Princes' Islands: how to get there and what to see on Büyükada and Heybeliada

The Princes' Islands can only be reached by water: there are no cars on them and no bridge. From the European shore of Istanbul, ferries leave from Kabataş, Eminönü and Beşiktaş, and the trip to Büyükada takes about an hour and a half, by the estimate of the AFP news agency. It is quicker from the Asian shore, from Bostancı: the direct boat to Büyükada takes about 35 minutes. Ferries are paid with an Istanbulkart, as on the metro.

Four islands: Büyükada or Heybeliada

The archipelago in the Sea of Marmara has nine islands, but only four are inhabited and linked to the city by ferry: Kınalıada, Burgazada, Heybeliada and Büyükada. Kınalıada lies closest to the shore. According to GoTürkiye, there is no ordinary car traffic on the islands: people walk, cycle and ride municipal electric vehicles.

Büyükada, at about 5.5 km², is the largest island and the one with the most to see: shopping streets and mansions by the pier, and on the hills the Aya Yorgi monastery and the former orphanage building. Heybeliada is less than half its size and noticeably quieter: people come to walk around the island itself and to look at the seminary on the hilltop. If you have one day and this is your first time on the islands, it makes sense to start with Büyükada. If you have been before or are looking for quiet, choose Heybeliada: both islands are on the same ferry line, about a quarter of an hour apart.

How to get to the Princes' Islands

The main operator is Şehir Hatları, the Istanbul municipality's ferry company. Its list of lines has a separate section for the islands: Kabataş — Kadıköy — Adalar, Beşiktaş — Adalar, the Bostancı — Adalar ring line, Maltepe — Adalar and Tuzla — Pendik — Büyükada. The operator's website with the timetable did not open on 7 November 2026 (error 403), so exact Şehir Hatları departure times are not given here; they are published in the operator's app and on the pier boards. According to a municipality statement quoted by the newspaper Cumhuriyet, night sailings continue every day on the Bostancı — Adalar ring line under the winter timetable.

The second operator, Mavi Marmara, publishes its timetable in full. Under its autumn 2026 timetable, the direct boat from Bostancı to Heybeliada takes about 30 minutes, and with a call at the neighbouring island the trip to Büyükada stretches to about 50 minutes. Boats leave Bostancı every day, on average once an hour: the first departure is at 07:10 (except Sundays and public holidays), the last at 23:00. The last boat back from Büyükada to Bostancı leaves at 21:50.

For those staying on the European shore, Mavi Marmara runs a tourist line on its 2026 winter timetable: the boat calls at Beşiktaş, Kabataş and Eminönü and stops at Heybeliada. It leaves Eminönü at 10:00 and 12:00 and reaches Büyükada at 11:15 and 13:15. Return boats leave Büyükada at 14:30 and 15:30. A third operator, Turyol, lists the island piers in the trip search on its website, but its island timetable itself could not be read.

Ferry fares and how to pay

Mavi Marmara publishes its fare on the Bostancı — Adalar line: as of 7 November 2026, a full fare with an Istanbulkart costs 151.23 TL and a student fare 75.64 TL. The page gives no update date, so check the price at the turnstile before you travel. Şehir Hatları fares to the islands could not be read on the operator's website, and press figures after the July 2026 fare rise contradict each other, so they are not given here. This is noticeably more than an ordinary trip across the Bosphorus: keep enough on your card for the journey there and back.

Getting around Büyükada: bike, electric vehicle or on foot

The horse-drawn phaetons Büyükada was once known for were removed by a decision of the Istanbul city council of 16 January 2020. Electric vehicles took their place. Since 2024, registered 12-seat İETT electric minibuses have run on the island: a municipality statement of 18 June 2024 said they are wheelchair-accessible and intended for residents, but serve tourists too. The current fare and route map could not be found on official pages.

A bicycle is the simplest way to get around the island on your own: GoTürkiye names it directly, alongside walking. Official rental prices are not published anywhere, so if you hire a bike, agree on the amount and the rental period in advance. Battery-powered vehicles (akülü araç) are more complicated: UKOME decision 2021/4-4 restricted their use on the islands from 5 October 2021, with exceptions for people with disabilities and for residents over 66 who hold a driving licence. Which vehicles exactly fall under the ban, and whether the decision was later revoked, could not be confirmed, so do not make the trip just to ride electric transport.

What to see on Büyükada

• The Aya Yorgi (St George) monastery and church at the island's highest point, about 203 metres up; tradition dates the founding of the monastery to the 6th century. By custom, on 23 April people climb here to make a wish: they tie a thread at the start of the Azap Yokuşu forest road and walk up, unwinding the ball as they go. On that day, as the DHA news agency reported in 2024, queues form both for the ferry and at the church itself, so pick another day if you want quiet.
• The former Greek orphanage on Prinkipo Hill. The huge wooden building, designed by Alexandre Vallaury, was built at the end of the 19th century as a hotel with a casino, but Sultan Abdul Hamid II did not allow it to open. From 1903 it housed an orphanage of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, which closed in 1964. In 2018 Europa Nostra put the building on its list of the seven most endangered monuments in Europe; according to its 2019 report, it is in very poor condition and unsafe, so look at it only from the outside.
• The Hamidiye Mosque, built under Abdul Hamid II, and the church of Ayios Dimitrios.
• The Princes' Islands Museum at Aya Nikola bay. Its opening hours and entry conditions could not be found on official pages as of 7 November 2026.

The islands got their name long before the tourists came. In Byzantine times, disgraced princes and members of the imperial family were exiled here, and in the 19th century the islands became a summer retreat for wealthy Istanbul residents, hence the mansions you will pass on the way from the pier.

Where Trotsky lived on the Princes' Islands

Leon Trotsky, expelled from the USSR in February 1929, spent the first four years of his exile on Büyükada and left in 1933, when France granted him asylum. He lived in a three-storey mansion known as the Yanaros mansion, with a garden by the sea. On the shore below the house, a natural lobster pool built at his request still survives. According to Al Jazeera, it was here that he wrote his autobiography “My Life” and “The History of the Russian Revolution”. In 2015 the private owners put the crumbling house up for sale, and Hürriyet Daily News reported that they had asked the Ministry of Culture to buy it for a museum. How this ended could not be confirmed. The house remains private and is not open to visitors, so do not go onto the grounds.

Heybeliada: the seminary on the hill and a quiet island

Above the Heybeliada pier stands the naval school, and on top of the Hill of Hope the Halki theological school, founded in 1844 on the site of the Byzantine monastery of the Holy Trinity. The Turkish state closed it in 1971 after a Constitutional Court ruling on private higher schools. In June 2026, as Reuters reported, President Erdoğan ordered talks on its reopening to resume, but no date was named and the building was still being renovated. Whether the school had opened by 7 November 2026 could not be confirmed. Besides the seminary, the island has an 11th-century Orthodox monastery and the Byzantine church of Kamariotissa, but their visiting hours were not found in open sources.

Everything else on Heybeliada is the island itself and the views of Büyükada and the Sea of Marmara. About three thousand people live here year-round, and in summer the population grows to around ten thousand: that gap alone shows how much the island changes with the seasons.

Can you swim on the Princes' Islands?

Yes, but only at official swimming spots and during the season. In 2026 the Istanbul Provincial Health Directorate designated 95 such spots across the city and set the season from 15 June to 15 September; swimming outside the designated spots is banned, and any spot can be closed at once if tests show a risk, as Hürriyet Daily News reported. Among the island spots, the directorate named Nakibey beach on Büyükada and Sadıkbey beach on Heybeliada. According to the Ministry of Health's water monitoring system, cited by Euronews in July 2026, 17 island points were rated “excellent”, including the Aya Nikola public beach on Büyükada. Some points on that list belong to beach clubs; their conditions and prices are not given here. If you are choosing an island for the sea, note what GoTürkiye observes: the water is calmer and cleaner on the sides of the islands away from the piers, and the portal singles out especially good spots on Burgazada and Kınalıada, the small islands on the way to Büyükada.

How much time you need and whether to go in winter

By the editors' estimate, one island takes a full day including travel: two to three hours for a walk around Büyükada with the climb to Aya Yorgi, and as much again for the ferries there and back. Two islands in one day are also realistic if you get off at Heybeliada on the way and continue to Büyükada on the next boat. If you take the tourist line from the European shore on its first boat and leave on its last, you get a little over four hours on Büyükada, while from the Asian shore ferries run until the evening, so if you want to stay until sunset, go back via Bostancı.

You can go in winter: ferries run all year round, and the timetables given above are in fact the autumn and winter ones. Swimming is no longer allowed at that time of year, but you can climb to Aya Yorgi and the orphanage without the summer crowds. The main risk is the weather: in storms sailings are cancelled, as on 3 January 2026, for example, when Şehir Hatları dropped some sailings on the island lines because of bad weather. Before you set out, check that the ferries are running and keep the time of the last return boat in mind.

Photo: Zamir Sağlıkoğlu · CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:NE_view_of_the_Prinkipo_Greek_Orthodox_Orphanage_building,_2024.jpg)