On the water
Dolmabahçe and the Bosphorus
How Dolmabahçe Palace meets the Bosphorus: the filled-in bay, the façade from a ferry, the mosque and clock tower beside it, and how to see it from the water.
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Dolmabahçe Palace was built facing the Bosphorus, on a bay that was filled in to make a garden, and its long façade is best seen from a ferry or a cruise on the strait. The Dolmabahçe Mosque and a clock tower stand on the waterfront square beside it. Public ferries call at Kabataş and Beşiktaş, and a sightseeing cruise gives the same stretch of shore.
A palace that faces the water
The Bosphorus is not the backdrop of Dolmabahçe Palace but the reason for its site. The place was originally a bay where the Ottoman fleet anchored, and it was filled in over time to become a garden. The palace was built along the new shore, and from the strait its exterior reads as a classical European arrangement of two wings divided by a large central projecting block. The long white façade, the railings along the quay and the gate that opens on the water belong to the same composition.
The strait in a paragraph
The Bosphorus is a natural strait joining the Black Sea with the Sea of Marmara, and it marks one of the borders between Asia and Europe. It divides Istanbul in two. Ottoman palaces line the shores on both sides, among them Topkapı, Dolmabahçe, Yıldız, Çırağan, Beylerbeyi, Küçüksu and Ihlamur, so a boat trip is a way of reading the empire's building history along the water.
Seeing it from a ferry
Public ferries are one way onto the strait. Şehir Hatları runs lines that call at Beşiktaş and Kabataş, including crossings from Kadıköy on the Asian shore. The ferries accept the Istanbulkart, the contactless transport card. Lines and timetables change, so check the operator's current timetable. A crossing that ends at Beşiktaş or Kabataş is a short Bosphorus trip in its own right, and it ends beside the palace.
Seeing it from a cruise
A sightseeing cruise gives a longer look at the shore. The cruise on the booking cards is a 90-minute sail with hourly departures and an optional audio guide on your phone. Its published highlights name the skyline and Galata Tower and do not name the palace, so treat Dolmabahçe as a sight to look for and not as a promised stop, and check the route on the booking page. A cruise shows the façade and not the interior, so it complements a palace visit and does not replace one.
The mosque beside the palace
The Dolmabahçe Mosque stands on the waterfront next to the palace. The architect Garabet Balyan designed it for the Queen Mother Bezmialem Valide Sultan, building ran from 1853 to 1855, and her son Abdülmecid saw it to completion after her death. It is a baroque mosque with twin minarets, and huge stone arches on its façades are cut with large windows that let light flood the interior. It served for a time as a naval museum in the 20th century and has been used for prayer again since 1967.
The clock tower
The clock tower stands on the waterfront square, outside the palace and beside the mosque. Sultan Abdülhamid II ordered it, and the court architect Sarkis Balyan designed it between 1890 and 1895. It is in the Ottoman neo-baroque style, four-sided and four storeys tall, and the clock came from the French clockmaker Jean-Paul Garnier and was installed by the court clock master Johann Mayer. Two sides of the tower carry Abdülhamid's tughra.
A morning on the shore
A day that works well here is the palace in the morning, then the water. The Kabataş and Beşiktaş piers lie on the same stretch of waterfront as the palace, so you can finish inside and be on a ferry soon afterwards, or arrive by tram and leave by boat. Beşiktaş itself has the other great Ottoman buildings of this shore, including Çırağan Palace, Yıldız Palace and Ortaköy Mosque, if you want to extend the day.
Who this isn't for
A boat shows the façade and not the inside. If you want the state rooms, the Crystal Staircase and the Harem, you need the palace ticket, and a cruise cannot stand in for it. If you are short of time, one of the two is enough: the palace gives you the interior, and the water gives you the shore, but neither needs the other.
Read next: How to get to Dolmabahçe Palace
Frequently asked questions
Why is Dolmabahçe Palace on the Bosphorus?
It was built on a bay of the Bosphorus where the Ottoman fleet once anchored, which was filled in to become a garden. The palace faces the strait along the new shore.
Can I see the palace from a ferry?
Yes, from the water you see its long façade. Public ferries call at the Kabataş and Beşiktaş piers beside the palace; check the timetable for your line.
Does the sightseeing cruise stop at the palace?
No. It is a 90-minute sightseeing sail, and its published highlights do not name the palace. Treat the palace as a sight to look for.
What is the building beside the palace?
The Dolmabahçe Mosque, a baroque mosque with twin minarets that dates from the 1850s and was designed by Garabet Balyan.
How long is the Bosphorus?
About 31 kilometres between its northern and southern limits. It joins the Black Sea with the Sea of Marmara and divides Istanbul.
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