Dinner cruise vs the public ferry at night: a fair comparison

The short version

The public Şehir Hatları ferry and a dinner cruise are not really competitors. The ferry is a cheap, honest ride on the water that is at its best in daylight; after dark it becomes a commute. A dinner cruise is an evening: a table, a three-course dinner, an eight-act show and a three-hour loop of the Golden Horn and both Bosphorus shores, departing at 21:00. If you want to see the water for a few euros, take the ferry in the afternoon. If you want the night out, book the cruise. Below is a fair comparison of both, including the cases where the ferry is the better choice.

What the public ferry does well

We run a dinner cruise, so you might expect us to talk the ferry down. We will not, because we take it ourselves. The Şehir Hatları boats are part of how Istanbul works: tea from a tray, seagulls following the stern, commuters reading and tourists standing at the rail. A crossing costs a few euros on an Istanbulkart, and nobody sells you anything.

In daylight the ferry is the best-value ride in the city. The regular lines crossing to Kadıköy and Üsküdar give you the old city skyline, Maiden's Tower and the first bridge in about twenty minutes. The long Bosphorus lines that run up toward the Black Sea pass the same palaces and fortresses we pass, in sunshine, with the open deck under your feet. If you have a free afternoon, do it.

The ferry is also honest about what it is. There is no show, no menu and no dress code, and you can get off at Üsküdar or Kadıköy, eat where the locals eat, and come back on the next boat. For a tight budget or a short stay, that is a good day out.

What changes after dark

The picture changes once the sun goes down, for five reasons.

There are few long Bosphorus lines at night. The lines that run up the Bosphorus past Bebek and the fortresses are mostly daytime and rush-hour services. Apart from occasional special sailings, what is left after dark is mostly the short crossings between the two shores. We will not print timetables here because they change; check the operator's app on the day. In practice, you cannot count on riding the length of the Bosphorus on a public ferry at night.

The ride is a commute, not an evening. A night crossing takes about twenty minutes and is full of people going home. It is a fine twenty minutes. It is not something to build an evening around.

There is no dinner and no show. The ferry cafe sells tea and snacks. You eat before or after, somewhere else, which is fine, but it means the ferry is a way to get somewhere rather than the place you spend the evening.

It is cold in winter. The open deck is where the view is, and from November to March the wind off the water on a night crossing goes through a coat. The enclosed cabins are warm, but you see much less from them.

You come back where you started only with a change. Ferry lines run from one pier to another. To end up back at your starting pier you buy a second ride and wait for the boat, or walk to a different pier. A loop that returns to the same pier is what a cruise is designed to do; the ferry network is designed to move people across.

None of this is a criticism of the ferry. It is a public transport service that happens to have one of the best views in Europe, and it does its job. It is simply not built to be a night out.

What the dinner cruise does

Our All-In Dinner Cruise is built around exactly the things the ferry is not. Boarding at Cibali Pier on the Golden Horn opens at 20:00, and ten cold mezes are on the table when you sit down. We leave at 21:00, every night of the year, and tie up again at the same pier between 23:45 and 00:00.

Dinner is a warm börek, then a main course chosen per guest (grilled salmon, sea bass, chicken skewer or beef skewer, with a vegetarian platter on request), then warm semolina dessert. Soft drinks are unlimited. The live show runs in eight acts whose order may change: belly dance, a whirling dervish ceremony, Turkish Romani dance, Caucasian dance with the knife show, Turkish folk dances, a rhythm show, live violin, and a DJ after-party on the dance floor.

The route is a loop of both shores. Out of the Golden Horn under three bridges, around Sarayburnu, up the European side past Dolmabahçe, Çırağan and Ortaköy, under the Bosphorus Bridge to Bebek and Rumeli Fortress, across near the Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge, and down the Asian side past Anadolu Fortress, Beylerbeyi Palace, Kuzguncuk and Üsküdar to Maiden's Tower, then home. Weather and sea conditions can change it. Our route guide, Golden Horn to Bosphorus: what you see, goes landmark by landmark.

You sit inside, in an enclosed, climate-controlled dining salon with panoramic windows, a stage and dance floor, a bar, and open decks at the bow and stern for when you want the wind. The price is €24.6 per person, paid on the boat, and it covers dinner, the show and soft drinks. Alcohol (an unlimited drinks package at €15 per adult) and hotel transfer (€5 per person) are optional add-ons.

Side by side

When the ferry is the better choice

Take the ferry, and skip us, in these cases.

• Daytime. If you want to see the Bosphorus in sunlight, from an open deck, with a camera, the ferry is the right boat, and we do not sail in the daytime. Go in the afternoon, when the light falls on the Asian shore.
• A tight budget. If the difference between a few euros and €24.6 matters to your trip, the ferry gives you the water for almost nothing. Eat a simit on deck and put the savings toward something else.
• You just want the water. Some people want twenty quiet minutes with the skyline and no entertainment. That is a ferry, not a dinner show, and we say the same in our honest guide to whether the cruise is worth it.
• You are short on time. A crossing fits between a museum and dinner. Our evening takes the whole evening.
• You want to end up on the other side. If dinner in Kadıköy is the plan, the ferry is the transport. We bring you back to Cibali.

When the dinner cruise is the better choice

Book the cruise if the evening is the point. You want to sit down to dinner with the city going past, see both shores lit up in one go without changing boats, watch a dervish ceremony and a knife dance, and dance at the end. You want a table waiting, a set time and a boat that brings you back where you boarded. You are with children, or in a group, or it is a special night, or it is January and you would rather be warm.

The booking terms matter here too. There is no prepayment, cancellation is free until 19:00 and same-day bookings are accepted until 21:00, so you can decide on the day. Message us on WhatsApp or use the form on the package page.

The best plan: do both

Most of our guests who ask this question end up doing both, and it is what we would recommend. Take a public ferry across to Üsküdar or Kadıköy one afternoon: cheap, bright, an open deck and lunch on the Asian side. Then, on a different evening, or even the same one, take the tram to Cibali and see the same water after dark, at a table, with dinner.

The two rides show you the same city twice: once as the people who live here see it every day, and once dressed up for the night. Directions to the pier by tram, metro, taxi or on foot are in how to get to Cibali Pier.