Private Yacht Hire on the Bosphorus: Rates per Hour, Piers and Add-ons

When you hire a yacht on the Bosphorus with us, you pay an hourly rate for the entire boat rather than a price per guest, and each charter in our fleet runs for at least 2 hours. The smallest boat is a 13 m yacht leaving from Eminönü that takes up to 12 guests, and it starts from $190 per hour. Season, weekday and add-ons change the figure, so contact us for the current rate. Below you will find every yacht with its pier and the groups it works for.

Yachts on the Bosphorus: length, pier and capacity

Each of these six boats boards at a public pier. You will see the hourly rate on the page for each yacht, and it shifts with the season and the hour.

Marilyn is offered mostly for daytime charters on weekdays lasting 5 hours or more; for evenings, weekends or shorter trips on this boat, we quote on request.

The guest figure is the capacity each yacht states, and we cannot add people beyond it. If you are 14, Aura and AMEŞİN N are too small, and you will need ZENDAY or a bigger boat.

Included in the hourly price, and excluded

For the six pier yachts, the rate per hour gives you the whole boat to yourselves, a licensed captain with crew, fuel for the usual Bosphorus route, insurance, and waiters for the listed number of guests. On Aura you also get ice and soft drinks. AMEŞİN N offers Wi-Fi and Bluetooth speakers. On Marilyn you can play your own music, and the boat is heated in winter.

Excluded: food, drinks, catering menus, transfers from your hotel, any route past the usual Bosphorus loop, and guests over capacity. Feel free to bring food and drinks of your own; the crew serves them for you. The galley is for catering teams only, and on hourly charters the cabins remain locked.

Some rules catch guests off guard. You cannot bring confetti, torches, fireworks, anything flammable or a barbecue on board. Selected boats accept pets, provided you let us know beforehand.

Choosing a pier: Eminönü, Bebek, İstinye or Arnavutköy

Your pier shapes the first thirty minutes of the trip, so pick it based on your hotel and the stretch of the strait you most want to see.

• Eminönü (Aura, Marilyn): nearest to hotels in Sultanahmet. Heading north, the boat passes Dolmabahçe Palace and Ortaköy, goes under the bridges and continues to Rumeli Fortress. You leave the Old City skyline behind as you set off.
• Bebek (White İstanbul, Corona Tokyo): midway up the European side. The bridges and Rumeli Fortress are only minutes away, so more of a 2-hour trip goes to the northern Bosphorus.
• Arnavutköy (AMEŞİN N): a short way south of Bebek. You cruise by Bebek, Rumeli Fortress and the bridges, following a route you settle with the captain.
• İstinye (ZENDAY): the pier furthest north. After passing Rumeli Fortress and the Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge, the boat heads south along both banks and then turns back.

For views of Galata Tower and the Old City from the water, board at Eminönü. For old wooden mansions, fortress walls and calmer water, Bebek, Arnavutköy or İstinye make better use of 2 hours.

Yachts with hotel pick-up

On the pier yachts, you make your own way to the pier. If you prefer a pick-up, five of our Istanbul yacht options come with a transfer by Mercedes Vito from your hotel or from the Galataport cruise terminal:

• Private luxury yacht for 1–12 people: our starter boat, which includes hotel pick-up and starts at $375 an hour; the rate depends on season and add-ons, so ask us for the current price.
• Premium luxury yacht for 1–12 guests.
• Yacht for families or friends, 6–32 guests, built for large families and friend groups.
• VIP luxury yacht for 1–12 guests.
• Mega luxury yacht for 1–40 guests, with parties and swim stops on request.

Fuel, marina fees and bottled water are covered on these, while meals and alcohol are not. They work for cruise passengers and first-timers who would rather not track down a pier by themselves. For a whole day combining a yacht, a car with a driver and a guide, read our luxury tours in Istanbul page. Across two days, the luxury Istanbul tour pairs a guided Old City day in a Mercedes S-Class with a 2-hour cruise on a private yacht.

Two, three or four hours on the water

The 2-hour minimum covers the usual run from the pier up to Rumeli Fortress and back, with stops for photos. That is long enough for a proposal or a sunset trip. Our guide to a proposal on a Bosphorus yacht covers timing and how to prepare the moment.

With three hours, the captain can show you both banks and the palaces on them, and a meal on board no longer fills the whole trip.

A swim stop requires four hours or more; on shorter trips our captains do not stop for swimming. Aura and AMEŞİN N can also be booked for a full day, priced on request.

When to go: time of day and season

Most guests ask for sunset. Sunset in Istanbul is around 8:40 pm at the end of June and around 4:40 pm at the end of December, so in summer a sunset charter begins after 6:30 pm, and in winter in the middle of the afternoon. Choose a slot that finishes roughly thirty minutes after sunset if you want to see the bridges with their lights on.

Between June and September you can sit on deck at any hour, and a swim stop is worth it. Between November and March the sea is cold and the deck wind bites; choose a boat with a heated saloon, like Marilyn, and plan to use the open deck for photos more than for sitting.

You do not carry the weather risk. If the Bosphorus is closed by the coast guard, or the captain judges sailing to be unsafe, you can either rebook for another date or get your money back in full.

Add-ons: food, drinks, music and transfers

Each yacht page lets you add extras to your quote, and every one has its own price:

• Set menu: a grill or a fish platter
• Alcohol package: beer, wine and spirits
• Private transfer by Mercedes Vito, priced on your address
• Cake and special decorations
• Photographer
• DJ and sound system
• Belly dancer
• Jet ski for half an hour or a full hour

Food is priced per guest and everything else per item, so the total rises with group size and add-ons. Bringing food and drinks yourself means you pay only the hourly rate.

If you would rather share a bigger boat for the evening than charter one, look at our 2026 Bosphorus dinner cruise prices. The cost per person is much lower, though the deck is shared and the programme is set.

Booking and cancellation

Go to the yacht page, pick the date, the starting time, the group size and how many hours you want, select any add-ons, and send your request. We reply by email or WhatsApp with availability and the final price. You can see every boat on our page of private yacht tours and sort them by price, and our tours in Istanbul page shows land tours that combine well with a cruise.

You may cancel at no cost until 7 days before the charter and receive a full refund. Inside 7 days there is no refund, apart from the weather rule described above.

For a wider choice of boats and event setups, look at the yacht rental pages on TakeYacht, a sister site of ours for chartering yachts in Turkey.

Frequently Asked Questions