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Arnavutköy to Bebek, a Shoreline Walk Around the Cape of Currents
Cultural

Arnavutköy to Bebek, a Shoreline Walk Around the Cape of Currents

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On Bosphorus routes, Arnavutköy and Bebek are usually glimpsed from a ferry or a car and left behind. Yet these neighbours, a short shoreline walk apart, are two different worlds that deserve to be known on their own.

Beşiktaş, İstanbul
Cultural
Radar Editör
September 24, 2026

About Trip

On Bosphorus routes, Arnavutköy and Bebek are usually glimpsed from a ferry or a car and left behind. Yet these neighbours, a short shoreline walk apart, are two different worlds that deserve to be known on their own. One keeps the memory of a Bosphorus village in its steep lanes and waterfront houses; the other, on the rim of a bay, the traces of a summer life running from the Tulip Era to the 20th century. This walk starts in Arnavutköy, rounds Akıntıburnu and ends at Bebek Bay.

Getting There

Both neighbourhoods lie on the shore road between Beşiktaş and Sarıyer, and coastal buses from the Beşiktaş direction stop in each. You can also come by ferry, as both have piers, but services vary by line and season, so check the current Şehir Hatları timetable. After Bebek it is easy to carry on along the shore to Rumeli Hisarı.

The Streets of Arnavutköy

According to the TDV Encyclopedia of Islam, Arnavutköy, "the Albanian village", takes its name from its first inhabitants. In the 17th century Evliya Çelebi described it as a village of about a thousand well-kept houses with vineyards and gardens. Nearly all belonged to Greeks and Jews, Muslims were very few, and there was a small bath house, so for a long time the village had no mosque.

That began to change in the early 19th century. In 1804-05 Beyhan Sultan, sister of Selim III, built a fountain here, and in 1832 Mahmud II began Tevfikiye Mosque on the shore in the name of his son Prince Tevfik. Also called the Arnavutköy or Akıntıburnu Mosque, it opened in 1838: a rectangular building with masonry walls and a timber roof in a spacious courtyard, with a single-balcony minaret of cut stone. When visiting, avoid prayer times, take off your shoes, cover shoulders and knees, women should cover their hair, and keep quiet inside.

Inland, the lanes climbing from the shore show the old fabric of Arnavutköy: rows of timber and masonry houses, many with bay windows. Thanks to restoration the neighbourhood has kept much of its old face among the concrete. The best view of the waterfront houses is from around the pier or from a passing ferry. An observation in the TDV entry on the Bosphorus still holds: few of the old wooden waterside houses are grand in themselves, but they sit so naturally on the winding shoreline that they seem part of the landscape.

Akıntıburnu

At the northern end of Arnavutköy the land juts into the Bosphorus as a cape. It is named after the strong surface current running past it; this was once a Greek quarter, and its old Greek name, Mega Revma, means "great current". Water flowing from the Black Sea to the Marmara speeds up here and forms eddies that can still trouble seamen. A small lighthouse stands on the point.

In the early 1980s the shore road was built out over the water on piles, curving from Akıntıburnu in front of the waterside houses; locals call it the road on stilts. Arnavutköy pier was moved at the same time. The road cut the old houses off from the sea, but it also opened an unbroken public shoreline from Ortaköy to Bebek for walking and fishing. Pause at the tip and watch the water: it is a good place to see the lines the current draws on the surface and how carefully boats round the point.

Bebek Bay and its Mosque

Round Akıntıburnu and the road opens onto Bebek Bay. Sources give the Byzantine name as Hallai or Helai. The most common explanation of today's name points to a company commander nicknamed Bebek, "baby", whom Mehmed the Conqueror posted here to keep order while Rumeli Hisarı was being built; Evliya Çelebi among others writes that Bebek Çelebi laid out a pavilion and garden here and the place kept his name. Selim I also had a pavilion here.

Bebek's heyday began in the early 18th century under Ahmed III and his grand vizier Nevşehirli Damat İbrahim Pasha. The Hümayunabad pavilion was built in the Bebek garden, with a mosque, school, fountain, bath and shops around it, and according to the TDV Encyclopedia of Islam the pavilion became identified with the place.

Bebek Mosque, right beside the pier, is officially the Hümayun-u Abad Mosque and carries that memory. The present building, on the site of the older mosque, was built in cut stone in 1913 to a design by Mimar Kemaleddin, a pioneer of the First National Architecture movement. It is square in plan, with the main dome supported by four half domes, and a polygonal minaret on a high base against the west wall has three rows of muqarnas under its balcony. Small as it is, it shows well how Kemaleddin gave the classical mosque plan a new architectural language. The same etiquette applies here: avoid prayer times, take off your shoes and keep quiet.

Waterside Houses and Mansions

The large waterside mansion beside Bebek Park now houses the Egyptian Consulate. It was built in 1899-1901 for Emine Hanım, mother of Abbas Hilmi Pasha, the last Khedive of Egypt, and recalls the years when Egyptian nobility summered on the Bosphorus. It is an official building and cannot be visited; the best view is from the shore road and Bebek Park.

Bebek also has an 18th-century mansion. The Kavafyan Mansion of 1751 is counted among the oldest surviving wooden buildings in Istanbul and was built for Armenian shipbuilders. It is private property, so look from outside.

Ferry services from the mid-19th century, and later the tram, turned Bebek from a summer retreat into a year-round neighbourhood, and from the end of the century waterside houses and mansions multiplied along the shore and up the slopes. Rapid building after 1965-1970 took much of the greenery on the hills, and few waterside houses remain between Akıntıburnu and Aşiyan.

The Campus on the Hill

The stone buildings on the Bebek heights go back to Robert College, opened here in 1863. Founded by the educator Cyrus Hamlin and the merchant Christopher Robert, it is recorded as the first American college outside the United States and began with four students in an old wooden house. The first building on what is now the South Campus, Hamlin Hall, went up in 1868-1871, and the historic buildings used blue limestone quarried on site. In 1971 the campus was handed over to the state and Boğaziçi University was founded. It is a university campus, so check visiting arrangements with the university; from the Bebek shore you can see its stone buildings among the trees.

Suggested Walk

Start around Arnavutköy pier. Explore the lanes running parallel to the shore, then stop at Tevfikiye Mosque. Walk north on the seaward pavement of the shore road and round Akıntıburnu. At Bebek Bay see the mosque and the pier square, then look at the consulate mansion from Bebek Park. Along the shore, Arnavutköy pier to Bebek Mosque is about one and a half kilometres; with stops, allow two hours.

Season and Time of Day

Clear spring and autumn mornings are best. The European shore catches the morning sun head-on, so the house fronts are bright then. In the late afternoon the sun drops behind the hills and the shore falls into shadow early, but it is lovely to watch the Asian side light up. Summer weekends are crowded on the shore and in Bebek Park.

Practical Notes

  • Traffic on the shore road is heavy; walk on the seaward pavement and cross only at pedestrian crossings.
  • The lanes of Arnavutköy are narrow and steep, so wear comfortable shoes.
  • Most waterside houses are private; do not walk through their gates or onto their jetties.
  • This piece expands on the Arnavutköy and Bebek stops of our Bosphorus routes; continue to Rumeli Hisarı to round off the day.

Sources

Location - Arnavutköy to Bebek, a Shoreline Walk Around the Cape of Currents

Trip Info
CityBeşiktaş, İstanbul
TypeCultural
DateSeptember 24, 2026
SourceRadar Editör
Radar TürkiyeAuthorRadar TürkiyeVisit SourceGet Directions