Heybeliada Guide: How to Spend a Slow Day on Istanbul's Quiet Island

Heybeliada is the Princes’ Island I send people to when they want the calm of the islands without the day-tripper crush of Büyükada next door. It is the second largest of the group, green from shore to summit, and quiet enough that the loudest sound on most afternoons is a bike bell or the ferry horn. If you only have a day and you want pine forest, a swim, and a long lunch by the water, this is the one.

The name has history baked into it. Greeks called it Halki, after the copper (“chalkos”) once mined here, and the Turkish “Heybeliada” reads as “saddlebag island,” which makes sense the moment you see its twin hills rising from the sea. Regular ferries arrived in the 19th century, and the place has stayed roughly the same scale ever since: around seven thousand year-round residents, a number that balloons every summer when half of Istanbul seems to want a pine-shaded bench and a tea.

Four hills give the island its shape. Değirmentepe is the high point at 136 meters. Ümit Hill (85 meters) carries the old Halki Seminary, which is why locals long called it “Priest Hill.” Taşocağı and Makarios round out the set. None of them are a hard climb, and the views from the top are the reason you came.

If you want the wider context on the whole archipelago before you go, my overview of the Princes’ Islands covers how the four visitable islands differ and how to chain a couple together in one day.

How do you get to Heybeliada?

You get there by ferry, and there are two practical ways to do it. From the European side, public Şehir Hatları ferries leave from Kabataş, Beşiktaş, and Eminönü; from the Asian side, Kadıköy and Bostancı are your piers. Reckon on roughly 90 minutes from the European piers and about 30 minutes from Bostancı, which is by far the fastest approach if you are staying anywhere on the Asian side.

There are also private operators that run the same route, including Dentur Avrasya and seasonal Mavi Marmara sailings, so you have backup if you miss a public departure. Pay with your Istanbulkart the same way you would for any city ferry. Schedules shift with the season (more sailings in summer, fewer in deep winter), so check the live timetable on the Şehir Hatları site the morning you travel rather than trusting an old printout.

A tip from experience: sit on the deck on the way out and watch the city peel away. The approach to the islands, with the wooden mansions stacking up the hillsides, is genuinely one of the better short boat rides in Istanbul. For more on how the ferry network fits together, see my guide to Istanbul ferries, timetables, and fares.

Getting around once you land

Heybeliada is effectively car-free, and that is the whole point. Petrol vehicles are banned. The old horse-drawn phaetons were retired across the islands back in 2020 (the horses were in poor shape, and there was a real outcry about it), and they were replaced by quiet electric minibuses. So your options are simple: walk, rent a bike, or hop the electric minibus that loops the coast.

The two classic routes still have their old names. The “Büyük Tur” (Big Tour) circles the whole island and takes in the forest and the back coves. The shorter “Küçük Tur,” which everyone calls the “Lovers’ Tour,” hugs the prettier near side. Both are doable on foot if you have the legs, but a bike is the sweet spot: you cover ground, you stop wherever a view catches you, and the gradients are gentle. Bike rental shops cluster near the pier, and at the time of writing a day’s hire runs roughly 200 to 400 lira depending on the bike. Bring water; the forest stretches are shadier than the coast road, but it still gets hot in July and August.

What is there to see on Heybeliada?

The headline answer in 2026 is the Halki Seminary, and the timing matters. This 19th-century theological school on Ümit Hill, set inside the Aya Triada (Holy Trinity) monastery complex, was shut in 1971 and has stood closed for over five decades. Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew announced in 2026 that it is set to reopen, with a ceremony planned for September. Even closed, it has been the most photographed building on the island; if the reopening holds, it becomes a genuine reason to make the trip. Check its status before you climb up, since visiting rules may change as it transitions back to active use.

Beyond the seminary, the island rewards slow wandering:

• Heybeliada Naval High School (Bahriye): the long pale building right by the water, with a naval lineage going back to 1773. It was closed as a school in 2016, so you admire it from the outside, but it remains the island’s most striking waterfront landmark.
• Aya Yorgi Cliff Monastery: a small pinkish chapel perched high with open views across to Büyükada. The walk up is the point as much as the chapel itself.
• Heybeliada Sanatorium: a piece of 20th-century Turkish history tied to figures like İsmet İnönü and the poet Ece Ayhan, sitting up in the pines.
• Hüseyin Rahmi Gürpınar Museum: the home of the Turkish novelist, turned into a small museum for fans of Turkish literature.
• Houses of worship across faiths: the Hagios Nikolaos Church and the Bet Yaakov Synagogue are quiet reminders that these islands were, for centuries, a shared Greek, Armenian, Jewish, and Turkish summer retreat.

That mix of communities is part of what makes the islands feel different from the mainland. If layered history is your thing, the Greek and Jewish quarters on the city side pair well with this trip; my walk through Fener and Balat covers the same multicultural thread back on shore.

Where should you swim on Heybeliada?

Heybeliada is one of the easiest places to actually get in the sea near Istanbul, which is half the reason people come out for the day. Here is where I’d point you, roughly in order of preference.

• Değirmenburnu Beach: the closest to the pier and the easiest with kids, thanks to a shallow, sandy entry and a shaded picnic area in the nature park behind it. There is a small entry fee for the picnic grounds; at the time of writing it sat around 60 lira for adults and half that for children, with little ones free.
• Green Beach (Aqua Green): the family pick if you want a bit of aquapark fun alongside the swimming, with free shuttle transport from the pier in season.
• Ada Beach Club: the more “club” option, with sun loungers, pine-framed views, and extras like mini golf and beach volleyball.
• Akvaryum Bay: a quieter cove that locals love, known for its mussels and its calm water. You earn it with a bit of a walk or a minibus hop, which keeps the crowds thin.
• German Bay (Alman Koyu): pebbly, clean, and facing the open sea, this is the one for people who like their swimming spots a little wild and uncommercial.

A practical note: most of these are seasonal, busiest from June through September, and weekends fill fast. Come on a weekday if you can. For the wider picture of swimming options around the city, my Istanbul beach guide lays out the mainland and island choices side by side, and if you’d rather reach a swim spot under sail, there are boat trips built around swimming off Istanbul too.

Where to eat on Heybeliada

Eat the way the island wants you to: slowly, by the water, with seafood. The line of meyhane and fish restaurants along the shore near the pier is the obvious move, where a spread of cold mezes, grilled fish, and a glass of rakı stretches happily into the afternoon. Prices on the islands run a little above the mainland, which is the toll for the view, so check the day’s fish price before you commit.

For something sweeter and cheaper, the old pudding shops are an island institution. The classic stop is the Nazlıgül pudding shop for tavuk göğsü (chicken-breast pudding, far better than it sounds), kazandibi, and proper Turkish puddings. Grab a tea at one of the small cafes facing the harbour and you have the whole island formula in one sitting. If you want to understand why this kind of meze-and-fish lunch is such a ritual here, my guide to Istanbul’s best fish and meze restaurants goes deep on the tradition.

Seeing the islands by boat

If you’d rather take in Heybeliada and its neighbours from the water, a private cruise lets you string the islands together at your own pace and anchor for a swim off the back coves where the ferries don’t go. We run small-group and private trips through Su Yatçılık’s Prince Islands cruise, which is a comfortable way to see Heybeliada, Büyükada, and Burgazada in a single afternoon without watching the ferry clock.

How long do you need, and when to go?

A day is plenty for a first visit: ferry over mid-morning, see the seminary side and the Naval School, swim and lunch in the afternoon, ferry back at sunset. Spring (April to June) and early autumn (September to October) are the sweet spots, with warm water, fewer crowds, and the pines smelling their best. July and August are gorgeous but busy, especially at weekends. Winter is a different, melancholic kind of beautiful: most of the beach businesses close, but the walks and the seafood lunches carry on, and you’ll have the island almost to yourself.

That, in the end, is why Heybeliada stays my favourite of the islands. It gives you forest, sea, and a stack of layered history, and it asks almost nothing of you in return except that you slow down. For more easy escapes within reach of the city, my roundup of day trip ideas around Istanbul is a good place to plan the next one.