Best Night Tours & Shows

After sunset Istanbul changes: floodlights shine up on the old city mosques, ferries run until late, and Beyoglu and Kadikoy, not Sultanahmet, have the liveliest streets. The tours here cover the time after 6pm, when most daytime guided tours have finished. They last anywhere from one hour for a ceremony to six hours for a dinner cruise, and some are in Cappadocia, where there is little else to do at night.

Ceremonies and shows

At $60 per person, the Sema ceremony of the whirling dervishes in Istanbul is the shortest choice here: an hour long, with reserved seats and an English-speaking assistant. The Sema is a religious ceremony of the Mevlevi order rather than a dance performance, so the audience stays silent and does not clap. There are no hotel transfers, which makes it best for guests staying close enough to walk or happy to take a taxi.

In Cappadocia, the dervish show in Cappadocia, again $60 per person, takes place in a cave or a caravanserai hall, with transfers from Goreme, Urgup, Avanos, Uchisar or Ortahisar. The Turkish night with dinner in Cappadocia, $80 per person, has a very different feel: a restaurant in a cave, folk dances from various regions, live music, belly dancing and soft drinks without limit.

Dinner cruises on the Bosphorus

From $90 per person, the luxury dinner cruise and show on the Bosphorus includes pick-up from your hotel, dinner, soft drinks and a folk and belly dance show. Unlimited alcohol is an extra package, and even then imported spirits are excluded. The boat is shared, with other groups at tables close by, and the show is loud. For a calm night on the water, a private yacht from our Bosphorus tours is a better fit.

Evening walks and food

The private night tour of the Old City, Taksim and Istiklal costs from $200 per person for four hours with your own guide. It begins at the lit-up monuments of Sultanahmet and finishes amid the crowds on Istiklal Avenue. If you would rather spend the evening eating, the night food tour with a meyhane dinner, $81 per person, takes public transport over to Kadikoy and ends with meze and raki that you pay for on the spot. You will also find it among our food tours.

Who they suit

• Couples on a short trip whose days are already full of sightseeing.
• Families with older children, for whom the dervish ceremony and the dinner cruise work well; the meyhane night is for adults.
• First-time visitors who would like to see Istiklal and Taksim without finding their own way.

Not every evening option suits every traveller. Skip the dinner cruise if you want a quiet meal, and bear in mind that the Sema requires an hour of silence, which is hard for small children.

Timing and practical points

In late June the sun sets around 8:40pm in Istanbul, and in December it sets before 5pm, which affects what you see from the water. A winter evening cruise begins after dark, so you get the full city lights; a summer cruise begins while it is still light. Istiklal is busiest on Friday and Saturday nights. Even in summer, pack a light jacket for the Bosphorus, as the deck gets cool and windy at night.

For the side streets around an evening walk, read our guide to Istiklal Avenue and Taksim. If you prefer a sunset on the water to a show, see our sunset Bosphorus yacht cruise guide.