Maiden's Tower Tickets 2027: Price, Boats, Hours and How to Visit

A Maiden's Tower ticket is listed on the official visitor site at 27 + 8 euros for the museum with its audio guide, and the boat to the islet is paid separately at 110 TL from either Karaköy or Salacak. The tower opens every day from 09:00 to 18:00, the ticket office closes at 17:00, and boats stop running before closing. Holders of the Museum Pass Türkiye enter free and pay only the boat. This page covers what the ticket includes, where the two boats leave from, how long to allow and how to fit the tower into a day on the Asian side. If you prefer to see the tower from the water, our private Bosphorus yacht cruise passes it and starts from $600 per group.

Maiden's Tower ticket price

The Maiden's Tower (Kız Kulesi) reopened as a museum run by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism after its restoration. Its official site, kizkulesi.gov.tr, gives the following prices. Ministry museum prices are usually revised at the start of a year or in spring, so check the official site again before a 2027 visit.

In practice, a foreign adult without a museum pass should budget the full 35 euros for the entrance plus the boat fare. Children under 18 must visit with a parent, according to the Ministry's visitor page.

Is it worth it? If you want to stand on the islet, climb the tower and look back at the old city from the water, yes. If you only want the classic photograph, the shore at Salacak gives you that for free, and a Bosphorus cruise sails close by.

Opening hours and the best time to go

The Ministry of Culture and Tourism lists these hours:

• Open: every day of the week, 09:00 to 18:00.
• Ticket office: closes at 17:00.
• Closed days: none.

Boats can be suspended in rough weather, which happens most often in winter, when the wind blows down the Bosphorus. On a windy day, check at the pier before buying anything.

The quietest time is the first boat of the morning. Late afternoon has the better light on the old city across the water, but it is busier, and the last boats back leave before the 18:00 closing, so you cannot stay on the islet for sunset. The sunset view of the tower itself is from the Salacak shore, after your visit.

Boats from Karaköy and Salacak

There is no bridge or causeway. The tower stands on a small rocky islet about 200 metres off the Salacak shore of Üsküdar, and the only way to reach it is the official boat from one of two piers.

Karaköy (European side). The pier is on Rıhtım Caddesi, in front of the Ziraat Bank branch, close to the Karaköy tram stop on the T1 line and the Galataport waterfront. This is the easiest choice if you are staying in Sultanahmet, Karaköy, Galata or Taksim. The crossing is longer because it goes across the mouth of the Bosphorus.

Salacak (Asian side). The pier is at the Maiden's Tower visitor centre on Harem Sahil Yolu, Salacak, Üsküdar. It is the short hop across. Reach it by walking south along the shore road from the Üsküdar ferry piers, where ferries arrive from Eminönü, Karaköy and Beşiktaş, and where the Marmaray and M5 lines stop.

According to the timetable on muze.gov.tr, boats start at 09:30 from both piers. From Salacak they run roughly every hour in the morning and every half hour from the early afternoon until about 17:00; from Karaköy they run about every 30 to 60 minutes. The last return boats leave around 17:45. Times change with the weather and the season, so confirm at the pier.

What you see inside

The tower is small, and a visit takes about an hour to an hour and a half, including the boat. The audio guide that comes with the ticket tells the story of the building, the repairs it has needed over the centuries and the legends attached to it. The upper floors and terraces give a 360-degree view: the old city skyline with Topkapı Palace, Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque to the west, the mouth of the Bosphorus to the north and Üsküdar behind you.

Plan your camera time for the outside. The building itself is narrow and the rooms are modest; the views over the water are the reason to go.

A short history of the tower

The official museum timeline traces the site back a very long way:

• 5th century BC: a customs point is set up on the islet to inspect ships coming from the Black Sea and collect taxes.
• 12th century: the Byzantine emperor Manuel I Komnenos builds a defence tower and, according to the timeline, stretches a chain from it to a tower near the Mangana Monastery at Sarayburnu to control the strait.
• After 1453: Mehmed II has a new castle built on the islet with a guard unit.
• 18th century: a lantern is placed on the tower and it becomes, above all, a lighthouse. A fire in 1729 burns the wooden interior, and it is rebuilt.
• 1830s: the tower serves as a quarantine hospital during cholera and plague outbreaks.
• 1832-33: the last major Ottoman renovation under Mahmud II gives the tower its present silhouette.
• 20th century: it works as a lighthouse, a radar and surveillance station and, for a time, a storage site, before the restoration that turned it into today's museum.

Two legends explain the name. In the better-known one, a king is told that his daughter will die of a snakebite, so he shuts her in a tower on the rocks off Salacak; a snake hidden in a basket of fruit reaches her anyway. In the other, a Byzantine ruler hides his treasure and his daughter in the tower from the warrior Battal Gazi.

Seeing the tower without going in

Many visitors are happy with the view from outside, and it costs nothing.

• The Salacak shore. Benches and tea gardens face the tower with the old city behind it. At sunset the domes and minarets turn into a silhouette, and this is the picture most people know.
• Bosphorus cruises. Almost every cruise from Eminönü or Karaköy passes close to the tower on its way up the strait. Our Bosphorus cruise tickets for today page compares the options, or browse all our Bosphorus tours.
• The ferry to Üsküdar. The public ferry from Eminönü or Karaköy to Üsküdar gives a good view on the crossing for the price of a single ride with an Istanbulkart.
• Çamlıca Hill. The highest viewpoint on the Asian side looks down on both bridges and the tower from above. See Çamlıca Hill and Çamlıca Mosque.

A half day on the Asian shore

The tower fits well into a half day in Üsküdar, which most first-time visitors skip.

1. Ferry to Üsküdar from Eminönü or Karaköy, then a walk along the shore to the Salacak pier.
2. Morning boat from Salacak to the tower, about an hour on the islet, and back to the same pier.
3. Üsküdar waterfront and mosques. The Mihrimah Sultan Mosque beside the ferry pier and the Şemsi Pasha Mosque on the shore are both works of Mimar Sinan.
4. Beylerbeyi Palace, the Ottoman summer palace below the 15 July Martyrs Bridge, a short taxi ride north.
5. Evening in Kadıköy, south of Üsküdar, for dinner. Our page on things to do in Kadıköy has the best streets.

For more ideas on the strait itself, see things to do on the Bosphorus and our page on the Bosphorus Strait.

Practical tips

• Bring a museum pass if you have one. The Museum Pass Türkiye covers the entrance, which saves the euro ticket; you still pay the boat.
• Wear flat shoes. There are stairs inside the tower, and the small boats move in the swell.
• Do not count on staying late. The ticket office closes at 17:00 and the last boats leave before 18:00.
• Wind matters more than rain. A clear but windy day can stop the boats; a light drizzle usually does not.
• Combine it with Galata. From the Karaköy pier it is a short walk to the Galata Tower and the cafés of Karaköy; see things to do in Galata and Karaköy.

The tower is open every day, so it is a useful fill-in on a Tuesday, when Topkapı Palace is closed, or a Monday, when Dolmabahçe is. Our Maiden's Tower guide has more on the building.

Tours that cover this

None of these tours includes the Maiden's Tower entrance, but they show it from the water or bring you to the Asian shore it belongs to.

• Private Bosphorus Yacht Cruise in Istanbul: 2 Hours with Guide: from $600 per group, sailing past the tower and up the strait.
• Full-Day Bosphorus Cruise & Two Continents Tour in Istanbul: from $88 per person, with time on both shores.
• Beylerbeyi Palace & Camlica Hill Half-Day Morning Tour in Istanbul: from $52 per person, for the Asian side viewpoints.
• Istanbul Two-Day Walking Tour: Old City & Two Continents: from $440 per person.

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