Maiden's Tower Tickets: Price, Boat Times and Opening Hours

What a visit costs

The Maiden's Tower is a Ministry of Culture and Tourism site. The Ministry took it over in 2020 and reopened it as a monument after restoration work in 2021–2023, says its museum page on muze.gov.tr. Two separate charges apply.

At the Central Bank's indicative selling rate for 2 November 2026 (€1 = 55.996 TL), the boat fee is about €1.96, so one adult spends close to €29 in total. Two adults spend about €58, and a family of two adults and two teenagers about €116. The fee list prints no reduced price for foreign children or students, so assume the full €27 unless the ticket point offers otherwise.

The Ministry page says the Müzekart, the Turkish museum card, is valid for Turkish citizens. It does not say whether card holders still pay the boat fee, so budget 110 TL each either way.

Does the Museum Pass cover it?

We could not confirm it. The MuseumPass Istanbul page sells a €105 card valid for five days at 13 Ministry museums, but the page names only the Galata Tower, the Istanbul Archaeological Museums and the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts; its museum list did not display when we read it. If the pass matters to your plan, ask at the ticket point, and see our Museum Pass Istanbul guide for the arithmetic. Even with the pass, the boat fee is listed as a separate charge.

Karaköy or Salacak: which boat to take

Both boats are listed on the Ministry page, and they suit different days. The timetable below was on the page on 3 November 2026, with a warning that boats can change with the weather.

Choose Karaköy if you are coming from Sultanahmet, Galata or Beyoğlu and want to avoid crossing to the Asian side first. The catch is the gap: with a boat every 90 minutes, missing one costs you an hour and a half. The first return leaves an hour after each departure, so the shortest round trip from Karaköy is about one hour pier to pier, landing included.

Choose Salacak if you are staying on the Asian side, are already in Üsküdar, or want flexibility. After 12:30 boats go out and come back every 30 minutes, so you can leave when you have seen enough rather than when the timetable says.

The page lists the Karaköy and Salacak boats as two separate services and does not say whether you can arrive on one and leave on the other. If you want to use the tower as a crossing between the two sides, ask the crew before you board.

Hours and closing days

The museum page gives these hours, with no separate summer or winter timetable:

• Open 09:00 to 18:00, every day.
• Ticket office closes at 17:00.
• No weekly closing day listed.

The Maiden's Tower is therefore one of the few sights that works on a Monday, when Dolmabahçe and Beylerbeyi palaces are closed. Our weekly closing-days planner shows how to fit it in. The page lists no holiday closures, but that is not a promise that it never closes; check the page the day before a public holiday.

Pairing it with the Galata Tower

From Karaköy the tower pairs naturally with the Galata Tower, in the neighbouring district. The Galata Tower costs €30 for foreign visitors on the same Ministry fee list, so both towers together come to €57 plus the 110 TL boat. The Ministry also publishes a combined-ticket tariff, but we could not open it on 3 November 2026; ask at either ticket office whether a two-tower ticket is on sale. Times and the Galata Tower's evening rules are in our Galata Tower tickets guide.

A workable order: take the 11:00 or 12:30 boat from Karaköy, come back on the next return, then walk up to the Galata Tower in the afternoon, before its ticket office closes.