free. Tourists are asked to wait outside during the five daily prayers and dress as in any mosque: shoulders and knees covered, headscarf for women. Below the courtyard there is a museum of Islamic art and a library. Opinions on the architecture are divided, but the scale alone is worth seeing.

Çamlıca is not on a convenient ferry or metro line. From Üsküdar a taxi takes 15 to 20 minutes, and this is where a private car or a guide with a vehicle saves a lot of time.

Beylerbeyi Palace and the Bosphorus villages

Along the Asian shore north of the 15 July Martyrs Bridge stands Beylerbeyi Palace, the Ottoman summer palace finished in 1865. It is smaller and calmer than Dolmabahçe, with marble pools, Bohemian crystal chandeliers and rooms that hosted visiting royalty, including the French Empress Eugénie. It is run by the National Palaces administration and is closed on Mondays; the Museum Pass is not valid, and tickets are bought at the gate in lira.

Further up the shore the villages get greener. Çengelköy is known for its cucumbers and waterfront breakfasts, Kandilli and Anadoluhisarı have wooden yalı mansions and a small 14th-century fortress, and Kanlıca is famous for thick yoghurt served with powdered sugar at the ferry landing. Just above the Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge, Otağtepe Park gives a view straight down the Bosphorus.

None of these villages is far apart, but public buses along the coast road are slow. Doing them by car with photo stops, then catching a ferry back from Üsküdar at sunset, is the most efficient plan.

Sample one-day Asian side itinerary

This is the Asian side Istanbul tour route our guides use most often for a private day that starts from a hotel in Sultanahmet. It works best from Tuesday to Sunday, when Beylerbeyi Palace is open.

1. 09:00 Ferry from Eminönü to Kadıköy, tea on the open deck.
2. 09:30–11:30 Kadıköy market, a short walk through Moda, a simit or a fish sandwich.
3. 11:45 Car to Üsküdar, Mihrimah Sultan and Şemsi Pasha mosques.
4. 13:00 Lunch in Üsküdar or Kuzguncuk, usually a lokanta or a kebab house.
5. 14:15 Çamlıca Hill and the Grand Çamlıca Mosque.
6. 15:30 Beylerbeyi Palace, then along the shore to Kanlıca for yoghurt.
7. 17:30 Salacak at sunset with the Maiden's Tower, ferry back to Eminönü or Beşiktaş.

On your own with ferries and taxis, the same day is possible but tiring, and Çamlıca plus the villages are the parts most people drop. If you only have half a day, do Kadıköy and Üsküdar by ferry and leave the rest.

Asian side Istanbul tour with a guide: our options and prices

We do not sell a fixed group tour of the Asian side, because the best version depends on the day, the traffic and what you have already seen. Instead, our private Istanbul guided tour costs from $199 per group for seven hours, and the guide builds the Asian-side route above around your interests. Add our private Mercedes Vito with driver, from $220 per group for eight hours and up to six people, and Çamlıca, Beylerbeyi and the villages stop being a logistical problem.

Entrance fees, ferry fares and meals are not included in either price. Prices change with the season and group size, so message us for the current price on your date.

If you would rather see the Asian shore from the water, our Bosphorus lunch cruise with hotel pick-up passes Beylerbeyi Palace, Çengelköy and Anadoluhisarı in three hours, from $75 per person. Many guests do the cruise on one day and the land route on another. All our city options are listed on the Istanbul tours page.

European side or Asian side: where should you stay?

For a first trip of three or four days, stay on the European side, in Sultanahmet, Sirkeci, Karaköy or around Taksim. The main sights are walkable or a short tram ride away, and you lose no time on ferries. The Asian side makes sense for longer stays, for repeat visitors, and for anyone flying into Sabiha Gökçen Airport, which lies on the Asian side about 40 minutes by road from Kadıköy without traffic.

Kadıköy and Moda hotels are generally cheaper than Sultanahmet for the same standard, and the evening food scene is better. The trade-off is a ferry ride of 20 minutes or more each time you visit the Old City, and the last boats of the night. Our comparison of IST and SAW airports shows which airport suits which part of the city.

Travelling from abroad

Most visitors who reach the Asian side arrive through Istanbul's two airports. US and UK citizens do not need a visa for tourist stays of up to 90 days in any 180-day period, according to the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs as of October 2026. Indian passport holders need a visa or an e-visa in most cases, and Gulf nationals such as Saudi and Emirati citizens enter visa-free for short stays. AJet and Pegasus fly from Sabiha Gökçen to the Gulf and Europe, so if your flight leaves from SAW, an Asian-side day on your last day saves a long airport transfer.

Frequently Asked Questions