Istanbul Two Continents Tour By Bus And Bosphorus Cruise
Recommended by 97% of travelers
Badge of Excellence
Istanbul, Turkey
- 10 hours (approx.)
- Pickup offered
- Mobile ticket
- Offered in: English
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Overview
What's Included
- Coffee and/or TeaFree Tea & Nescafe On boat
- Air-conditioned vehicle
- Free WiFi On Boat
- LunchQuality Turkish lunch with a soft drink.
- All Fees and Taxes
- Palace Entrance fee
- Cable Car Ticket
- Personal Expenses
- Tips
Meeting and Pickup
Pickup points
Select a pickup point
Pickup details
Please contact the tour provider via WhatsApp for the exact pickup time one day before the activity starts.
Operating hours.8:15 am
Itinerary
1
Camlica Hill
30 minutes • Admission Ticket Included
2
CamlIca Mosque
1 hour • Admission Ticket Included
3
Beylerbeyi Palace
1 hour • Admission Ticket Included
Bosphorus Bridge (Pass By)
4
Eyup Sultan Mosque
2 hours • Admission Ticket Included
5
Pierre Loti
45 minutes • Admission Ticket Included
Bosphorus Strait (Pass By)
Additional Info
- Confirmation will be received at time of booking
- Not wheelchair accessible
- Near public transportation
- Most travelers can participate
- This tour/activity will have a maximum of 20 travelers
Supplied by
Cancellation Policy
You can cancel up to 24 hours in advance of the experience for a full refund.
Traveler Photos
Reviews
4.8
based on 557 reviews
Sort by: Most insightful
Valerie_M, Jun 2026
This made for a wonderful introduction to the geography of the city, with views from major and obscure landmarks on both sides of the Bosphorus. The 2 hour evening cruise off the Bosphorus was a perfect conclusion.
I hesitate to recommend the tour because its goals could have been accomplished in less than the full day that was allotted. Some of the stops, while maybe not unnecessary, were unnecessarily long and in the end, we were early for the cruise boat and sat waiting for an hour. If Viator offers this same itinerary in a half day format, I would heartily recommend it
Helen_M, Apr 2026
Overall a great tour! There was a small hick up in communication about our pickup time for the tour. Everything was well organized, guide was nice and knowledgeable. Lunch which was included in the tour was surprisenely good! Attentive staff, would recommend the tour!
Luan_L, Apr 2026
Word of mouth or reference . Drivers are punctual. Tour operators are very professional . Tour guides are very knowledgeable to the locations.
Tamas_S, Apr 2026
There are several reasons for my 3 star rating on this tour:
1. The guide (Batuhan) was great, he deserves a 5 star rating. He handled my complaints patiently and professionally and was a friendly and knowledgeable guide during the tour.
2. The tour page advertises the start time at 8:30. This is not actually true, this was more like the time to meet at the bus. The tour actually started at 9:00.
3. I set my hotel address as the pickup point and I expected to be picked up from my hotel. This wasn't the case. A day before the tour, they told me that my hotel is "outside of their hotel pickup area" and I have to make my own way to their meeting point. I found this unfair since the tour page has nothing to say about that and I was able to select my hotel from the dropdown without issues. They should either give information about that prior to the tour on their tour page or pick up the participants from their hotels instead of just sending them a meeting point. I found this behavior very unfair and deducted 1 star for this.
4. On the tour page here on Viator, the duration is written as "10 hours (approx)". This is also not true. So this tour consists of 2 parts:
- a 10 hour bus tour: 9:00 - 19:00
- a 2 hour boat cruise: 19:00 - 21:00
Effectively making the tour duration a total of 12 hours. Had I known this information beforehand, I wouldn't have booked this tour. The number 1 reason I booked this one out of a hundred other tours is because I wanted to participate in the boat cruise and the advertised start time (8:30) and duration (10 hours) were perfect for me.
Unfortunately I wasn't able to participate in the boat cruise, because I had a very early flight the next day and obviously I had to make my own way back to the hotel after the tour and get some sleep. I requested a partial refund for the missed 2 hour boat cruise that was included in the total price I paid but the tour company refused to refund me saying it doesn't have a separate price and it's just a gift from their company so it is actually free and can't be refunded. Who believes stuff like that? Everything's free after you paid the total price right?
I was very mad at how the tour operator handled the situation with false advertising of the start time, duration of the tour, hotel pickups and that I wasn't able to participate in the boat cruise because of their false advertising. And to top it all, they refused to partially refund me for the missed experience that I had to miss because of their fault.
If it wasn't for the amazing guide (Batuhan), I'd deduct 2 more stars but I decided to only deduct 1 and I gave a final 3 star rating for the entire experience since the bus tour was great.
I hope my experience will help other travelers to decide if this is the right tour for them.
Response from Host, May 2026
Thank you for your detailed feedback. First, we truly appreciate your kind words about Batuhan. We’re very happy to hear that you enjoyed the bus tour and that our guide handled everything professionally.
However, we would like to clarify several important points regarding the information provided on the tour page.
The tour description clearly states that this experience includes:
• a full-day Two Continents bus tour, and
• a separate 2-hour Bosphorus cruise at the end of the day.
The bus tour operates during daytime hours, while the cruise is the evening continuation of the program. The “10 hours approx.” mentioned on the platform refers to the main land tour timing, while activity durations on OTA platforms can sometimes be displayed differently depending on the provider’s system formatting.
Regarding the start time, 08:30 is the official meeting/pickup time, which is standard for group tours worldwide. Since guests are collected from different locations, the actual sightseeing portion naturally begins later, once all participants are onboard.
For hotel pickup, we offer complimentary transfer service only for selected central areas. Unfortunately, some hotels located outside operational zones cannot be served directly by bus due to traffic restrictions, narrow streets, or distance. This is why alternative nearby meeting points are occasionally provided. The fact that a hotel appears in a platform dropdown does not always mean direct doorstep pickup is guaranteed, as these systems are managed by third-party booking platforms.
Concerning the Bosphorus cruise: the cruise was fully operating as scheduled and available to all participants. Missing it due to personal travel arrangements or an early flight does not mean the service was canceled or unavailable. For this reason, partial refunds are not applicable.
We nevertheless appreciate your feedback and are glad that, despite your frustrations, you still enjoyed the overall experience, especially the work of our guide. Your comments help future travelers better understand the structure and timing of full-day combined tours in Istanbul.
Ramon_C, Mar 2026
We have the privilege to have Ziena as a tour guide, she is a very talented, knowledgeable and experienced young lady, she went out of her to explain every aspect of the tour. The tour was great, but the tour guide made one of the best tours we had ever have. We strongly recommend the tour and the great guide.
Max_G, Feb 2026
The service and the guide were top-notch! We had a lovely tour, a day to remember! Definitely we can recommend the experience, to first time or returning visitors in Istanbul.
Scott_H, Dec 2025
Fantastic experience. Great value. Will definitely recommend. The guides were outstanding. Drivers were polite and professional
Andrew_K, Nov 2025
Overall a good tour with amazing visit to the largest mosque in Turkey and to one of the Palaces. Tour took longer overall than anticipated with pick up and transfer to main bus taking nearly and hour. Boat tour was a total of 2.5 hours when accounting for the time the boat had to wait to get a space to dock...allow 11-12 hours for this tour if you have to be picked up from your hotel.
Cristal_P, Nov 2025
The tour was great. Tbe bus was comfortable and our tour guide on the tour was informative and helpful.
Rocco_M, Nov 2025
Excellent tour! Very comprehensive to give you a nice taste of Istanbul. Pickup was efficient. The tour guide was very knowledgeable and even helpful in taking pictures. The authentic Turkish lunch was so good and I left very full! I also liked the free time we had in each place. For everything you get, the price is extremely reasonable. I recommend this tour very much.
Robert_L, Nov 2025
We had a very good day. Our tour guide was very knowledgeable about everything. We toured the Asian and then the European side of the country, and if you wanted to see the two countries we would highly recommend this tour.
Madhusudana_I, Oct 2025
It was with a nice group of people of different ages and cultures. The tour guide is extremely fluent in English and highly knowledgeable on the historically important places of Istanbul. My wife and I fully enjoyed the tour. Congratulations to the team of the tour!
Panna_S, Oct 2025
Excellent Tour. Hotel pick up was great. Very professional & in time. Bus driver was very patient in traffic.
Isla_S, Oct 2025
Magnificent tour with fantastic well informed guide. So many sights with great history for each shared knowledgeably. Amazing 4course lunch provided. Transport very comfortable.
Definitely recommend, with a 10/10
Peggy_H, Oct 2025
It was very nice to have someone that would explain things to us and take their time and answer questions when we had them. We saw many things and learned a lot.
Brigitte_B, Sep 2025
A very interesting day, and a very dedicated guide, Gustavo.
The 3 travelers I made friends with and I all agreed that it should have been less of Çamlıca mosque ( though beautiful) and esp. less of Beylerbey palace, while we would have enjoyed a lot more of Balat, with a guided walk there : it deserved it.
The lunch was nice & abundant.
Kevin_G, Aug 2025
Great look at a variety of places in both the Asia and Europe side of city. Learned a lot and was able to see things I would not have sought out otherwise. The one issue was on the boat, I could not hear any of the announcements when sitting on top side.
Karen_C, Aug 2025
Tour guide was amazing! He was very informative and friendly. We enjoyed our tour. Only complaint was that on the boat tour we could not hear very well.
ruth_m, Jul 2025
This was an excellent experience and excellent value. The boat ride was 2hrs, we were taken to multiple places including markets, palaces, mosques churches. The food at lunch was delicious and I could not possibly eat it all. If you could you could just ask for more.
The one down side was the transfers they tried to pick me up at 810 not 830 so I was rushed and left my sunscreen at the hotel. When they dropped me back if was on the other side of a 6 lane road which was hectic - no way was I crossing so I had to walk 10 minutes to lights at 930 at night as the tour had finished late. As a single woman in a foreign country I did not feel very safe with this.
Dana_T, Jul 2025
It was good tour and our guide was great, but we spent too much time at each stop, which made for a long day.
MariaC_K, Jun 2025
If you prefer a tour with a guide giving you just a high level overview of the sights and let's you go wander independently for longer than normal then this is the right tour for you. I was expecting the tour guide to provide a balance, maybe providing more detail, interesting facts and perhaps her insight to Turkish culture based on the places we visited. It was fairly organized, we were taken to all the places listed but we seemed to be waiting and wandering a lot too. They put the English, Spanish and Russian groups in one bus. I could tell the Spanish guide was providing more insights to his group, granted they were smaller like 6 people but we were 11. Our English guide was nice and personable but I was hoping she would've "guided" us more especially in Balat. She was helpful but at a bare minimum. When they dropped is off for the Bospherous cruise, we waited for 40 minutes then the boat was super full and we couldn't hear the audio guide clearly. The drivers were fine except when I was taken back to my hotel, the driver picked up 2 guys who rode in the front along the way before I was dropped off. It made me feel uncomfortable since the driver did not say anything to me about the 2 guys in the car. Overall, the tour was not what I expected.
Response from Host, Jun 2025
Thank you very much for your detailed and honest feedback. We're genuinely sorry that the tour didn't fully meet your expectations, and we appreciate the opportunity to clarify a few points:
First, regarding the guide experience, we understand your expectation for deeper cultural insights, especially in areas like Balat. While our guides aim to provide a general overview and allow time for independent exploration, we will closely work with our team to ensure that all guests, regardless of group size or language, receive a consistently engaging and informative experience.
About the language groups: sometimes, due to operational logistics, English, Spanish, and Russian groups may share the same bus, but they are assigned separate guides. We apologize if it felt unequal in terms of the level of detail, and we'll follow up with our team to ensure a better balance and quality across all language services.
Concerning the Bosphorus cruise, we're sorry you had to wait. Occasionally, there may be a short delay between the land tour and boat boarding due to scheduling alignment, but we do our best to minimize it. The cruise can be crowded during peak times, and onboard speaker quality may vary depending on the seating arrangement. That's why we provide a free online audio guide in multiple languages via your phone — no app needed. Instructions are posted on the board, and our team is happy to assist with the setup.
Regarding transportation, we'd like to clarify that all transfers are shared, not private. For this reason, it's normal that other passengers may join or be dropped off along the way. While the driver doesn't need to inform each traveler about this, we understand it can feel confusing or uncomfortable if not expected. We'll look into making this more transparent in the tour description to avoid surprises.
Once again, thank you for taking the time to share your experience. Your feedback helps us improve, and we hope we'll have the opportunity to provide you with a better experience in the future.
Pablo_B, Jun 2025
Thank you very much for all the treatment. The excursion was excellent and the guide Israel was wonderful.
Elisa_S, May 2025
It is a full day in which you will see a lot of Istanbul. Is a very nice tour and completely full of places to see. Food and plenty of time in between to shop. We enjoyed very much
Maosheng_C, May 2025
It was an absolutely informative tour visiting so many nice places. Our tour guider Burak gave us quite good descriptions for each places and recommendations for the places for the drinks. Lunch was also a nice one. Last activity was the cruise tour. It was a very nice one seeing both Asia and European sides. Highly recommend this tour for people with limited time.
Andres_I, Mar 2025
It is a fun tour, and many sites are visited, which could take a week if you are doing it on your own. The tour guide was excellent and the planning from one site to the other was well done. You will get the site's history and then some time to be on your own and do what you want.
Rita_R, Mar 2025
The itinerary is amazing as you get to see many highlights of Istanbul outside of the regular tourist area of Sultanahmet where the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia is located as the store skips that entire area. But that is where it ends based on my days experience.
However, we had the worst guide in my opinion. I have been traveling for decades and I’ve used Viator over 10 years. Never have I taken a tour where the guide was so disappointing. It was a blistering cold, rainy, and windy day.(never take this tour under these weather conditions). He provided us no explanations, significance of the points of interest we were visiting or an overview of the Turkish history and at the locations that we went he offered very little. Both the driver and the guide were heavy smokers. We had a small bus and every time I got in this cigarette smoke odor was difficult to get rid of. The guy did not care whether we were comfortable or if there was anything he could do to make the day enjoyable. In the Balat , he left to our devices and told us we could get back to the bus after one and a half hour without even waiting.
The driver came to pick me up at 9 AM which was 45 minutes later than what I was told. I had to reach out to Viator, where they responded their inability to get in touch with the tour operator. After several WhatsApp messages to the tour operator, I was finally told that a driver was on the way to pick me up.The store which ended at 9 PM could easily end at 6 PM. The amount of time in between points of interest are unnecessarily long and it seemed more in line with their smoking habits. Made us wait for 90 minutes before we could get on the boat trip without any explanation. The place where we had lunch under best of circumstances could be called a roadside eatery inside a bustling market
Viator should reconsider whether this particular Sea & Land Agency should be allowed to be on their platform
The only reason I’m giving it to two and not one is because I thought the itinerary was good and that is where it began and ended. I would not use this particular tour operator as I’m sure there are others that offer the same.
Response from Host, Mar 2025
Thank you for your feedback, and we sincerely apologize for the disappointing experience you had. We understand how crucial it is to provide not only a well-planned itinerary but also high-quality service. The issues you raised regarding the guide's lack of engagement, the smoking, and the timing delays are absolutely concerning, and we take them seriously. We will address these points with the team to ensure that future guests have a much more enjoyable and informative experience. Your comments about the itinerary are appreciated, and we’re glad it was one of the highlights of your day. We genuinely hope we have the opportunity to serve you better in the future.
thank you.
Marcela_S, Mar 2025
It was a full day, plenty of walking, even if the rhythm seemed to be slow. Murat was our guide, he was really nice and knowledgeable. We saw a lot, learned a lot. It was a great day! If you spend few days in Istanbul and you don't want to waste time finding out which places are best to see beside the most touristic attractions, or which means of transport you need, this is the trip for you! We loved it!
Marion_N, Jan 2025
We were picked up on time. Tour was interesting, went to a good variety of places. Tour guide was knowledgeable and spoke very clearly. We didn’t do the cruise as we had done it the day before. Tour was good value for money, never felt rushed and would highly recommend.
Barry_Y, Jul 2024
The pickup at the hotel was late. The guide is not knowledgeable of the sites visited. This is more of a bus ride to the sites with very limited amount of talks by the guide. I am not getting much information of the sites visited from the guide. I could have done this using a hop on hop off bus.
Response from Host, Jul 2024
Hello dear traveler. Please understand that this is a shared tour, and pickup may be delayed due to traffic or because another traveler needs to be picked up before you. Our tour guides are certified by the Turkish Ministry of Tourism and are professionals in their field. We apologize if our tour did not meet your expectations. Thank you for your feedback.
Bertram_A, May 2024
Good service,excellent guides.
Well look after.Guide with excellent knowledge of the places we visited
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