We spent the afternoon on the island of Büyükada in Istanbul.

For so many years, I never thought I would end up in Istanbul so soon in my life. This was always somewhere I wanted to go to, but thought that I would need more money slash would be in my forties before I finally got the chance to experience it. Then my family started planning a vacation, and somehow we landed on Istanbul.

My sister originally pitched the idea that my father should pick our vacation, as he never really actually got to pick where we went throughout our lifetime. He just kind of joins our trips and never offers any input, and she wanted to give him the chance to pick.

Originally he chose Sweden. His reasoning was that he had a friend there—dear reader, he did not have a friend there. He apparently thought his friend lived there, but to this day no one is entirely sure whether he actually lives in Denmark or Norway.

I was kind of the one who pitched the idea of Turkey. Part of it was because I was interested in going there, but the other reason was that I knew my father would like it better. He always talks about how things are like his home country, Iran, so going to Turkey seemed like the logical conclusion if we couldn’t go to Iran.

He was really into that idea, and so we began planning for ten days in Istanbul. We live close enough to Washington DC that if we wanted to fly out of Dulles, we could, so we picked IAD airport to fly out because they had nonstop flights to Istanbul. Going was only about 8.5 hours and at night, so it was an easy flight, and coming home was just short of ten hours. That, too, was an easy flight.

We booked an AirBnB in Sultanahmet because it was our first time. We had a quiet street a few blocks over from the Blue Mosque, and we were facing the water so we could have a cute view when we woke up in the morning. It was nice being near the tram and historical district, but we agreed next time we would stay somewhere else.

Throughout our trip we were originally planning to go to the Princes’ Islands on a proper tour, as we wanted to go to several of the islands, but then when our relatives came into town they suggested that they wanted to go to Büyükada because they’d stayed there before. So we spent the morning at Dolmabahçe Palace, then my dad turned to my sister and I and told us we had to get everyone to the islands.

Naturally, we freaked out, as we thought someone else was leading us there. We ended up finding a ferry somewhat nearby, but it took two hours, and we did end up in Büyükada. We only spent a few hours there, but I thought that Büyükada is one of my favorite parts of the trip—it was a shame we didn’t have more time.

Here’s what we did during our time there!

Büyükada is one of the most scenic and underrated parts of Istanbul.

When I was planning out an itinerary for Istanbul and watching videos online, I was surprised that no one was mentioning the Princes’ Islands or Büyükada, especially now that I’ve actually been there. It is a bit of a hassle to get there with public transportation, though, as we ended up having to get an hour and a half ferry to get there, and a two hour ferry back in order to find our way home.

The ferry ride itself was scenic, too, though. The public transportation one pretty much stops at all of the islands, as it’s a commuter ferry, so we got to see the ports. Some looked really chill and a relaxing place to escape from the hustle and bustle of the main parts of Istanbul. I’d totally come to these islands if you want a break from the reality of everyday life and can afford a nice hotel.

Anyways, as soon as you step off at Büyükada, it’s full of life. There are shops and boutiques scattered all around the port, and plenty of restaurants. The owners do the things that was common throughout Fatih, which got pretty annoying fairly on in the trip, where they try to get you inside of their restaurant and spend money there.

My father and uncle fell for one of the guys and we ended up eating there without even looking at the menu. Turns out they had several people who spoke Iranian Farsi on their staff, so it helped my relatives a lot, but I thought the chicken doner I ordered was honestly terrible. My aunt also didn’t like the chicken doner and kept picking at it.

After eating, we ventured out onto the island to see what it had to offer.

We were truly happy just wandering around Büyükada and seeing its beauty for hours.

So for the rest of our time on the island, we honestly were really happy just walking around and taking in the sights. This is a car-free island—there are only bikes and small trucks to get people around—so you can happily wander the rest of the island without worrying too much about traffic.

My uncle wanted to take us on a little bus tour for about $10 USD, but we didn’t have enough time to do that before we had to catch the next ferry home. We didn’t know how to get back to Eminonu and Fatih with the ferry schedule, as our Google Maps was not working properly, so my sister and I were stressing out about how to get back and decided we needed to be on the ferry that left at 7:35 because it would take two hours, then we needed to get the tram home.

Until then, we kept wandering in and out of shops. There are some really pretty and well reviewed restaurants that were overlooking the water—I wish we had gone into one of those, but we had eaten prior at the other restaurant. If you come to the island, definitely pick a restaurant on the water if it’s well reviewed and within your price range. They were so incredibly pretty (from what we could see from the outside), especially when the sun set.

We went on a bunch of little back streets, which was nice to see. There were local families having parties and festivities at their home, but it was also pretty serene. Sometimes it was just us and some of the stray cats and dogs, which is a pretty rare feeling when you’re in Istanbul. A lot of the time we felt like we were trying to make room for ourselves while out and about in the city.

But here it was just pretty buildings, colorful flowers, and the drifting sound of music, people laughing and chattering, and tea cups hitting glass. I could see myself wanting to stay here in the future if I was ever in Istanbul again for an extended amount of time. It was very serene in a way that I wanted to exist in this space more.

As the sun set more and 7:35 approached, we made our way back to the pier. We saw some stray cats, or kedi, and made time to pet them before boarding the two hour ferry back to Kabataş. The last bits of the sunset were pretty to watch on the ferry, and when we got to Kabataş, we hopped on a tram, watched a guy almost get robbed by someone trying to take his wallet then dash out the doors, then headed back home to our apartment near Yenikapi.

In the near future, I would love to go back to Büyükada, but for now I don’t know when that’ll be! If you have the chance, definitely go. I think it’s quite the hidden gem and underrated on people’s Istanbul itineraries.

Follow me below on Instagram, Goodreads, and Letterboxd for more.