Maiden's Tower (Kız Kulesi)

The Maiden's Tower stands on a rock roughly 200 metres from the Salacak shore in Uskudar, and you cannot walk there. Boats run from Karakoy on the European shore and from Salacak on the Asian shore. Foreign visitors pay €27 to enter plus a separate 110 TL for the boat, and you spend around an hour on the islet.

Key information

Salacak has more frequent boats than Karakoy. It is also the shore where most sunset photos of the tower are taken.

History in brief

There may have been a small fortified tower on this spot as far back as the 5th century BC, and the Byzantines could run a chain from here across to the European side. Most of what stands today was built in 1832-1833, when Sultan Mahmud II rebuilt the tower, and shortly afterwards it was used as a quarantine hospital in cholera and plague outbreaks. For many decades it worked as a lighthouse. The Ministry of Culture and Tourism took it over in 2020, restored it between 2021 and 2023, and opened it as a museum in May 2023.

The legends

The tower's two names come from two stories. Kiz Kulesi, its Turkish name, is linked to a sultan who heard a prophecy that his daughter would die from a snakebite on her 18th birthday. To keep her safe he shut her away in the tower, but a snake concealed in a basket of fruit bit her all the same. The older European name, Leander's Tower, takes the Greek myth of Hero and Leander, even though that story is set at the Dardanelles: each night Leander swam the strait to reach Hero, following her lamp, until a storm blew out the flame and he drowned.

On the islet

• Exhibition rooms covering the tower's past, its legends and the restoration.
• The lantern level and terrace, up a flight of stairs, looking along the Bosphorus to the bridges, over to the Old City and out to the Sea of Marmara.
• Views of the city, from the Old City skyline to the Galata Tower, at their best late in the afternoon.

When to go

Mornings are the quietest. In the late afternoon the light falls well on the Old City skyline to the west. Strong wind can cancel the boats, and the terrace is cold in winter. Salacak is the favourite place for sunset, with tea gardens facing the tower and the Old City beyond.

Plenty of Bosphorus cruises sail close by without stopping. The luxury Bosphorus dinner cruise and show goes past the lit tower during a six-hour evening with hotel transfers. The luxury private yacht tour for 1-12 people is hired by the hour, so you can have the captain loop around the tower for photos.

Tips

• Hold on to your boat ticket; it is needed for the trip back.
• The stairs up are narrow. If your mobility is limited, ask the staff about reaching the upper floors.
• The Museum Pass might cover entry but not the boat; check the latest rules before counting on it.
• From Salacak it is a short walk to the Uskudar waterfront with the Mihrimah Sultan and Semsi Pasha mosques.

Other waterside sights are on our Istanbul destination page.

Frequently Asked Questions