Which day trip should you take from Istanbul?

Start with the city, not around it

The historic peninsula holds the sites most people came for, and they sit close enough together to see in one day on foot: the great Byzantine church that became a mosque, the Ottoman imperial mosque facing it across a park, the palace of the sultans above the water, the Roman-era square that was once a chariot-racing track, and the covered market.

This is a walking day rather than a driving day, which is why it works best when your legs are fresh.

The Bosphorus: not really a day trip

A Bosphorus cruise is the one thing on this list that is not a full day. It is a few hours on the water, which makes it the natural companion to a half-day of something else.

Its value is perspective. Istanbul was built around this strait, and the city only makes sense once you have seen it from the middle of the water — palaces at the shoreline, wooden mansions between them, fortresses facing each other across the narrows, two continents on either side.

Evening departures with dinner are a separate, more expensive product from the daytime cruise. Both cover the same water; they differ in what you do while on it.

Trips out of the city

Once you have a day to spare, the choice depends on what you want the day to feel like.

• The Princes' Islands — a ferry across the Sea of Marmara to islands where private cars do not run. Pine woods, wooden houses, sea air. A slow day, and the closest thing to a rest that Istanbul offers. Best in warm weather; out of season much of it closes.
• Bursa — the first Ottoman capital, at the foot of a mountain across the water. Early Ottoman architecture that predates everything you saw in Istanbul, a silk market that has traded for centuries, and thermal springs. A history day.
• Gallipoli — the peninsula where the 1915 campaign was fought. Cemeteries, memorials and battlefields, with a long drive each way. For Australian and New Zealand visitors in particular this is rarely just sightseeing; it is closer to a pilgrimage.

Choosing by what you want

If you are only passing through

Istanbul is one of the world's busiest transfer airports, and long connections here are common. A layover tour is built around your connection time rather than a fixed schedule: you are collected from the airport and returned to it with margin.

Whether it is worth doing depends on how long you have. A short connection is better spent in the terminal than in traffic. A long one is a free half-day in a city most people never expected to see that trip.

The deciding factor is your return time, not the sights — which is why these trips are planned backwards from your flight.

Two things worth knowing

Istanbul traffic is real. Distances on a map underestimate the day. This is the main reason a trip out of the city is a full day rather than a half one.

Some sites close on particular days. Museums and palaces keep their own weekly closing days, and religious buildings restrict visits at prayer times, particularly on Fridays. If you have a single day in Istanbul, this is worth checking against that day rather than discovering it at the gate.