6 Days Off the Beaten Path From Istanbul
Six days from an Istanbul base keeps the 5-day spine untouched, the Princes’ Islands, a Bosphorus cruise, Edirne, Bursa, and Burgazada, then adds a single, honestly rushed day to Gallipoli and Troy for travelers who cannot spare a seventh day. Read the warning under Day 6 before booking this version; the 7-day plan does the same pair properly instead, with an overnight in Canakkale.
Book these before you go
- The Princes’ Islands round-trip ferry ticket on GetYourGuide
- The Bursa Teleferik cable car ticket on GetYourGuide
- A Gallipoli and Troy day tour with a driver on Viator
- A Sultanahmet or Beyoglu stay on Booking.com
| Day | Focus | Travel time from Istanbul |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Princes’ Islands (Buyukada) | ~90 min ferry from Kabatas |
| 2 | Bosphorus cruise | 15 min DIY crossing, or up to 6 hrs on the paid tour |
| 3 | Edirne | 2h15-2h45 by direct bus |
| 4 | Bursa | 1h40 ferry plus a 25-30 min transfer, or a 3-5 hr bus |
| 5 | Burgazada | ~85 min ferry from Kabatas |
| 6 | Gallipoli and Troy (compressed) | 4.5-5.5 hrs each way by road |
Day 1: Princes’ Islands
Morning
The Sehir Hatlari ferry from Kabatas takes about 90 minutes to Buyukada for roughly 137 TRY one-way on an Istanbulkart (verify, fares rise with inflation), per the official Adalar timetable .
Afternoon
Rent a bike or electric cart; cars have been banned outright since the 2020 crackdown finally cleared the horse-drawn carriages off the roads.
Evening
Head back with time for dinner near Kabatas. Buy the return ticket a day ahead on a summer weekend.
Day 2: A Bosphorus cruise
Morning
Choose between the Sehir Hatlari Short Circle, about 2 hours for roughly 340 TRY, and the Long Tour, about 6 hours for around 640 TRY with lunch included, both on Sehir Hatlari’s Bosphorus Tours page .
Afternoon
The plain commuter ferry to Kadikoy or Uskudar covers most of the same water in 15-20 minutes, if a tour slot doesn’t fit.
Evening
Take the sunset cruise you booked, or the free commuter crossing instead.
Day 3: Edirne
Morning
Direct buses run close to hourly from around 05:00 to 23:00; the fastest service covers the 2h15 route in just over two hours.
Afternoon
The Selimiye Mosque, Mimar Sinan’s masterpiece, is the entire reason for the trip.
Evening
Eat before the return bus; Edirne runs on Thrace’s own regional cooking.
Day 4: Bursa
Morning
An IDO fast ferry to Mudanya runs about 1 hour 40 minutes, followed by a 25-30 minute transfer into central Bursa; a direct bus alone runs 3 to 5 hours.
Afternoon
The Grand Mosque, the Green Tomb, and the UNESCO-listed village of Cumalikizik cover the weight of the Ottoman empire’s first capital.
Evening
Reverse the outbound route; count on 10 to 14.5 hours round trip.
Day 5: Burgazada
Morning
Ride the Sehir Hatlari line back out toward the islands, this time stopping at Burgazada, roughly 85 minutes from Kabatas, the third largest and quietest of the four inhabited islands.
Afternoon
Visit the house of the writer Sait Faik Abasiyanik, now a small museum, and find a beach with none of Buyukada’s crowds.
Evening
Take a late ferry back to Kabatas for an early night; Day 6 starts before sunrise.
Day 6: Gallipoli and Troy, the compressed version
Morning
Leave Istanbul before dawn for the 4.5 to 5.5 hour drive to the Gallipoli peninsula. A driver-led day tour genuinely exists as a bookable product, but it spends more hours on the road than at either site, so go in treating it as a compromise, not the version you actually want.
Afternoon
Walk the battlefield memorials and cemeteries at a pace the schedule allows, then cross the short ferry to Troy, roughly 30 minutes south of Canakkale, for a fast pass through the ancient site.
Evening
Drive back to Istanbul, arriving late. The two legs of driving alone eat 9 to 11 hours of this single day, leaving only 1 to 2 hours actually at the sites.
Should you really do Gallipoli and Troy as one long day?
Only if a fixed flight leaves no other option. Every serious operator sells this pairing as a 2-day, 1-night trip based in Canakkale instead, because the drive alone consumes most of a single day before you’ve reached a single memorial. The 7-day itinerary splits the same drive properly.
Currency is the Turkish lira, running roughly 47 to the dollar in mid-2026 and moving fast; verify any TRY figure above before you spend it. Pack an Istanbulkart for the first five days; every ferry on this itinerary runs cheaper on it than on single paper tickets.