Şile Day Trip from Istanbul: Ağva, Beaches, Bus Route and Prices

A Şile day trip from Istanbul takes you about 70 km north-east to the Black Sea in roughly 1 hour 15 minutes by car, and adding Ağva, 30 km further along the coast, makes a full day of 8 to 10 hours. The cheapest way is İETT bus 139 from Üsküdar to Şile or 139A to Ağva, which takes 2.5 to 3.5 hours each way; the easiest is our Şile beach and pool day trip from $60 per person with hotel transfers in summer, or a private car with driver the rest of the year.

Şile is the closest real seaside town to Istanbul: a striped lighthouse from 1859, a ruined castle on an islet, long sandy beaches and fish restaurants. Ağva is quieter and greener, a village between two rivers with riverside tables and boats. Most visitors from abroad have never heard of either, while Istanbul families have been driving out on summer weekends for decades. Here is how to get there, what to see, when the sea is safe, what it costs, and when a day trip makes more sense than a night.

Is a Şile day trip from Istanbul worth it?

A Şile day trip from Istanbul depends on the month and on how long you are staying. In July and August Şile gives you something the city cannot: a long sandy beach with real waves, cooler air and a day away from the crowds of Sultanahmet. In October and April the beaches are empty, the forests on the road turn colour, and Ağva's riverside restaurants have tables free. In January the town is grey, many beach venues close and a storm can make the coast road slow.

We suggest it as a fourth or fifth day in Istanbul, after the Old City, the Bosphorus and the Asian side. Families with children who are tired of museums get the most from it. Couples who want one quiet day before flying home also like Ağva. If your time is short and you want water, our Princes' Islands full-day tour from $90 is closer and easier.

How to get from Istanbul to Şile and Ağva

There are four realistic ways, and the choice changes the day more than the destination.

By public bus

İETT, the city bus company, runs line 139 from Üsküdar to Şile and line 139A from Üsküdar to Ağva. Both are paid with an İstanbulkart. Habertürk's transport guide puts the 139A at around 3 to 3.5 hours each way because it follows the old road through the villages, with departures roughly every two hours, fewer in winter. On summer weekends the buses fill up and people stand. Check the current timetable on the İETT website or app the night before, because the last return bus decides how long you can stay.

From the Old City, add the Marmaray train or the ferry to Üsküdar: about 20 minutes by Marmaray from Sirkeci. A realistic public-transport day is 7 to 8 hours of travel and sightseeing for 3 or 4 hours at the coast.

By car with driver

A private car takes the D010 coast road or the northern motorway and gets to Şile in about 1 hour 15 minutes from Kadıköy or Üsküdar, more from the European side if you cross the bridges at rush hour. Our private car with driver in Istanbul starts at $220 for 8 hours for up to 6 people in a Mercedes Vito, booked as our Mercedes Vito tour with driver. For a route outside the city such as Şile and Ağva we send a written quote for your date, because the distance and the hours depend on where you start and if you add Polonezköy.

By our beach day trip

From June to early September, our Şile beach and pool day trip is the simplest option: round-trip hotel transfers, a full day at a beach club with a pool, sunbeds and an English-speaking assistant, from $60 per person for about 8 hours. Food and drinks are not included and are paid on site. It is a beach day, not a sightseeing tour, so it does not stop at the lighthouse or go to Ağva. More details are on our Black Sea day trip page.

By rental car

Driving yourself works if you are comfortable with Istanbul traffic. Leave the city before 08:00 on weekends, because by 10:00 in summer the roads out of the Asian side are slow. Parking in Şile town is tight in July and August.

What to see in Şile

Şile is small, and you can walk the centre in two hours.

Şile Lighthouse. Built in 1859 and first lit in 1860, the octagonal tower with black and white bands stands 19 m tall on the cliff above the harbour, with a light visible about 37 km out to sea. It is one of the oldest working lighthouses on Turkey's Black Sea coast and still guides ships towards the Bosphorus. Opening for visitors is irregular, so treat the inside as a bonus; the view from the cliff path is the reason to go.

Şile Castle. The ruined tower on Ocaklı islet, just off the harbour, dates back to the Byzantine and Genoese period when Şile was a stop on the Black Sea trade route. You see it from the shore and the cliffs; the islet is not normally open.

Ağlayan Kaya. The "Weeping Rock", a short walk of about 600 m behind the lighthouse, is a rocky cove where water drips from the cliff. Go in calm weather only.

Şile bezi. Şile cloth is a light, crinkled cotton gauze woven in the area for generations and used for summer shirts, dresses and scarves. The shops along the main street sell it by the piece or as finished clothes. It is the one souvenir that is genuinely from here.

The harbour and fish. Small fishing boats still work from the harbour. In autumn and winter the restaurants serve hamsi (Black Sea anchovy), bonito and bluefish; in summer much of the fish comes from elsewhere, so ask what was caught locally.

Şile beaches and swimming safely

Şile has several long sandy beaches within a few kilometres of the centre, including Ayazma near the lighthouse and Kumbaba to the west, plus beach clubs with sunbeds, pools and restaurants. The sand is fine and the water is clean, but the Black Sea is not the Aegean.

The main danger is rip currents. Strong backward currents form on these open beaches, especially with a north wind, and drownings are reported along the Istanbul Black Sea coast almost every summer. Istanbul's municipality and the coastal districts post flag warnings during the season. Our rules for guests are simple:

• Swim only at beaches with lifeguards, and only when the flag allows it.
• Do not swim after a storm or when the waves are breaking far out.
• Keep children in the shallows and within arm's reach.
• If a current pulls you out, swim parallel to the shore, not against it.

The sea is warm enough for most people from late June to early September. The beach clubs with pools, like the one on our day trip, exist partly because many Istanbul families prefer the pool when the sea is rough.

Ağva: the river village

Ağva sits where two streams, the Göksu and the Yeşilçay, reach the Black Sea, about 30 km east of Şile. The village is the reason many Istanbul people make the trip in spring and autumn rather than in summer.

What to do in Ağva:

• Eat by the river. Restaurants along the Yeşilçay put tables on wooden decks over the water. A fish lunch here is the classic Ağva afternoon.
• Take a boat or canoe. Small boats run trips up the Göksu, and pedalos and canoes are rented on the calm water near the mouth.
• Walk. Paths run along both rivers and into the forest; the istanbul.com guide also suggests the villages of Kurfallı and Karamandere, with the small lake Saklı Göl, for longer walks.
• Stay a night. Ağva has dozens of bungalow and riverside hotels. A night here turns the day into a slower weekend.

In autumn the trees along the rivers turn yellow and red, which is when photographers come. On sunny summer weekends the village is very crowded and the one road in can be slow; go on a weekday if you can.

A sample day: Şile and Ağva by private car

This is the route our drivers use for a full day on the coast, for up to 6 people in one car.

1. 08:30 pickup from your hotel on the European side; cross the Bosphorus before the morning traffic peaks.
2. 10:00 Polonezköy, the village founded in 1842 by Polish emigrants, for a Turkish breakfast in a garden (optional, adds about 1 hour).
3. 11:30 Şile: lighthouse, cliff path, castle view and the main street for Şile cloth.
4. 13:30 lunch at the harbour or on to Ağva.
5. 14:30 Ağva: riverside walk, a short boat trip on the Göksu, tea on a deck over the Yeşilçay.
6. 16:30 return drive, about 2 hours depending on the bridges.
7. 18:30 back at your hotel.

In summer, swap the lighthouse and Ağva for four hours on the beach, or simply book the $60 beach day trip.

What a Şile day trip costs

A Şile day trip from Istanbul can cost almost nothing or a few hundred dollars, depending on how you travel.

Prices vary with season, date and the content of the day; for current prices and a quote for your route, write to us.

Şile versus Sapanca and the Princes' Islands

Visitors who want a day out of the city often compare three trips.

Our Sapanca day trip page and the guide to day trips from Istanbul in winter cover the alternatives in detail, and Istanbul day trips compared sets out all fourteen options.

Travelling from abroad

Most of the guests who ask us about Şile are families from the Gulf, Iraq and Iran in summer, and Europeans on longer city breaks. Citizens of Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and Oman enter Turkey visa-free for tourism; British, German and most EU visitors are visa-free for up to 90 days in 180; US and Canadian citizens have been visa-free for up to 90 days since a decree published on 23 December 2023. Iraqi visitors need a visa in most cases, with rules that vary by age. Check the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs site before you book. Gulf families should know that the beach clubs in Şile are mixed and that modest swimwear is common and accepted; Ağva's riverside restaurants are relaxed family places. For more ideas, see all our Istanbul tours.

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