The cruises compared here
Bosphorus cruises are sold in three rough lengths. The short ones stay near the old city and the first bridge. The mid-length ones go up to the second bridge and back. The long ones sail the whole strait to where it opens into the Black Sea.
The catalogue has one clear example of each. Here is how far each goes according to its listing, and what the extra time buys.
1Short: 1.5 hours on the water from €20
The Golden Horn and Bosphorus cruise is sold as a three-hour activity, but the included list is specific: a 15-minute walking tour and a 1.5-hour boat ride. The rest is meeting, walking to the pier and boarding. The listing's own description is not fully consistent about the timings, so trust the included list.
On the water it covers the Golden Horn with views of Hagia Sophia, Topkapı Palace and the Galata Tower, then the Bosphorus past Dolmabahçe Palace, Çırağan Palace, Ortaköy Mosque and, according to the listing, the Rumelihisarı fortress. That is a lot for 90 minutes, and the listing gives no map. No refreshments are included and the boat is not described.
2Medium: 2.5 hours from €28
The daytime yacht cruise spends its first hour on the European shore up to Rumelihisarı, passes under a bridge to the Asian side and stops for 20 minutes so you can get off. Tea, coffee, fruit and sweets are included, and the operator confirms open decks plus indoor seating.
For €8 more than the short cruise you get an extra hour afloat, a known boat and a landing in Asia. It skips the Golden Horn. This is the length we would suggest to a first-time visitor.
3Long: 4.5 hours to the Black Sea from €150
The Black Sea cruise leaves Kabataş at 1 pm and returns around 5:30 pm. It runs the full strait to the third bridge, anchors at the village of Anadolu Kavağı, where you can walk up to the ruins of a medieval fortress, and serves a welcome cocktail and a sit-down lunch of starters and grilled meat or fish.
The swim is seasonal. The listing gives 21 May to 15 September as the comfortable period and asks you to bring a swimsuit and towel. Outside it, or in poor weather, the swim becomes an extra stop at Anadolu Kavağı or Poyrazköy.
The price is the sticking point. At more than five times the yacht cruise, you are paying for lunch and for the upper strait that the other boats never reach. It has 82 reviews, against 4,011 for the short cruise, so the 9.0 score rests on much less evidence.
4How to decide
If you have one free morning, take the 2.5-hour yacht. If you are counting euros or staying near Sultanahmet and want to be led to the boat, take the short one. If you have already done a standard cruise on an earlier trip, or you want a summer afternoon with a swim, the long one makes sense.
One caution applies to all three: fog. Two of the listings say outright that heavy fog can suspend sailing and that you will be offered another date, so avoid booking on your last day in the city.