Turkey Ferry Line

There are few places on earth where you can cross from one continent to another while also remaining in the same country in under twenty minutes. But simply take a ferry from Istanbul’s Karaköy neighborhood (in Europe) to its Kadiköy district (in Asia), and you’ll be doing just that.

From ancient Greek times, Istanbul has been a stopover for ships crossing from the Mediterranean to the Black Sea—with a singular location that has made the city a strategic capital for millennia. Until 1973, when the first bridge was built, the only way to traverse the city was by boat.

And so a ride on the Turkey ferry is a voyage not only across continents but through time. Istanbul’s shorelines are rich with architecture from every era in modern history, from the awe-inspiring Hagia Sophia to the hundreds of wooden waterfront mansions known as yalis. Those lucky enough to cross the Bosporus at sunset will see the monuments of the city light up, as the iconic minarets of mosques etch blazing red skylines across two continents, both within sight.