Istanbul · Kabataş Pier · for two

The Bosphorus, for two Romantic Dinner Cruise tonight

Three hours on the water with one person: a table held in your name where every seat faces the water, ten small plates to share before the plate you each chose, the palaces lit along both shores, and a stage that opens with a dervish turning in silence. For €15 the table is dressed with candles and flowers before you are shown to it. The evening is €24.30 a person, paid on board, and nobody but the two of you needs to know why you booked it.

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Romantic table, +€15 Every table faces water No prepayment 4.9 Google rating

The one extra on this cruise that exists for couples. It costs €15 for the table, not per person, and it is done before the doors open, so that when you are walked through the salon the table with the candles and the flowers on it is the one you are walked to.

What it is: Candles lit and fresh flowers on your table, arranged before you board. The rest of the table setting is the same as everyone's, which is the point: it is your table that is different, not your ticket.
What it costs: €15 per table, once, on top of the €24.30 per person. Paid on board with the rest, so nothing is charged before the evening.

How to add it: Tick it in the reservation form on this page, or say "romantic table" in your WhatsApp message. If you have already booked, send a message and we add it to the reservation.
What else is on the table: Ten cold mezes to share, hot börek, a main course each from five, semolina dessert, and unlimited soft drinks. Wine or champagne is a separate, optional package, priced below.

What it is not

It is not a private room and not a separate deck. This is a shared evening sailing in one salon, with other couples, families and groups at their own tables, and that is why the whole night costs €24.30 a person rather than the several hundred a private boat runs to. The romantic table makes yours the table people glance at on their way to their own. If you want the boat to yourselves, this is not that; if you want an evening that feels like one, it is exactly that.

A proposal on a boat has one feature no restaurant has: for three hours, neither of you can leave. That is either the best thing about it or the reason to plan it properly, and the planning comes down to choosing the moment. There are three that work, and they are very different.

01Before departure: Doors open at 20:00 and the boat does not leave until 21:00. That hour is the quietest the deck will be all night: the pier behind you, the strait ahead, the salon filling slowly below. In summer the light is still going down over the water. It is the moment to choose if you want it to be private and you want the rest of the evening to be the celebration.
02As the dervish opens: The show begins with the whirling dervish, and the salon goes still for it. A table dressed with candles, the lights down, and the quietest minutes of the night. Choose this if you want it at the table, with the dinner around you, and you would rather nobody was looking.
03On deck, under the bridge: The open deck as the boat passes beneath the Bosphorus Bridge with the lights changing overhead, or later, on the return, as it comes past Maiden's Tower closer than anything else all night. Choose this if you want the photograph, because this is where the photograph is.

How we help: The reservation is in one name, and nothing about it is said at the gangway or the table. Tell us on WhatsApp what you have in mind and roughly when, and the table is dressed, the timing is understood, and the crew stay out of the frame. The candles and the flowers are already there, so nothing has to be smuggled aboard.
The photograph: The crew are used to being handed a phone. Ask any of them, at the table or on deck, and say beforehand if you would like it taken without being asked.

What we cannot do: Stop the boat, empty the deck, or promise the weather. On the rare night the open deck is closed for rain, the table and the dervish are still there, and both of them are indoors.
Afterwards: You are on the water until midnight with a stage, a DJ and an open deck, and a bar that sells champagne by the glass. Then the tram, a taxi, or the driver you booked at €5 a person, waiting at the pier.

The sailing is the same every night of the year. What changes is why the two of you are on it.

Anniversary: Tell us the number of years when you book and we will know why the table is dressed. The evening runs from 20:00 to midnight, which leaves the rest of the night to yourselves.
Honeymoon: The first evening in Istanbul is the one to spend on the water: it shows you the whole city at once, both continents, before you have walked a street of it. Add the transfer and the hotel is handled in both directions.
Valentine's Day: The boat sails on 14 February as it does every night, at 21:00, at the same price. It is the busiest night of the winter for tables for two, so book early, and add the romantic table when you do.
A birthday for two: The dressed table, the main course each of you chose, and a dessert that arrives as the DJ takes over from the stage. Tell us on WhatsApp if there is something you would like to arrange and we will say what the boat can do.
A second honeymoon: The couples who book the romantic table most often are not the ones getting engaged. Twenty years in, the candles matter more.
No occasion: A Tuesday. The strait is lit on a Tuesday too, and the table costs the same.

The hour-by-hour timetable is on the dinner cruise page. This is the other version: what the evening is like for two people who came for each other rather than for the itinerary.

It starts slowly. The boat is alongside at Kabataş from 20:00 and you are shown to your table while the salon is still half empty, the candles already lit if you asked for them. The meze arrives on shared platters while the boat is still tied up, so the first half hour is ten small plates, the water outside the window going from blue to black, and nowhere to be. When the ropes come off at 21:00 you barely notice.

Dolmabahçe goes past first, six hundred metres of lit marble a stone's throw from the glass, and then the stage lights come down and a man in white begins to turn. The dervish is the quietest ten minutes of the night, and the best. The folk dances that follow are the opposite, and the two of you will disagree about which you liked more.

The main course comes with the first bridge overhead. Go up on deck for it if you can: the lights on the cables change colour as you pass beneath, and the deck rail is where couples end up, in every season, in a coat if they have to. The boat turns under the second bridge and the Asian shore comes home darker and quieter, Beylerbeyi Palace lit almost at the water line.

Dessert is the signal: the DJ takes the room and a saxophone plays over the top. Dance if you dance, and if you do not, the deck stays yours for the last stretch past Üsküdar and Maiden's Tower, which the boat passes closer than anything else all night. Alongside again between 23:45 and midnight. The tram is a minute away and your driver, if you booked one, is already there.

One price per person, three optional extras, and nothing else. Here is the evening for two added up, in every combination, so the number on the night is the number you expected.

Two dinners: 2 × €24.30 = €48.60. The cruise, the four courses, the show and the soft drinks for both of you. This is the whole price if you add nothing.
With the romantic table: €48.60 + €15 = €63.60. Candles and flowers on the table before you arrive. The €15 is per table, so it is the same for two as it would be for four.
With drinks for two: €63.60 + 2 × €10 = €83.60. Two glasses each from the bar: wine, champagne, rakı or anything on the list. One of you can take it without the other.
With the transfer: €83.60 + 2 × €5 = €93.60. A driver from the hotel to the pier and from the pier to the hotel at midnight. Same-day transfer can be added until 18:30.
Paid: Once, on board, at the end of the evening, in cash in euros, lira or dollars, or by card. Nothing in advance, no deposit, no booking fee. Cancel free until 19:00 on the day.

Romantic Bosphorus dinner cruise — frequently asked

Can you keep a proposal secret from my partner?

Yes. The reservation is in one name and nothing about the extras is mentioned at the gangway or at the table. The candles and flowers are simply there when you sit down. Tell us on WhatsApp what you are planning and when, and the crew will know to say nothing and stay out of the way.

Can we have a table by the window?

The salon is glazed along both long walls and laid out so that every table faces the water, and the stage is visible from all of them. Tell us your preference when you book and we will do what the night's seating plan allows.

Is the romantic table private?

No. It is your own table, dressed with candles and flowers, in a shared salon. There is no private room and no private deck; the sailing is shared by everyone on board, which is why it costs €24.30 a person.

Is it quiet enough to talk?

During the meze and the dervish, yes, easily. The folk dances and the belly dance are live and loud in the way a stage show is, and the DJ after dessert is a party. The open deck is the quiet place all night: go up for the bridges, stay up for the conversation.

Is there a dress code?

Smart casual. Most couples dress up a little for it and nobody is turned away for not doing so. Bring a layer for the deck: it is cooler on the water than on the pier in every season.

Is Valentine's Day different?

The sailing and the price are the same as any other night: 21:00 from Kabataş, €24.30 per person. It is the busiest night of the winter for tables for two, so book as early as you can and add the romantic table when you book rather than on the day.

Can we add the romantic table after we have booked?

Yes. Send a message on WhatsApp with the name on the reservation and we will add it. It is €15 per table, paid on board with everything else.

Is wine or champagne included?

No. Soft drinks are unlimited and included. Wine, champagne and spirits come from the bar on board, either through the drinks package at €10 per person for two glasses or by the glass. One of you can take the package without the other.

Can someone take our photograph?

Yes. Any member of the crew, at the table or on deck. If it is for a proposal and you would like it taken without being asked at the moment, tell us on WhatsApp beforehand.

How do we get back to the hotel at midnight?

The T1 tram stop is a minute from the pier and the F1 funicular to Taksim is beside it. Taxis wait at the entrance. Or add the transfer at €5 per person and a driver is waiting when the boat comes alongside.

What do the two of us pay in total?

€48.60 for two dinners. €63.60 with the romantic table. €83.60 with the drinks package for both. €93.60 with the transfer as well. All of it paid on board at the end, nothing in advance.

Can we book for tonight?

Yes, until the 21:00 departure, subject to space, and the romantic table can be added to a same-day booking. One message on WhatsApp or the form on this page confirms it. Cancellation is free until 19:00.

The Bosphorus, for two Romantic Dinner Cruise tonight

Set before you arrive

What it is not

The moment, and where to put it

An occasion, or none at all

What the evening feels like

What two people pay

Questions couples ask us

Take the table for two

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