A day on the Asian shore: Beylerbeyi, Küçüksu and Beykoz Mecidiye

The European shore gets the crowds. Across the water, three buildings of the National Palaces line the same Bosphorus road: Beylerbeyi Palace, the Küçüksu Pavilion and the Beykoz Mecidiye Pavilion. Taken from south to north they make an easy, unhurried day — one full palace, one small pavilion by a meadow and one hilltop mansion — with the strait beside you most of the way.

Before you set out

Don’t go on a Monday: all three are closed. The ticket offices open 09:00–17:00, so start early and give the morning to Beylerbeyi, the largest of the three.

Each site sells its own tickets at the door, and all three are on the National Palaces e-ticket system (online tickets cannot be refunded). The National Palaces Full Pass covers all three buildings, though not the Küçüksu picnic meadow — and not Topkapı. The Müzekart is valid in the three buildings but not on the meadow. Beylerbeyi and Beykoz Mecidiye also sell a cheaper garden-only ticket if you would rather stay outdoors.

A few house rules help plan the day. The audio guide is free with every ticket except the Müzekart. Pushchairs cannot go inside, large backpacks and umbrellas go to the cloakroom, and food and drink stay out of the buildings — finish your snacks in the gardens or on the meadow.

Morning: Beylerbeyi Palace

Beylerbeyi sits almost under the Bosphorus Bridge, a little north of Üsküdar. Sultan Abdülaziz built it between 1863 and 1865 as a summer palace and a place to lodge foreign rulers; Emperor Franz Joseph and Empress Eugénie both stayed in 1869. Abdülhamid II spent his last years here after he was brought back from Thessaloniki in 1912, and died in the palace in 1918.

The main building, Mâbeyn and Harem, is open, with its Egyptian floor matting, Hereke carpets and Baccarat chandeliers. The pavilions in the grounds — the two Sea Pavilions, the Yellow, Marble and Stable pavilions — are currently closed, so the terraced gardens behind the palace are the thing to linger over. Their magnolias, chestnuts, limes and Judas trees date from Abdülhamid II’s reign; come in spring and the redbuds are in flower.

Midday: Küçüksu and its meadow

Further north, near Anadoluhisarı, the Küçüksu Pavilion stands on the meadow between the Göksu and Küçüksu streams — once one of the sultans’ private Bosphorus gardens and later a favourite promenade. Evliya Çelebi described Göksu in the seventeenth century as a quiet place of rowing boats and rose gardens.

A wooden kiosk stood here from 1751–1752; Selim III added a fountain in his mother Mihrişah Valide Sultan’s name in 1806. The present stone pavilion was built for Abdülmecid in 1856–1857, and Abdülaziz had its façades enriched. It was a day house for rest and hunting, not a residence: four rooms open off a central hall on each upper floor, with fireplaces of coloured Italian marble and a different parquet pattern in every room. Walk round to the carved sea front, where a small pool with a fountain lies against the façade.

Next door is the Küçüksu picnic meadow, run as a separate site with its own ticket: wooden gazebos, a children’s playground, a walking path and a café. Picnics are banned in the other palace gardens, so this is the place for lunch outdoors. If you would rather sit at a table, the administration lists cafés at all three sites.

Afternoon: Beykoz Mecidiye Pavilion

The last stop is on the northern side of Beykoz, at Hünkâr İskelesi, on top of a grove that rises in terraces from the sea. It is older than either Dolmabahçe or Beylerbeyi and is counted the first masonry building on the Bosphorus in the new style. Mehmed Ali Pasha, the governor of Egypt, began it for Abdülmecid in 1845; his son Said Pasha finished it in 1854 and gave it to the sultan.

Abdülmecid showed it little interest, but Abdülaziz used it often in summer, holding wrestling matches on the Beykoz meadow. On 15 October 1869 Empress Eugénie was given a banquet and a military parade here — the same year she stayed at Beylerbeyi. Later the building served as an orphanage and, for most of the twentieth century, as a hospital, before a 2010–2016 restoration; it opened as a museum on 11 April 2017. Look for the neoclassical front in Italian stone and white marble, and the coloured porphyry inside.

Getting there, and on between the three

Cross to Üsküdar by ferry from the European side. From there, city buses and dolmuş minibuses run north along the shore road towards Beykoz and pass all three: Beylerbeyi first, then Küçüksu, then Beykoz. Some Bosphorus ferries call at Kandilli and Anadoluhisarı, a short walk from Küçüksu; check the current timetable before you count on one.

For the way back, the same shore road takes you south to Üsküdar. And if Topkapı and Dolmabahçe on the European side are still ahead of you, those are the two worth booking in advance.