Daily Bursa Tour from Istanbul – Green Mosque, Grand Mosque & Cumalikizik

Bursa and Cumalikizik Day Trip: The First Ottoman Capital

This daily Bursa tour from Istanbul takes you to the city where the Ottoman story truly began, combining its finest early mosques and silk market with a stroll through the village of Cumalikizik. With hotel pick-up, a licensed English-speaking guide, entrance fees and a traditional lunch arranged, it is a complete day tour for travellers who want to look beyond Istanbul.

Shore Excursion for Cruise Passengers in Istanbul

Arriving in Istanbul on a cruise ship? The Bursa Tour is one of the shore excursions we regularly arrange for cruise guests calling at the port of Istanbul. Because it runs as a private tour, we plan the timing around your ship: your guide and driver meet you at the cruise terminal, and the programme is adjusted to your all-aboard time. Tell us how many hours your ship stays in port and we will confirm that the full programme fits comfortably. Send us your ship name and the date of your call in Istanbul and we will confirm availability.

• Green Mosque (Yesil Cami) and the tile-covered Green Tomb
• The 14th-century Grand Mosque (Ulu Cami)
• Koza Han, the historic silk market, and the covered bazaar
• Lunch featuring Bursa's famous Iskender kebab
• Cobblestone lanes and wooden houses of Cumalikizik village
• Optional ferry crossing of the Sea of Marmara

Bursa served as the first capital of the Ottoman state in the 14th century, and its monuments show the empire's architecture in its formative years. The Green Mosque, built for Sultan Mehmed I, is admired for its turquoise and green tile work, while the Green Tomb opposite holds the sultan's richly decorated cenotaph. The Grand Mosque, crowned with twenty domes, remains the spiritual heart of the city. Koza Han, built in the 15th century, has been the centre of Bursa's silk trade for over five hundred years and still bustles with merchants around its shaded courtyard.

Cumalikizik, a village around 700 years old on the slopes of Mount Uludag, is part of the UNESCO World Heritage listing for Bursa and the birth of the Ottoman Empire. Its narrow streets and timber-framed houses make it feel like a living museum, and its stalls offer homemade jams, honey and handcrafts. This daily excursion is a long but rewarding Bursa day trip of roughly 13 to 14 hours, returning by ferry or road. Spring and autumn bring the mildest weather, and note that Cumalikizik's uneven cobbles are not suitable for wheelchairs.