Bursa Day Trip from Istanbul: Old City, Silk Bazaar and Green Tomb

A Bursa day trip from Istanbul takes 12 to 13 hours door to door, and it gives you about five or six hours in the city itself: enough for the Grand Mosque, the Green Mosque and Green Tomb, the Koza Han silk market and the tombs of the first two sultans, with lunch in between. The shared Bursa day tour from Istanbul starts from $52 per person and covers the ferry, the cable car and lunch.

This page is about the city half of the day: the Ottoman monuments, the bazaar quarter and the food. If the reason you are going is snow on Uludağ, read our Uludağ snow day guide instead, and if you are still deciding how to get there, our page on the Istanbul to Bursa transfer compares the road, the fast ferries and the coach.

Why Bursa is worth a long day out of Istanbul

Bursa was the first capital of the Ottoman state. Orhan took the city in 1326, and the dynasty kept its court here until the capital moved to Edirne and later to Istanbul. That early period is the whole point of the trip: the buildings you see in Bursa are older and plainer than the imperial mosques of Istanbul, and you can watch the Ottoman style being worked out in stone and tile.

In 2014 UNESCO added "Bursa and Cumalıkızık: the Birth of the Ottoman Empire" to the World Heritage List. The listing covers several building complexes in the city, the bazaar area with its old inns, the tombs of Osman and Orhan, and the village of Cumalıkızık on the edge of the mountain.

There is a second reason people go: Bursa sits at the foot of Uludağ, so the same day can include a cable car ride into the forest. Most organised tours do both. A history-first visitor can skip the mountain and spend the time in the old town instead.

The day at a glance

The timings below follow a typical private day starting from a hotel in the old city or Taksim. Group tours run a similar order, with a ferry crossing and a fixed lunch stop.

The order changes on Fridays. The Grand Mosque is the city's main Friday mosque, and around midday prayer it fills up and closes to sightseers, so a good guide will move the visit to the morning or the late afternoon.

The old city, stop by stop

Grand Mosque (Ulu Cami)

Built for Bayezid I and finished at the very end of the 14th century, the Grand Mosque is one big prayer hall under twenty domes laid out in rows. Two things surprise first-time visitors. The first is the fountain inside the prayer hall, under an open dome, where you would normally expect it in a courtyard. The second is the calligraphy: huge panels on the walls and piers, some of them several metres tall. It is a working mosque, so dress to cover shoulders and knees, women bring a headscarf, and shoes come off at the door.

Koza Han and the covered bazaar

A short walk downhill brings you to the bazaar quarter. Koza Han, the silk inn, was built in 1491 and still trades in silk: scarves, shawls and fabric around a two-storey courtyard with a small mosque in the middle and tea gardens under the trees. Bursa was one of the main silk markets of the Ottoman world, and the trade in silk cocoons gave the inn its name. Around it, the covered market streets (Kapalı Çarşı) sell towels, knives, sweets and household goods. This is the place to buy kestane şekeri, the candied chestnuts that every Bursa visitor is expected to bring home.

Green Mosque and Green Tomb

East of the centre, on a slope, stand the two buildings that many people make the trip for. The Green Mosque (Yeşil Cami) and the Green Tomb (Yeşil Türbe) were built for Mehmed I in the early 1420s. The tomb is clad in turquoise and green tiles outside, and inside the sultan's cenotaph is covered in tiles too. The mosque's prayer hall and the sultan's loge show some of the finest early Ottoman tile work anywhere. For the full background, see our guide to the Green Mosque and Green Tomb.

Tophane: the tombs of Osman and Orhan

On the hill above the old centre, near the clock tower, are the tombs of Osman Gazi, founder of the dynasty, and his son Orhan, who made Bursa the capital. The present buildings are 19th-century reconstructions after an earthquake and a fire, but the site itself is what matters to Turkish visitors, and the terrace gives the best view over the city to the mountain. Visitors who know the Turkish series about Ertuğrul and Osman often ask for this stop by name.

Optional: Muradiye and Cumalıkızık

If you skip the mountain, two quieter stops fit the afternoon. The Muradiye complex, built for Murad II, is a garden of royal tombs around a mosque. Cumalıkızık, on the eastern edge of the city, is a village of timber and stone houses on cobbled lanes, with breakfast places in the courtyards. Both are part of the UNESCO listing.

What to eat in Bursa

Lunch in Bursa usually means İskender kebab: thin slices of döner over pieces of pide, with tomato sauce, yoghurt on the side and melted butter poured over at the table. Several restaurants in the centre claim the original recipe. Other things to try in a day:

• Pideli köfte, meatballs on bread with butter and tomato, a cheaper cousin of İskender.
• Candied chestnuts from the bazaar shops, sold loose or in gift boxes.
• Tea in Koza Han, the simplest break of the day.

Group tours include a set lunch at a local restaurant, but drinks are usually extra. On a private tour, meals are not included, which leaves you free to choose where to eat. Tell your guide if you are vegetarian: İskender is a meat dish, but most kebab houses also serve soups, salads and meze.

Group tour or private day: what is actually different

The three Bursa day trips on our site cover the same city, but they are built for different travellers.

The group tours add stops on the way, such as Gemlik on the coast and a Turkish delight shop, and the longer of the two passes a plane tree said to be some 600 years old. On a private tour the guide can drop the shopping stops entirely and spend that time in the mosques and the bazaar.

Practical tips for the day

• Leave early. Getting out of Istanbul is the slow part. Crossing the Bosphorus at weekday rush hour can add 30 to 45 minutes before the motorway even starts.
• Wear shoes you can slip off. You will take them off at least three times: the Grand Mosque, the Green Mosque and the tombs.
• Bring a scarf. Women need a head covering inside the mosques and tombs; scarves are on sale in Koza Han if you forget.
• Carry some lira. Small bazaar shops and tea gardens prefer cash. Larger shops take cards.
• Check the weather if you want the mountain. The cable car stops in strong wind, and the ride up is pointless in thick cloud. If the forecast is bad, ask for Cumalıkızık instead.
• Fridays and holidays. Expect crowds at the Grand Mosque around midday on Fridays, and heavy traffic on the way back at the end of Turkish public holidays.

Bursa also works as a stop on the way to somewhere else. Our private Ertuğrul Gazi tour spends a night in a Bursa thermal hotel and adds Söğüt, where the dynasty began, and a 3-day plan that combines the two cities is in our Istanbul and Bursa itinerary.

Bursa or another day trip?

From Istanbul, Bursa competes with Gallipoli, Sapanca and the Princes' Islands for a free day. Bursa is the best choice if you are interested in Ottoman history or want a mountain view without a flight. Gallipoli is a longer day and a different subject, the First World War, and the islands are a half day by public ferry. Our overview of day trips from Istanbul sets them side by side, and the Bursa travel guide has more on where to stay if you decide on a night.

Tours that cover this

• Bursa Day Tour from Istanbul with Uludag Cable Car & Ferry: small group, about 13 hours with the car ferry, cable car, lunch and the Silk Market, from $52 per person.
• Bursa & Uludag Tour from Istanbul: Ferry, Cable Car & Lunch: group tour with hotel pickup, ferry, cable car, guide and lunch, from $90 per person.
• Private Bursa Day Tour from Istanbul: Guide & Private Van: your own guide and van for about 12 hours, with the Grand Mosque, Green Mosque and Tophane tombs, from $100 per person.
• Private Ertugrul Ghazi Tour from Istanbul: 2 Days in Sogut & Bursa: two days with a night in Bursa, from $535 per person.

More options are listed on our Bursa tours page, and all one-day trips are on the day tours page.

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