How much is a Bosphorus sunset cruise?

On 24 September 2026 the most-booked sunset cruises on GetYourGuide started at $6 to $9 for a big sightseeing boat, $12 to $57 for a small yacht with snacks, and $298 for a private yacht for up to 13 people. The public Şehir Hatları ferry is cheaper still, but its only short tour leaves at 14:40, so it is not a sunset trip.

Is a Bosphorus dinner cruise worth it?

For the show, yes: the four most-booked dinner cruises cost $20 to $31 with a set dinner, soft drinks and a live Turkish night show, and all four offer hotel pickup. For the view, less so: most of the evening is after dark. If the Bosphorus itself is the point, take a sunset yacht instead.

Are the discounts on Bosphorus cruises real?

Mostly not. Ten of the fourteen most-booked cruises we checked showed a crossed-out 'original' price next to the current one. When almost every listing is on sale, the sale price is the normal price. Compare the current prices, not the discounts.

Sunset yacht or big boat?

A small yacht ($12 to $57) is a smaller group with snacks and drinks, and several of the listings we checked include a live guide. A big sightseeing boat ($6 to $9) carries more people and relies on an audio guide. For a sunset, the yacht is worth the difference; for a daytime look at the palaces, the big boat is fine.

Do Bosphorus cruises include hotel pickup?

All four dinner cruises we checked offer hotel pickup. Among the yachts, the luxury yacht (GetYourGuide Originals), the sunset yacht with snacks and the private yacht include or offer it; on the others you meet the boat at the pier named in the listing.

Bosphorus Sunset & Dinner Cruises Compared 2026: 14 Checked

Short version: on 24 September 2026 we recorded the fourteen most-booked Bosphorus cruises on GetYourGuide. A two-hour sightseeing cruise costs $6 to $9, a sunset yacht $12 to $57, a dinner cruise with show $20 to $31, and a private yacht $298 for up to 13 people. Ten of the fourteen show a crossed-out “original” price, so ignore the discount and compare the current price. For a sunset, a small yacht is the one worth paying for.

4.9/5 on GetYourGuide · about 4,250 reviews

Our pick for sunset

Small-group sunset or day yacht cruise with snacks

2 hours · from $40

Rated 4.9 by about 4,250 people, and one of the four cruises in our check with no crossed-out price. Private option available.

See sunset times and prices ↗

Affiliate link · We may earn a commission. You pay the same price. Check current prices and cancellation terms.

Sunset yachts

Smaller boats with snacks and drinks, several with a live guide, timed for the light. This is the cruise worth paying for.

Cruise	From	Hours	Rating	What is included
Small-group day, sunset or night yacht cruise ↗Optional audio guide	$12$17per person	2	4.8446 reviews	Snack plate (cookies, chips, nuts, olives, spring rolls, baklava, fruit), tea, coffee and soft drinks, mobile audio guide, wifi. Alcohol only on the drinks option.
Sunset yacht cruise with live guide ↗Live guide	$21$43per person	2–6	4.93,928 reviews	Live guide, canapés, homemade lemonade and tea. Starts at Kabataş. Operated by Golden City Tours.
Sunset yacht cruise with snacks ↗Private option available	$23$46per person	2	4.72,163 reviews	Guide, light snacks, cookies, fruit platter, tea and coffee, hotel pickup and drop-off.
Sunset cruise with snacks and wine ↗Optional audio guide	$30per person	2	4.9106 reviews	Live English guide, audio guide, tea, Turkish coffee, lemonade, water, nuts, chips and fruit plate, printed souvenir photo. Two glasses of wine only on the wine option; other alcohol, tips and hotel pickup are extra.
Small-group sunset or day yacht cruise with snacks ↗Private option; optional audio guide	$40per person	2	4.94,251 reviews	20-metre yacht, tea, water and coffee, mini pizza, fruit and nuts, audio guide app. Alcohol and tips extra. Up to 16 guests (as mirrored on alle.travel).
Sunset cruise on a luxury yacht (GetYourGuide Originals) ↗Pickup available	$57per person	2.5	4.81,511 reviews	Guide, 25-metre yacht, snacks, baklava, fruit, lemonade or juice, water, tea, coffee, alcoholic drinks; hotel pickup on the pickup option.

Checked 24 September 2026. Crossed-out figures are the "original" prices GetYourGuide shows next to the current one. Cruise names are affiliate links; listings under 4.6 stars or 100 reviews are shown without a link. JSON.

What the price buys: at $12 you get a snack plate and soft drinks with an audio guide; around $23 hotel pickup appears; at $57 the GetYourGuide Originals boat is a 25-metre yacht with alcoholic drinks included. On the two cheaper boats whose full lists loaded, alcohol is only on the upgraded option. Check the option you pick; “alcohol if option selected” means it is not in the base price.

Dinner cruises with a show

About three hours, a set menu, soft drinks and a live show; the listings call it a Turkish night show. All four offer hotel pickup.

Cruise	From	Hours	Rating	What is included
Dinner cruise and show, private window tablePickup available	$20$33per person	3	4.5515 reviews	Guaranteed private window table, six cold mezes, hot starter, main (fish, mixed grill or vegetarian), fruit, unlimited soft drinks, live show and Turkish music, tea and coffee. Unlimited local alcohol only on the drinks option; imported drinks and tips extra.
Dinner cruise and show, window table optional ↗Pickup available; optional audio guide	$22$28per person	3	4.81,787 reviews	See the listing; the full list did not load for our check.
Dinner cruise and show with private table ↗Pickup available; meal included	$30$38per person	3–5	4.874,347 reviews	Three-course dinner, live stage show (Turkish folk dances), private table, pickup on some options. Operated by Mega Lüfer Yachts.
Dinner cruise and Turkish night show ↗Pickup available; private option	$31$38per person	3	4.814,306 reviews	Dinner with unlimited drinks, Turkish Night show with traditional music and dance, pickup on some options. Operated by Turyol.

The cheapest one ($20) lists a guaranteed private window table, six cold mezes, a hot starter and a choice of main. On it, local alcohol is unlimited only on the drinks option, and imported drinks and tips are extra; check the same points on the others. Most of the evening is after dark, so book this for the show, not the view.

Big sightseeing boats

Two hours on a larger boat with an optional audio guide.

Cruise	From	Hours	Rating	What is included
Sunset & daytime cruise, drinks and snack ↗Optional audio guide	$6$11per person	2	4.74,397 reviews	Soft drinks and snacks on the option that includes them (listing text).
Sightseeing cruise with audio guide ↗Optional audio guide	$8$10per person	2	4.66,077 reviews	See the listing; the full list did not load for our check.
Day, sunset or night sightseeing cruise with audio guide ↗Optional audio guide; meal included on some options	$9$13per person	2	4.819,171 reviews	Mobile audio guide in 9 languages, unlimited soft drinks, tea and coffee; snacks, dinner or alcohol only on those options. Hotel pickup not included. Operated by Mega Lüfer Yachts.

These are the cheapest paid options and fine in daylight. The public Şehir Hatları ferry goes further up the strait for 340 to 640 TL; see our Bosphorus cruise guide for its times and the official tariff. The ferry’s only short tour leaves at 14:40, so it is not a sunset option.

Private yacht

Cruise	From	Hours	Rating	What is included
Private yacht with guide and snacks ↗Private group	$298per group of up to 13	2	4.8224 reviews	Private yacht, snacks and cookies, tea and coffee, hotel pickup from the old city and Taksim.

$298 for up to 13 people is about $23 each with a full boat, the same as a shared sunset yacht, with your own route and timing. With four people it is about $75 each.

How to choose

Sunset, one or two people: a shared small yacht, $12 to $57. Our pick is the 4.9-rated small-group yacht cruise at $40.
Sunset, a group of eight or more: the private yacht works out about the same per person.
The show: a dinner cruise, $20 to $31. It is dinner and a show on a boat, not a Bosphorus view.
Cheapest daytime look: a big sightseeing boat at $6 to $9, or the public ferry.
Every case: ignore the crossed-out price.

For the daytime before a sunset cruise, see our Istanbul workshops comparison and the hamam price check.

Cite or embed this data

Free to reuse with a link (CC BY 4.0). Machine-readable copy: /data/bosphorus-cruises.json

Source: Nomad Istanbul, "Bosphorus cruises compared" (checked 24 September 2026). https://nomadistanbul.com/kb/bosphorus-cruise-comparison/

Fourteen of the most-booked Bosphorus cruises on GetYourGuide were recorded from the Istanbul cruise category page: type, length, lowest listed price, any crossed-out price shown next to it, rating and review count. Where the listing page loaded in full, the included items were copied from it. Prices are the 'from' price in US dollars as GetYourGuide displayed them to a US-locale browser; you may see your own currency and a different figure on another day. Ratings and review counts change daily. For listings whose page did not load in our browser, the included items were taken from the GetYourGuide page as indexed by the Exa search engine, from the operator's own site (Mega Lüfer), or from alle.travel, which republishes GetYourGuide listings; those rows say so.

Notes

Prices are the “from” prices GetYourGuide showed on 24 September 2026, in US dollars; you may see your own currency and a different figure. Ratings and review counts are from the same day. The included items come from the listing pages; where a page did not load for us, from the same page as indexed by the Exa search engine, the operator’s own site or alle.travel, which republishes GetYourGuide listings. Two listings have no inclusion list; open them to check. Cruise names in the tables are affiliate links: if you book through them we get a small commission and you pay the same price. Corrections to hello@nomadistanbul.com.