Istanbul · Kabataş Pier · every night

Dinner, the show, and then the Party on the Bosphorus tonight

It is not a booze cruise and it does not pretend to be. It is a dinner cruise with a stage show that, after dessert, turns into the best-placed party in Istanbul: a DJ, a saxophonist playing live over the set, a floor that fills, and an open deck with the lit Asian shore going past behind it until the boat is alongside at midnight. €24.30 a person for the dinner, the show and the party together. The bar is extra, and it is priced on this page before you board.

Reserve for Tonight → What the Bar Costs →
DJ and live saxophone Open deck Until midnight 4.9 Google rating
Three registers · one evening

How the night builds

The evening is built in three registers that get louder as they go: a slow dinner, a live stage show, and a party on the water. Nobody is asked to skip the first two to get to the third, and by the time the DJ starts the whole room is already warm.

Begin The boat lit alongside at Kabataş before doors open

Doors and the deck

20:00

The boat is alongside from 20:00, the deck is open and empty, and the meze is already on the tables. The hour before departure is the slow part: a drink at the rail, the pier behind, the group photograph before anyone's hair has moved.

Main course served as the boat runs up the European shore

Dinner under way

21:00

Ropes off at 21:00. Ten mezes, then hot börek, then the main course you chose, served while Dolmabahçe and Ortaköy go past the glass and the first bridge comes overhead. A proper dinner, not a buffet to get through.

Belly dance, the fourth act, moving between the tables Folk dancers mid-leap on the cruise stage

The show

Four acts

A dervish to open, then folk dances that end with knives on the stage floor, a Central Asian drum rhythm that gets every table clapping, and belly dance as the peak with guests pulled up to join it. By the fourth act nobody in the room is sitting still.

The party Live saxophone over the DJ set on the open deck

DJ and saxophone

After dessert

Dessert lands and the DJ takes the room, with a saxophonist playing live over the set. The floor in front of the stage fills, the open deck fills, and the boat runs home along the Asian shore with the lights of Üsküdar behind the dancing. It goes on until the boat is alongside at Kabataş, between 23:45 and midnight.

After dessert · until the pier

The best-placed dance floor in the city

Every club in Istanbul has a view of a wall. This one has a view of two continents going past at walking pace, and it moves. This is what the last hour is like.

There are two places to be. The floor in the salon, in front of the stage the show just left, where the DJ set is loudest and the saxophone is a few metres away. And the open deck, up a stair and out in the air, where the same set carries and the shore is the backdrop: Beylerbeyi Palace lit almost at the water line, the painted houses of Kuzguncuk, the mosques of Üsküdar, and then Maiden's Tower on its rock, closer than anything else all night.

The saxophonist is the thing people do not expect. The DJ builds the set and the sax plays live over the top of it, on the floor and out on deck, and it turns a playlist into a performance. It is the part of the night that ends up on everyone's phone.

The room is mixed, and that is the point. A DJ set for a salon with guests from a dozen countries in it is built to move all of them: the table of friends from a hostel, the couple who came for the dervish and stayed for the floor, the hen party, the family whose children are asleep by the window. It is a party that a family is in the room for, which tells you what kind of party it is.

It ends when the boat is alongside, between 23:45 and midnight. Kabataş is a minute from the tram, the funicular up to Taksim is beside it, and taxis wait at the entrance, so for anyone not finished, Beyoğlu, Karaköy and Taksim are a short ride away. If you booked the transfer, a driver is waiting instead.

The floor in front of the stage once the DJ takes over Guests on the open deck with the Asian shore lit behind The deck rail on the run home past Üsküdar
The bar · priced before you board

What is in the glass, and what it costs

"Party cruise" and "open bar" get searched together, so here is the bar exactly as it is. Soft drinks are unlimited and inside the price. Alcohol is not, and the two ways of buying it are below.

Soft drinks
Water, cola and juice, unlimited soft drinks for every guest all evening, already paid for in the €24.30. Nobody has to buy anything to have something in their hand all night.
The drinks package
+€10 per person for two glasses from the bar: wine, beer, rakı, vodka, whisky, gin, tequila, rum, cognac or champagne. Decided when you book or added by message, paid on board with the rest, and taken by whoever at the table wants it, not by the whole table.
By the glass
The bar on board sells by the glass all night, before and after the package if you took one, for anyone who wants a third or did not take the package at all.
Rakı
The drink to try if you try one: aniseed spirit, poured over ice with water, which turns it cloudy white. It is what the beef skewer was made to go with, and it is on the package list.
What there is not
An open bar. An all-you-can-drink ticket. A "bottomless" anything. A dinner, a stage show and a DJ set for €24.30 do not come with alcohol on tap, and any page that says they do is selling a different evening.

Why there is no open bar

Three reasons, and none of them is a secret. The price: the €24.30 covers a four-course dinner, a live show and a three-hour cruise, and an open bar on top would double it for everyone, including the many guests who do not drink. The room: there are families and couples aboard, and the deck at midnight is a better place for it. And the water: this is a boat, and the crew would rather everyone walked off it. Two glasses for €10, and more by the glass if you want them, is where that lands.

And who it is not for

The people on the deck

Who this night suits, in the order we see them most, and two kinds of guest who should book something else.

Friends on a city break
A full night out, dinner included, for €24.30 a head, starting at a pier a minute from the tram and ending at the same pier before the trams stop. Book under one name and the tables are side by side.
Hostels and Erasmus
The night in Istanbul that gets recommended in the common room. Dinner, a show and a DJ on the water for the price of a dinner, with nothing paid in advance and no card needed to book.
Birthdays
A long table, a dessert that arrives as the DJ starts, and a deck for the rest of it. How a group is seated and paid for is on the groups page.
Hen and stag nights
Yes, with the room understood: families at the next table, the boat alongside by midnight, and Beyoğlu a short ride away for what comes after. The drinks package covers the toast; the bar covers the rest by the glass.
Couples who dance
The dervish and the dinner first, then the floor, then the deck rail past Maiden's Tower. The evening for two, with the romantic table, is on its own page.
Not for
Anyone who wants a club until four in the morning: this ends at midnight, and the clubs are where you go next. Anyone who wants the boat to themselves: this is a shared sailing, and a private boat is a different product at a different price. Anyone who wants an all-you-can-drink night: see the bar section above.
One ticket · the whole night

What a night out costs here

There is no party-only ticket and no late-boarding price. One ticket covers the dinner, the show and the party, because they are the same evening. Here it is with the two things worth adding.

The evening
€24.30 per person: the three-hour cruise, four courses, the four-act show, unlimited soft drinks, and the DJ and saxophone until the pier.
With the drinks package
€24.30 + €10 = €34.30: two glasses each from the bar. More by the glass if you want them.
With the transfer
€34.30 + €5 = €39.30: a driver from the hotel to the pier for 20:00 and from the pier back at midnight. Same-day transfer can be added until 18:30.
Paid
On board, at the end, in cash in euros, lira or dollars, or by card. Nothing in advance, no deposit, no booking fee, no cover charge.
Booked
Same day until the 21:00 departure, subject to space. Cancelled free until 19:00. A name, a date and a number of people is the whole reservation.

The straight version

This is a dinner cruise that ends as a party, on a shared boat, with people of every age aboard, and it is alongside by midnight. Dress is smart casual rather than club wear, the deck is cooler than the pier in every season, and the trams are still running when you step off. If that is the night you want, it is €24.30 and it sails at 21:00 tonight.

Before you book the night

Questions about the party

Bosphorus party cruise — frequently asked
Is this a booze cruise with an open bar?
No. Soft drinks are unlimited and included; alcohol is optional, through the drinks package at €10 per person for two glasses or by the glass at the bar. There is no all-you-can-drink ticket on this boat.
What time does the party end?
When the boat is alongside at Kabataş, between 23:45 and midnight. The DJ and the saxophone play from dessert until then. The trams are still running at the pier, and Beyoğlu and Taksim are a short ride away for anyone carrying on.
Is there a dance floor?
Two. The floor in front of the stage in the salon, where the DJ set is loudest, and the open deck, where the same set carries and the Asian shore goes past behind the dancing.
Is the DJ on every night?
Yes. Every sailing ends the same way: dessert, then the DJ with live saxophone until the pier. It is part of the €24.30, not a weekend extra.
What kind of music is it?
A DJ set built for a salon with guests from a dozen countries in it, with a saxophonist playing live over the top. It is made to move a mixed room rather than to satisfy one genre, and the sax is what people remember.
Is there an age limit?
No. It is a dinner cruise with a party at the end, and there are families and couples aboard every night. The party is on the floor and the deck; the tables stay tables.
Do I have to have dinner, or can I board just for the party?
It is one ticket for one evening. Dinner, the show and the party are the same sailing and the boat does not stop to pick anyone up after dessert. €24.30 covers all three.
Can I bring my own drinks?
Everything you drink on board comes from the bar on board: unlimited soft drinks in the price, and wine, beer, rakı and spirits through the package or by the glass.
What should I wear?
Smart casual. It is a dinner first, so most guests dress up a little, and it is not a club dress code. Bring a layer for the deck: it is cooler on the water than on the pier, in every season.
Can we book the boat as a private party?
No. This is a shared evening sailing, and that is why a night with dinner, a show and a DJ costs €24.30 a head rather than the price of hiring a boat. Groups are seated together at their own run of tables; the details are on the groups page.
Where does the night continue after midnight?
Kabataş is a minute from the T1 tram and beside the F1 funicular up to Taksim, and taxis wait at the pier entrance. Karaköy, Beyoğlu and Taksim are all a short ride, and they are where the night goes next.
Can I book for tonight?
Yes, until the 21:00 departure, subject to space. One message on WhatsApp or the form on this page confirms it, nothing is paid in advance, and cancellation is free until 19:00.
Tonight · 21:00 · until the pier

Take the deck

Reserve in about a minute, or send one message on WhatsApp with a date and a number of people. Nothing is charged until you are on board.

Reserve for Tonight → Ask on WhatsApp →

€24.30 per person, all in · drinks package +€10 · free cancellation until 19:00

Our Pier · Istanbul
Kabataş

Find the Pier

Where the evening begins — on the European shore, at the foot of the tram line.

Kabataş İskelesi, Beyoğlu / İstanbul

— 01 —
1-min walk From Kabataş tram stop (T1 line)
— 02 —
5 minutes From Taksim via F1 funicular
— 03 —
5-min walk From Dolmabahçe Palace
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€24.30 per person · all in
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