Prince Islands in Istanbul (Adalar): A Real Local Guide

The Prince Islands, which everyone in Istanbul just calls Adalar (literally “the islands”), are a small archipelago in the Sea of Marmara about an hour offshore by ferry. They are the closest thing the city has to a proper day off. No cars, no traffic, no horns. Just pine forest, old wooden mansions, the smell of the sea, and the kind of slow afternoon you forget Istanbul is even capable of. If you have a spare day and the weather is kind, this is where I send people first.

Here is the honest version of what to expect, how to get there in 2026, which island to pick, and where to spend your hours once you arrive.

The best time to go is a warm, clear day from May through September. The ferry ride itself is half the pleasure, so you want sunshine and calm water, not a grey Marmara chop.

A little history (and why they are called the Prince Islands)

Over the centuries the islands have gone by all sorts of names: the Demonisia, the Red Islands, the Holy Islands. The one that stuck, Princes’ Islands, comes straight out of the Byzantine and Ottoman playbook. Inconvenient royals, deposed princes, and out-of-favour aristocrats were exiled here, sent across the water and left to live out their days within sight of a capital they could no longer enter.

By the 19th century the islands had become a genteel summer retreat for Istanbul’s Greek, Armenian, Jewish and Levantine communities, who built the timber villas you still see today. Leon Trotsky spent four years of his exile on Büyükada in the early 1930s; his old house is a fenced-off ruin now, but locals will still point you toward it. Regular ferry service between the city and the islands has run since 1846, and in spirit not much about the place has changed since.

Which islands can you actually visit?

There are nine islands, but only four are open to visitors and have permanent residents: Büyükada, Heybeliada, Burgazada and Kınalıada. The rest are off-limits. Sivriada and Tavşanadası are uninhabited, Yassıada and Kaşıkadası are restricted, and Sedef Island is mostly private.

If you only have one day and want the classic experience, go to Büyükada (“Big Island”), the largest and liveliest. If you want something quieter and greener, Heybeliada is my pick, and I wrote a whole separate piece on it here: a slower guide to Heybeliada. Burgazada is small, literary and calm. Kınalıada is the first stop from the city, rockier and less wooded, popular with locals for a quick swim.

How do you get to the Prince Islands?

By ferry, and only by ferry. The islands have no bridge and no airport, so the boat is the entire story.

Ferry routes, time and price

Public ferries run with Şehir Hatları (the city line) plus TurYol and Dentur, and there are faster sea buses too. Boats leave from several docks on both sides of the city:

• Kabataş and Beşiktaş on the European side
• Eminönü (TurYol) on the European side
• Kadıköy and Bostancı on the Asian side
• Maltepe on the Asian side

From the Asian side (Kadıköy or Bostancı) you are closer, so the ride is shorter. From Kabataş expect roughly 75 to 90 minutes with stops, since the ferry calls at Kınalıada, Burgazada and Heybeliada before reaching Büyükada. Pay with your Istanbulkart, the same card you use for the metro and tram. At the time of writing the single fare is around 137 TL (a couple of US dollars), which is one of the great travel bargains anywhere. Tap on, find a seat on the upper deck, buy a glass of tea from the steward, and watch the city slide away.

My advice: take an early-ish ferry there and an early-evening ferry back, and check the live times before you commit, because the schedule shifts with the season and the day of the week. The full breakdown of routes and tickets is in my Istanbul ferry timetables and fares guide, and the islands sit naturally on a wider tour of the Asian side of Istanbul if you are starting from Kadıköy.

Get to the dock 15 to 20 minutes early on summer weekends. Locals pour out to the islands on a sunny Saturday and the queues build fast.

Getting around once you arrive (no cars, and now no horses)

This is the big change worth knowing about. For generations the islands ran on horse-drawn carriages called fayton, but those were phased out after an animal-welfare crisis, and the carriages are gone. In their place the municipality now runs electric minibuses and shuttles that loop the islands on set routes. You buy a ticket with your Istanbulkart and ride them up the hills and around the shore.

Honestly, though, the islands are made for two simpler things: walking and cycling. Bike rental shops cluster near every ferry pier, and a bike is the best 1 to 2 hour investment you can make on Büyükada, looping the coast road through the pines with the sea on one side. Bring comfortable shoes either way, because the prettiest corners are uphill and on foot.

What to see on each island

Büyükada: the Aya Yorgi walk and grand old mansions

Büyükada has the most to do. The single thing I would not skip is the climb to the Aya Yorgi (St. George) monastery at the island’s highest point. From Luna Park square it is about a 750-metre walk up a steep, paved path, 20 to 30 minutes at an easy pace, with benches and a couple of spring taps along the way. The reward at the top is a small 18th-century Greek Orthodox church and one of the best panoramas in the whole Istanbul region: islands, sea, and the distant city skyline. The monastery is free to enter. It gets busy on its feast days (April 23 and September 24), when thousands climb up on pilgrimage.

Back down in town, walk the streets to admire the wooden Ottoman-era köşk mansions, look out for the ruins of Trotsky’s house, and step inside the Museum of the Princes’ Islands (Adalar Müzesi), which opened in 2010 and tells the layered story of the archipelago through photos, documents and film. The grand Splendid Palace Hotel from 1908, with its twin domes, is still operating if you fancy a coffee on a historic terrace.

Heybeliada: greenest of them all

Heybeliada is the second-largest and, to my eye, the loveliest for a slow wander. The headline sight is the Halki Seminary (Aya Triada Monastery), the historic Greek Orthodox theological school on the Hill of Hope. After a long closure its restoration was completed and the building was formally inaugurated in 2026, though at the time of writing it has not reopened as a working school. The pine-covered hills, the old naval academy and the quiet bays make this the island to come to when you simply want to breathe.

Burgazada: a writer’s island

Small, leafy and gentle, Burgazada is for people who want peace above all. The reason to come is the Sait Faik Abasıyanık Museum, the seafront house of one of Turkey’s most beloved short-story writers, kept much as he left it. It is open Wednesday to Sunday and admission is free at the time of writing. There is also the church of Aya Yani and a holy spring for those who like a quiet detour.

Kınalıada: the closest swim

Kınalıada (“Henna Island”) gets its name from the reddish iron in its rock and soil. It is the least wooded of the four and the first stop from the city, which makes it a favourite for a fast, no-fuss swim. Connoisseurs of quiet and sea-bathing leave perfectly happy; the small Monastery of Christ is worth the short walk up.

Where can you swim on the Prince Islands?

Büyükada has the most beach clubs, eight or so equipped spots, several family-friendly. Heybeliada has popular swimming coves, and Burgazada and Kınalıada both have simpler beaches with showers and changing rooms. The catch: almost all of them are paid beach clubs, where your entrance buys a sunbed, umbrella, and use of the toilets and showers, and many of the shorelines are rocky rather than sandy. Bring water shoes.

Because the clubs can be pricey and crowded in high summer, a lot of people skip the shore entirely and take to the water instead, anchoring in the calmer coves to swim straight off a boat. That is my favourite way to do the islands on a hot day, and I explain the logistics in my guide to swimming in Istanbul by boat. Our own company runs a private Princes’ Islands yacht cruise that drops anchor in the quiet bays for a swim, which sidesteps the beach-club queues completely. For the bigger picture on city swimming spots, the Istanbul beach guide is a good companion read.

Where to eat: fish, meze and a glass of rakı

The islands are seafood territory, and a proper island lunch looks like this: a table near the water, a spread of cold meze, a plate of grilled fish from the Marmara, and a glass of rakı, the anise spirit Turks slowly sip with seafood. Many of the fish restaurants on Büyükada keep a tank so you can pick your catch. It is touristy, yes, and not cheap by Istanbul standards, but eating slowly by the water is the whole point of the trip. If you want to plan a meal properly, my round-up of the best fish and meze restaurants in Istanbul carries over neatly to the islands.

A budgeting note: prices on the islands run higher than the mainland because everything arrives by boat, so if you are watching the wallet, my take on whether Istanbul is cheap or expensive is worth a glance before you go.

When is the best time to visit?

The island climate tracks Istanbul’s, but with a constant cooling breeze off the Marmara that makes the summer heat genuinely bearable. A day on the islands is one of my favourite escapes from the Istanbul summer swelter for exactly that reason. The season really opens in May and stays good through October, with the swimming window roughly June to September; water temperatures peak around 23 to 24°C in August. Winters are mild, wet and very quiet, beautiful in a melancholy way, but most beach clubs and seasonal cafés shut down.

If you can, go midweek to dodge the weekend crowds, take the first sensible ferry out, and stay for the golden hour. Watching the sun drop over the water on the boat home is the kind of moment people remember from a whole Istanbul trip, and it pairs perfectly with my list of the most beautiful seaside spots in Istanbul.

The Prince Islands are not about ticking off monuments. They are about pine air, a long lunch, a slow bike ride and the rare gift of silence within reach of one of the world’s loudest cities. Give them a full day. You will not want to rush back.