Cruises in Turkey

Cruising in Turkey splits into three separate activities on this page. The Bosphorus comes first: the strait is run in the morning with a stop on the Asian side, at midday with lunch, at sunset with tea and biscuits, and after dark as a dinner cruise with a table of your own. What changes between them is not the route but what happens on board — audio guide, live guide, a small group on a yacht or a large excursion boat. The southern coast is second: pirate yachts out of Alanya and Side with swimming stops, an all-inclusive catamaran with lunch, and evening departures with a foam party. Rivers and reservoirs are third, with the Manavgat run past a waterfall and a riverside bazaar, and the Green Canyon above the dam where the water holds its colour all summer.

A separate group uses the boat as transport rather than as the point. The ferry to Büyükada in the Princes' Islands fills a day with lunch ashore. Suluada off Adrasan is a ten-hour run from Antalya, Belek or Side, made for water of a clarity you rarely find closer in. The bays around Bodrum are circled in a day, and a private yacht there is taken by the whole group at once.

Practical notes. Bosphorus departures leave from Eminönü and Kabataş; short runs take about ninety minutes, dinner cruises with a programme up to four hours. Southern yachts operate April to October, lunch is usually included and drinks on the pirate boats usually are not. Manavgat and the Green Canyon stay cool off the water even in July, so bring long sleeves. Swimming stops are part of almost every daytime departure, though not of the evening Bosphorus runs.