Plan Your Visit to Beylerbeyi Palace
Everything practical in one place: when the palace is open, how to reach it on the Asian shore of the Bosphorus, and what to expect at the gate. Ready to go? Skip-the-line tickets with audio guide are €18.00 — instant mobile delivery.
Beylerbeyi Palace opening hours
Beylerbeyi Palace is open Tuesday to Sunday, 09:00–17:30, with last entry about half an hour before closing. It is closed every Monday, and closes on New Year’s Day and the first days of the two religious holidays (Ramazan and Kurban Bayramı). Hours are set seasonally by the Directorate of National Palaces — on the day of your visit the entrance signboard and millisaraylar.gov.tr are the final word. Mornings right at opening are the quietest; Bosphorus-tour groups tend to arrive from late morning.
How to get to Beylerbeyi Palace
The palace sits on the Asian shore of the Bosphorus, in Üsküdar’s Beylerbeyi neighbourhood, directly beneath the Bosphorus Bridge (address: Abdullahağa Caddesi, Beylerbeyi, 34676 Üsküdar). From Üsküdar it’s a short ride up the coast road: buses on the Beylerbeyi–Çengelköy corridor (the 15-series routes from Üsküdar’s waterfront bus lanes) stop at the Beylerbeyi Sarayı stop a couple of minutes’ walk from the gate, and a taxi from Üsküdar takes about ten minutes outside rush hour.
Coming from the European side, the simplest route is Marmaray (the cross-Bosphorus rail tunnel) or the city ferry to Üsküdar, then the bus or a taxi up the coast. A scenic alternative is the Şehir Hatları/Bosphorus ferry to Beylerbeyi or Çengelköy pier when the commuter timetable suits — the palace is a pleasant waterfront walk from either. By car there is limited parking near the palace; public transport is genuinely easier here.
The entrance gate
The visitor entrance is on the landward side of the palace along Abdullahağa Caddesi, next to the coastal road beneath the bridge — you’ll see the palace’s clock tower and garden wall from the bus stop. Security screening is quick, and with an online ticket you walk past the ticket-purchase queue and show the QR code on your phone at the gate. Note that the historic seaside gates on the Bosphorus facade are not the visitor entrance.
How long does a visit take?
Most visitors spend about an hour on the palace visitor route — the reception halls, the marble pool salon and the private apartments — and another twenty to thirty minutes in the terraced gardens and along the waterfront between the two marble bathing pavilions. With the audio guide included in your ticket the visit is self-paced: no fixed tour time, just arrive within opening hours on your chosen date. Photography rules inside are set by the palace administration; the gardens and the bridge-framed facade are the classic photo stops (see what’s inside).
Ready to plan around the queue instead of standing in it? Skip-the-ticket-line entry with the audio guide included is €18.00 per adult — all fees included, instant QR ticket by email, free cancellation up to 24h before your visit.
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