Ferries in Istanbul are a mode of public transportation within and surrounding the city of

Istanbul, Turkey Istanbul is the largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With a population over , it is home to 18% of the population of Turkey. Istanbul is among the largest cities in Europe and in th ...

. There are three major ferry operators in the city: the municipally owned

Şehir Hatları Ferries in Istanbul are a Public transport in Istanbul, mode of public transportation within and surrounding the city of Istanbul, Istanbul, Turkey. There are three major ferry operators in the city: the municipally owned Şehir Hatları ("City Li ...

("City Lines"), which operates traditional ''vapurs''; the privately operated ''İstanbul Deniz Otobüsleri'' (

İDO İDO Istanbul Fast Ferries Co. Inc. (, meaning ''Istanbul Sea Buses'') was founded in 1987 by the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality. Originally established with a fleet of 10 seabuses built by the Kvaerner Fjellstrand shipyard of Norway, the İ ...

) ("İstanbul Sea Busses"), which operates high-speed urban and intercity services, and the privately owned Turyol which operates mostly urban services.

Ferry operators

Şehir Hatları

The city's largest and oldest ferry operator is the municipally owned Şehir Hatları ("City Lines"). Founded in 1851 as the ''Şirket-i Hayriye'' (“The Goodwill Company”), Şehir Hatları operates the city's iconic white and orange ferries ''(vapurs''). Şehir Hatları currently operates 30 ferries between 53 piers on 32 lines, serving both sides of the Bosphorus as well as the

Princes' Islands The Princes' Islands (; the word "princes" is plural, because the name means "Islands of the Princes", , ''Pringiponisia''), officially just Adalar (); alternatively the Princes' Archipelago; is an archipelago off the coast of Istanbul, Turkey, ...

. In 2023 Şehir Hatları transported 40 million passengers.

Istanbul Sea Buses (İDO)

Istanbul Sea Buses (İstanbul Deniz Otobusleri,

) runs a combination of

catamaran A catamaran () (informally, a "cat") is a watercraft with two parallel hull (watercraft), hulls of equal size. The wide distance between a catamaran's hulls imparts stability through resistance to rolling and overturning; no ballast is requi ...

-type high-speed ferries and vehicle ferries within Istanbul and across the

Sea of Marmara The Sea of Marmara, also known as the Sea of Marmora or the Marmara Sea, is a small inland sea entirely within the borders of Turkey. It links the Black Sea and the Aegean Sea via the Bosporus and Dardanelles straits, separating Turkey's E ...

to provinces such as

Bursa Bursa () is a city in northwestern Turkey and the administrative center of Bursa Province. The fourth-most populous city in Turkey and second-most populous in the Marmara Region, Bursa is one of the industrial centers of the country. Most of ...

and

Yalova Yalova is a market-gardening town located in northwestern Turkey on the eastern coast of the Sea of Marmara. It is the seat of Yalova Province and Yalova District.Marmara Region.

Turyol

Another smaller private ferry company, Turyol, provides frequent services on routes from

Eminönü Eminönü, historically known as Pérama, is a predominantly commercial waterfront area of Istanbul within the Fatih district near the confluence of the Golden Horn with the southern entrance of the Bosphorus strait and the Sea of Marmara. It is l ...

Kabataş, Beyoğlu Kabataş is a busy waterside area of Beyoğlu municipality on the European shore of the Bosphorus between Karaköy and Beşiktaş in Istanbul, Turkey. It is a major transport interchange served by the T1 tram line to Bağcılar and the funicula ...

and

Karaköy Karaköy (), the modern name for the old Galata, is a commercial quarter in the Beyoğlu district of Istanbul, Turkey, located at the northern part of the Golden Horn mouth on the European side of Bosphorus. Karaköy is one of the oldest and mo ...

to piers at

Üsküdar Üsküdar () is a municipality and district of Istanbul Province, Turkey. Its area is 35 km2, and its population is 524,452 (2022). It is a large and densely populated district on the Anatolian (Asian) shore of the Bosphorus. It is border ...

Haydarpaşa Haydarpaşa is a locality within the Kadıköy and Üsküdar districts on the Asian part of Istanbul, Turkey. Haydarpaşa is named after Ottoman Vizier Haydar Pasha. The place, on the coast of Sea of Marmara, borders to Harem in the northwest and ...

and

Kadıköy Kadıköy () is a municipality and Districts of Turkey, district on the Asian side of Istanbul Province, Istanbul Province, Turkey. Its area is 25 km2, and its population is 467,919 (2023). It is a large and populous area in the Asian si ...

, among others.

History

Boats have traversed the waters of the Bosphorus for millennia and until the opening of the first Bosphorus bridge in 1973, were the only mode of transport between the European and Asian halves of Istanbul. They continue to serve as a key public transport link for many thousands of commuters, tourists and vehicles every day. The first private steam ferries (called ''vapur'' in Turkish), crossed the Bosphorus in 1837. The first ferries were wooden paddle boats and were later replaced by iron and steel screw ships. In 1851, the Şirket-i Hayriye r(literally “The Goodwill Company”, as the Istanbul Ferry Company was originally called) was established by the Ottoman state. The Şirket-i Hayriye, renamed Şehir Hatları in the

early republican period Early may refer to: Places in the United States * Early, Iowa, a city * Early, Texas, a city * Early Branch, a stream in Missouri * Early County, Georgia * Fort Early, Georgia, an early 19th century fort Music * Early B, stage name of Jamaican d ...

. In 1937, Şehir Hatları was nationilized and came under the control of the state-owned Türkiye Denizcilik İşletmeleri (TDİ) (“Turkish Maritime Lines ”). The TDİ was largely privatized in the late 90s and early 2000s and ownership of the Şehir Hatları was transferred to the İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality in March 2006. Several generations of ferries have served the city and many of the earlier ferries were built by the

Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company The Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company, Limited, was a Scottish shipbuilding company in the Govan area on the Clyde in Glasgow. Fairfields, as it is often known, was a major warship builder, turning out many vessels for the Royal Na ...

, Glasgow, Scotland. These white, black and yellow boats have gone on to become iconic in the modern popular culture of the city. One was featured in the James Bond film '' From Russia with Love'', while more recently a new-generation and therefore historically inaccurate ferry appeared momentarily in the 2012 film '' Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy'', which was set in the 1970s. The last steam-powered ferry ran until 2003. A new generation of boats, designed by Fairfield but built in Istanbul, came into operation in the 2000s, enhancing the historic fleet.

Lines operated by Şehir Hatları

Inner Istanbul Lines

Source: * Kadıköy - Karaköy - Eminönü * Kadıköy - Beşiktaş * Kadıköy - Karaköy - Beşiktaş (Only operates on Friday and Saturday nights) * Kadıköy - Kabataş * Üsküdar - Karaköy - Eminönü * Bostancı - Karaköy - Kabataş * Golden Horn Line (Üsküdar - Karaköy - Kasımpaşa - Fener - Balat - Hasköy - Ayvansaray - Sütlüce - Eyüpsultan) * Aşiyan - Anadolu Hisarı - Küçüksu (Ring) * Aşiyan - Üsküdar * Kadıköy - Kasımpaşa - Fener - Hasköy - Sütlüce - Eyüpsultan * Beşiktaş - Kabataş - Karaköy - Kasımpaşa - Sütlüce - Eyüpsultan * Çengelköy - Kabataş * Bostancı - Moda - Kadıköy - Kabataş * Avcılar - Bakırköy - Yenikapı - Kadıköy (Operated by IDO for Şehir Hatları) * Avcılar - Bostancı (Operated by IDO for Şehir Hatları)

Bosphorus Lines

Source: * Sarıyer - Rumeli Kavağı - Anadolu Kavağı (Stops at 'Poyraz' pier during the summer season) * Sarıyer - Beykoz * Küçüksu - Beşiktaş - Kabataş * Çengelköy - İstinye * Küçüksu - İstinye * Anadolu Kavağı - Üsküdar * Rumeli Kavağı - Eminönü * Bebek - Emirgan * Kadıköy - Sarıyer * Ortaköy - Üsküdar - Kadıköy * Ortaköy - Beşiktaş - Eminönü

Princes' Islands Lines

Source: * Beşiktaş - Adalar - Kadıköy * Bostancı - Adalar (Ring) * Bostancı - Büyükada - Sedef Adası (Only during the summer season) * Kabataş - Kadıköy - Adalar * Maltepe - Adalar (Büyükada - Heybeliada - Burgazada - Kınalıada)

Bosphorus tours

Source: * Long Bosphorus Tour * Short Bosphorus Tour

Vehicle ferry line

Source: * İstinye - Çubuklu

Fleet

Şehir Hatları Fleet

Gallery

File:Topkapi Palace Hagia Sophia Blue Mosque.jpg, A Şehir Hatları 'vapur' with the

Topkapı Palace The Topkapı Palace (; ), or the Seraglio, is a large museum and library in the east of the Fatih List of districts of Istanbul, district of Istanbul in Turkey. From the 1460s to the completion of Dolmabahçe Palace in 1856, it served as the ad ...

Hagia Sophia Hagia Sophia (; ; ; ; ), officially the Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque (; ), is a mosque and former Church (building), church serving as a major cultural and historical site in Istanbul, Turkey. The last of three church buildings to be successively ...

and the Blue Mosque in the background File:Mehmet Akif Ersoy off Istanbul.jpg, A Şehir Hatları 'vapur' in Istanbul File:Istanbul Ausflugsschiff Yeni Marmara (02).jpg, A Turyol ferry on the

Bosporus The Bosporus or Bosphorus Strait ( ; , colloquially ) is a natural strait and an internationally significant waterway located in Istanbul, Turkey. The Bosporus connects the Black Sea to the Sea of Marmara and forms one of the continental bo ...

File:Istanbul2010.jpg, Istanbul: an aerial overview of the historical Sultanahmet and

Galata Galata is the former name of the Karaköy neighbourhood in Istanbul, which is located at the northern shore of the Golden Horn. The district is connected to the historic Fatih district by several bridges that cross the Golden Horn, most nota ...

district

References

Additional sources

* * *

External links

English-language website of ''Şehir Hatları'' (City Boat Lines) company
{{Public Transport in İstanbul Ferries of Turkey Public transport in Istanbul