Istanbul and Bursa in 3 Days: Two Plans, Day by Day, with Costs

Three days is enough for Istanbul and Bursa if you give Istanbul two days and Bursa one: the old city on day 1, a Bursa day trip on day 2, and the Bosphorus on day 3. With guided tours, the three days can be covered with our private Istanbul old city tour from $200 per person, a Bursa day tour from $52 per person and a Bosphorus cruise from $40 per person.

Below you will find two versions of the plan, one based in Istanbul for all three nights and one with a night in Bursa, followed by a day-by-day breakdown, a cost table and the weekday traps that catch people out. For the Bursa day itself in more detail, see our Bursa day trip guide; for a winter trip built around snow, see the Uludağ snow day guide.

Two ways to split three days

The question to answer first is where you sleep. Everything else follows.

Plan A is the right choice for most first-time visitors, because Istanbul needs the two days. Plan B suits travellers who have seen Istanbul before, or who fly out of Sabiha Gökçen, which sits on the Asian side and is the easier airport from Bursa.

Day 1: Istanbul's old city

Start in Sultanahmet, where the main monuments are a few minutes' walk apart.

• Hagia Sophia. Foreign visitors buy a ticket for the upper gallery, about €25 in 2026; the ground floor is a working mosque. Go at opening time to avoid the longest queue.
• Blue Mosque. Free to enter, closed to sightseers during the five daily prayers. Cover shoulders and knees; women need a headscarf.
• Basilica Cistern. The underground Byzantine reservoir, a short walk from Hagia Sophia.
• Topkapı Palace. Allow two to three hours with the Harem. The palace is closed on Tuesdays.
• Grand Bazaar. Finish here in the late afternoon. It is closed on Sundays and on the first days of religious holidays.

That is a full day, and it works best with a guide who holds the tickets and knows the order that avoids the queues. Our Hagia Sophia guided tour page and the Topkapı Palace guided tour page explain the ticket rules in detail.

Day 2: Bursa, the first Ottoman capital

In Plan A this is a long day out, leaving around 08:00 and returning between 20:00 and 22:00. Group tours cross the Gulf of İzmit by car ferry; a private car takes the bridge and motorway in about 2 to 2.5 hours each way, depending on how fast you get out of Istanbul.

A good order for the day:

1. Grand Mosque (Ulu Cami), twenty domes and an indoor fountain, built at the end of the 14th century.
2. Koza Han and the covered bazaar, the 1491 silk inn, with scarves and tea in the courtyard.
3. Lunch: İskender kebab, the dish Bursa is famous for.
4. Green Mosque and Green Tomb, the tile work of the early 1420s.
5. Tophane, the tombs of Osman and Orhan, the first two Ottoman rulers.
6. Uludağ cable car, if the weather is clear, or Cumalıkızık village if it is not.

In Plan B you do the same city stops at an easier pace, check into a hotel in Çekirge, the old spa district on the slope above the centre, and finish the day in a thermal bath. Bursa has been known for its hot springs since antiquity, and many hotels in Çekirge have their own baths.

Day 3: the Bosphorus, or a morning on the mountain

Plan A, back in Istanbul. Take a Bosphorus cruise in the morning, when the light is good on the European shore. Our morning Bosphorus cruise includes a stop at the Spice Bazaar. In the afternoon, walk up through Karaköy to Galata Tower, or take the public ferry to Kadıköy on the Asian side for the food market and an evening along Moda. Our guide to things to do on the Bosphorus lists the stops along the water.

Plan B, in Bursa. Take the cable car up Uludağ early, before the queues build. The 9 km line from Teferrüç station reaches the hotel zone at about 1,810 m in around 22 minutes. In winter you can play in the snow at Sarıalan; in summer it is a cool walk among the firs. Alternatively, spend the morning in Cumalıkızık, a village of timber houses on the eastern edge of the city. Leave Bursa by mid-afternoon to reach Istanbul for dinner, or go straight to Sabiha Gökçen for an evening flight.

What three days cost

The table uses our current tour prices and the 2026 ticket prices we could verify. Hotels, meals and flights are extra and depend on your dates.

Add the three "from" prices for the version you choose: the small-group route is the cheapest, and switching days 1 and 2 to private tours costs more but lets you set the pace. Plan B replaces the Bursa day trip with a private two-day arrangement, priced on request because it depends on the hotel.

A note for 2027 travel: the Ministry of Culture and Tourism publishes a new tariff for state museums and archaeological sites each year, and the 2027 list takes effect on 1 April 2027. Ticket prices for spring and summer 2027 may therefore differ from the figures above. Our tour prices are confirmed when you book. For more on budgeting, see our Istanbul trip cost guide.

Weekday traps

Three closing days decide the order of a short trip:

• Tuesday: Topkapı Palace is closed. Do the Bosphorus or Bursa that day.
• Sunday: the Grand Bazaar is closed. Bursa's bazaar streets are also quieter, with many shops shut.
• Friday: mosques fill for midday prayer, including the Grand Mosque in Bursa. Plan mosque visits for the morning or late afternoon.

Also check the Turkish public holiday calendar. During the long religious holidays the motorway to Bursa is busy at the start and end of the break, the Grand Bazaar closes for part of it, and Uludağ fills with domestic visitors. Avoid driving to Bursa on the first day of a holiday or back on the last.

Where to stay

In Istanbul, Sultanahmet puts you in walking distance of everything on day 1, while Karaköy and Galata are better for restaurants and the ferry piers. Our guide to where to stay in Istanbul compares the areas. For a Bursa day trip, any central hotel works, because pickup is included on our tours.

In Bursa (Plan B), Çekirge is the classic choice for thermal hotels and is a short drive from the old city. The centre near the Grand Mosque is better if you want to walk to dinner. In winter, if skiing is the point of the trip, sleep in the hotel zone on Uludağ instead, and use our Istanbul to Bursa transfer to get there with your bags.

Getting around between the two cities

Most travellers do the Bursa leg with a tour or a private car, because the connections by public transport eat into a short trip. If you want to do it yourself, fast ferries run from Yenikapı and Kabataş to the Bursa coast, but they land at Mudanya or Güzelyalı, still half an hour from the city, and they are cancelled in strong wind. For arrival day, a private airport transfer takes care of the first hour; inside Istanbul, a private car with driver is useful on day 3 if you want to see both sides of the Bosphorus without ferries.

If you prefer to book Istanbul through our sister company, Get Istanbul Tours runs the same kind of private guided days in the city. For a longer stay, our Istanbul 3-day itinerary covers the city alone, and day trips from Istanbul compares Bursa with the other options.

Tours that cover this

• Istanbul Old City Private Tour: Hagia Sophia, Topkapi & Grand Bazaar: day 1 with your own guide, from $200 per person.
• Hagia Sophia Small-Group Tour with Entry Ticket, Blue Mosque & Bazaar: day 1 in a small group, from $120 per person.
• Bursa Day Tour from Istanbul with Uludag Cable Car & Ferry: day 2 in a small group, from $52 per person.
• Private Bursa Day Tour from Istanbul: Guide & Private Van: day 2 with your own guide and van, from $100 per person.
• Morning Bosphorus Cruise Tour in Istanbul with Spice Bazaar Stop: day 3, from $40 per person.

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