Crossing the Bosphorus by car: the three bridges and the Eurasia Tunnel

From south to north, the road links between Europe and Asia inside Istanbul are one tunnel and three bridges. Their opening years are well documented.

• Eurasia Tunnel (Avrasya Tüneli), 2016: a road tunnel under the seabed near the southern end of the strait, linking the Old City shore with the Asian side near Kadıköy.
• 15 July Martyrs Bridge (15 Temmuz Şehitler Köprüsü), 1973: the first bridge, between Ortaköy and Beylerbeyi.
• Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge, 1988: the second bridge, further north between Rumelihisarı and Kavacık.
• Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge, 2016: the northernmost crossing, near the Black Sea end, on the motorway that bypasses the city.

The Marmaray tunnel, opened in 2013, also runs under the Bosphorus, but it carries suburban trains, not cars. It plays no part in a road transfer.

Tolls are set by the motorway authority KGM for the bridges and by the tunnel operator for the Eurasia Tunnel. They change once or twice a year, so each figure below carries its source and the date it took effect.

• 15 July Martyrs Bridge and Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge: 59 TL for a class 1 car and 75 TL for class 2, per the KGM tariff valid from 1 January 2026, charged in both directions.
• Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge: 110 TL for class 1 and 145 TL for class 2, per the KGM tariff valid from 1 July 2026.
• Eurasia Tunnel: 330 TL by day and 165 TL between midnight and 04:59 for a class 1 vehicle, per avrasyatuneli.com, valid from 1 July 2026.

Class depends on the distance between a vehicle's axles. In the KGM table, class 1 covers two-axle vehicles with axles less than 3.20 metres apart, and class 2 covers two-axle vehicles at or above that distance.

Not every vehicle may use every bridge. The KGM tariff sheet sums up the rules set by UKOME, Istanbul's transport coordination board.

• The 15 July Martyrs Bridge is open to class 1 cars and to service vehicles such as tourism, staff and school transport.
• The Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge also admits class 2 traffic, except trucks and buses.
• The Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge is open to all vehicle classes, and heavier traffic is directed there.

For a passenger this explains why two vans heading to the same hotel can take different crossings. The choice depends on the vehicle's class as well as the traffic.

We never promise a particular bridge or the tunnel, because the right choice changes during the day. The driver decides on the road, looking at the live traffic, the time and where exactly on each shore you start and finish.

• Old City and Kadıköy addresses lie close to the tunnel's two ends, so the tunnel is often the direct line between them.
• Addresses along the middle of the Bosphorus, such as Beşiktaş, Ortaköy or Üsküdar, sit near the two older bridges.
• Trips between the two airports run across the city on the motorways, and at busy times the northern bridge may be the longer but less crowded road.

Whatever the crossing, your fare does not change. A cross-side transfer is €70 in the Eco Van, €80 in the Vito, €85 in the V-Class and €100 in the Sprinter, fixed when you book.

Every vehicle moving between the continents has to funnel through four road links, and the approaches to the two older bridges carry heavy commuter flows. At rush hour the queue before a crossing can take longer than the rest of the drive.

A few times a year, races and public events close bridges entirely. On the morning of the Istanbul Marathon, for example, the 15 July Martyrs Bridge, the Eurasia Tunnel and the Galata Bridge are closed to traffic, as the national press reported for the 2026 race on 1 November.

One journey always crosses the strait: the transfer between Istanbul Airport and Sabiha Gökçen. IST lies in the north-west of the European side and SAW in the south-east of the Asian side, so the drive runs across almost the whole width of the city and over a bridge or through the tunnel.

We price that trip at €70 in the Eco Van in either direction, with the usual add-ons for larger vehicles. If you are connecting between two flights, leave a generous gap and send both flight numbers; dispatch can then judge the pick-up time against the traffic expected at that hour.

The simplest way to avoid the bridges on a transfer is to land at the airport on your hotel's side. IST is on the European side, so Taksim, Sultanahmet, Galata, Beşiktaş and Şişli are reached without a crossing at €50. SAW is on the Asian side, so the same holds for Kadıköy, Üsküdar, Ataşehir and Kartal.

If your flight and hotel are on opposite banks, the crossing is part of the trip and the reason the fare is €70 rather than €50. Either way, the fare you are quoted when you book is the fare you pay the driver at the end.