Blue Cruise, What is Blue Cruise? Blue Cruise is one of the most iconic sailing experiences in the Mediterranean, offering travelers the chance to explore Turkey’s turquoise coastline aboard a traditional wooden gulet. Combining relaxation, natural beauty, history, and comfort, the Blue Cruise has become a signature holiday concept along the Aegean and Mediterranean shores.
What is Blue Cruise? A Blue Cruise is a multi-day sailing journey, typically on a gulet, along the southwestern coast of Turkey. The name comes from the deep blue color of the sea and the tranquil rhythm of life onboard. Unlike fast-paced yacht trips, the Blue Cruise focuses on slow travel—anchoring in hidden bays, swimming in crystal-clear waters, and enjoying sunset dinners on deck.
Blue Cruise, What is Blue Cruise?
What is Blue Cruise?
The Blue Cruise is a traditional Turkish sailing holiday that began in the mid-20th century when writers and artists started exploring the untouched coves of Bodrum and Gökova by wooden boats. Over time, this cultural escape evolved into a luxury travel experience, now popular with international visitors.
A typical Blue Cruise lasts between 3 and 7 nights, although longer routes are also available. Guests stay onboard in private cabins, while a professional crew handles navigation, cooking, and service.
Key Elements of a Blue Cruise
- Sailing on a traditional gulet
- Daily swimming stops in secluded bays
- Fresh Mediterranean cuisine onboard
- Visits to ancient ruins and coastal villages
- Peaceful sunsets and stargazing at sea
The experience is designed to disconnect you from crowded resorts and reconnect you with nature.
Where Does the Blue Cruise Take Place?
The most popular Blue Cruise routes are along Turkey’s southwestern coast.
Bodrum to Gökova Gulf
This is one of the classic Blue Cruise routes. The Gökova Gulf offers calm waters, pine-covered hills, and untouched coves.
Bodrum to Hisarönü Gulf
Known for its clear water and natural anchor points, this route is ideal for those seeking privacy and quiet.
Fethiye to Ölüdeniz
This route includes the famous Blue Lagoon and Butterfly Valley, offering breathtaking scenery.
Some itineraries also include nearby Greek islands such as Kos or Symi, depending on the charter plan.
What Happens During a Blue Cruise?
Life onboard follows a relaxed and enjoyable rhythm.
Morning
Guests wake up in a peaceful bay. After breakfast on deck, there is time for swimming or snorkeling.
Midday Sailing
The captain navigates to the next destination while guests sunbathe or relax with a book.
Afternoon Stop
Another swim break in a new cove, often surrounded by dramatic cliffs or ancient ruins.
Evening
Dinner is served onboard, usually featuring fresh fish, olive oil dishes, salads, and local specialties. Nights are calm, with stars reflecting on the sea.
Blue Cruise Boats
Most Blue Cruises are conducted on traditional gulets.
Gulet
A wooden motor-sailing yacht with wide decks and spacious cabins. Gulets are ideal for comfort-focused cruising.
Motor Yacht
For those who prefer speed and modern design, motor yachts offer a faster alternative.
Catamaran
Provides stability and space, suitable for smaller groups seeking a contemporary sailing experience.
However, the gulet remains the symbol of the authentic Blue Cruise.
Why Choose a Blue Cruise?
There are several reasons why travelers prefer this experience.
Privacy
Charters can be fully private, meaning you travel only with your chosen group.
Nature
The coastline features untouched beaches and crystal waters unreachable by road.
Cultural Discovery
Many routes pass ancient Lycian and Carian ruins, offering a mix of history and leisure.
Comfort
Modern Blue Cruise boats include air conditioning, en-suite cabins, professional chefs, and attentive crew service.
Who Is the Blue Cruise Suitable For?
- Couples seeking a romantic escape
- Families wanting a safe, private holiday
- Groups of friends celebrating special occasions
- Yacht enthusiasts exploring the Turkish Riviera
The Blue Cruise adapts easily to different travel styles, from laid-back relaxation to active exploration.
Best Time for a Blue Cruise
The season usually runs from May to October.
- May & June: Pleasant temperatures and fewer boats
- July & August: High season with vibrant atmosphere
- September & October: Warm sea and calmer environment
Late spring and early autumn are often considered ideal due to balanced weather and availability.
Is Blue Cruise Expensive?
Blue Cruise pricing depends on:
- Boat category (standard, luxury, ultra-luxury)
- Duration of the trip
- Season
- Route
- Group size
When shared among a group, private charters can be surprisingly cost-effective compared to high-end resorts.
Blue Cruise vs. Hotel Holiday
Unlike a hotel stay, a Blue Cruise changes your scenery every day. You wake up in a new bay, enjoy uninterrupted sea views, and experience complete tranquility. It combines accommodation, transport, dining, and entertainment in one seamless journey.
Final Thoughts
Blue Cruise, What is Blue Cruise? It is more than a boat trip—it is a Mediterranean lifestyle experience shaped by turquoise waters, wooden gulets, and timeless coastal beauty.
A Blue Cruise offers freedom, comfort, and discovery in equal measure. Whether departing from Bodrum, Fethiye, or Marmaris, this journey promises unforgettable moments at sea, where the horizon becomes your daily view and relaxation becomes your only schedule.
Blue Cruise
Blue Cruise What is Blue Cruise? A Blue Cruise, also known as a Blue Voyage (Turkish: Mavi Yolculuk) or Blue Tour (Turkish: Mavi Tur), is a term used for recreational voyages along the Turkish Riviera, on Turkey’s southwestern coast along the Aegean and Mediterranean seas.
The cruise is typically a week-long trip aboard the local gulet schooners, to ancient cities, harbors, tombs, and beaches in the numerous small coves along the country’s Turquoise Coast.
Angel Yachting Bodrum
Angel Yachts for Charter Interested in Chartering Your Yacht?
If you’re already an Oyster yacht owner and considering offering it for charter, please, contact our Manager to discuss making the most of this valuable opportunity.
Bodrum is home of the Blue cruise for gulet charter. This idyllic cruise sails the beautiful unspoiled coastline of southwest Turkey on the Aegean Sea and using one of our traditional Turkish wooden gulets, what a magical experience awaits you in Kusadasi, Bodrum, Marmaris, Gocek, Fethiye, Antalya. Meals on board are especially good and freshly prepared, including a variety of fresh salads, fruits, grilled meats, local fish and Turkish specialities. Take this beautiful relaxing holiday on-board a luxury gulet.
Angel Yachting Bodrum
Rent a Yacht in Turkey Dear Guests, as a Gulet Charter company, we serve you with the purpose of organizing a yacht vacation that you will collect delightful, flawless and unforgettable memories. Thanks to the different options in our portfolio, we are able to offer you the alternatives that best suit your expectations.
Private Gulet Motor Yacht Charter Bodrum This 5 star floating hotel is waiting for our customers who are looking for a well-being with gurme meals, comfortable spacious interior spaces, luxury cabins, speeds and modern designs in Bodrum, Gocek marinas for a blue Cruise yacht charter holidays. Blue Cruise Routes Bodrum
Carian Cruise is a lesser-known synonym used by some sources internationally, in reference to the term Caria — the name this region of southwest Turkey was called in ancient times.
Routes
The routes can be as short as traveling to a few coves for a couple days, or can be as extensive as traveling the entire length of the Turkish Riviera across several weeks. There are options to start a voyage in the Turquoise Coast including Bodrum, Marmaris, Fethiye and Antalya en route to the smaller villages and coves like Dalyan, Gökova, Kekova, and similar destinations, which constitute the more popular portions of the route. It is also possible to visit Greece, and surrounding Greek islands.
History
The term Blue Voyage, which is used in Turkey’s tourism industry, has its origins in Turkish literature, deriving from the title of a book by Azra Erhat, and was first introduced into Turkish literature by a handful of writers, such as Cevat Şakir Kabaağaçlı (alias The Fisherman of Halicarnassus).
The author, who had been exiled to Bodrum in 1925, began taking trips with his friends on the local sponge divers’ sailing boats, called gulets, and was moved and inspired by the local culture and natural beauty. These excursions became known as “Blue Voyages”.
Fellow author Sabahattin Eyüboğlu, together with his circle of family and friends, participated in Blue Cruises,[4] as did Azra Erhat. The literary review “Yeni Ufuklar” (New Horizons) in the 1950s and 1960s contributed to publicizing the Blue Cruise, and numerous guidebooks were published in Turkish and German presenting romantic depictions of the voyage. Since that time, cruise tourism has grown to support a sizable portion of the local economy, and transformed Bodrum from a fishing village to a holiday destination.
A Blue Cruise, also known as a Blue Voyage (“Mavi Yolculuk” in Turkish), is a term used for recreational voyages along the Turkish Riviera, on Turkey’s southwestern coast. The term Blue Cruise, which is used in Turkey’s tourism industry, has its origins in Turkish literature, deriving from the title of a book by Azra Erhat.
The term was first introduced into Turkish literature by a handful of writers, such as Cevat Şakir Kabaağaçlı (alias The Fisherman of Halicarnassus). The author, who had been exiled to Bodrum in 1925.
He began taking trips with his friends on the sponge divers’ sailing boats, called gulets. These excursions became known as “Blue Cruises”. Author Sabahattin Eyüboğlu (together with his circle of family and friends) participated in Blue Cruises, as did Azra Erhat. The literary revue “Yeni Ufuklar” (New Horizons) in the 1950s and 1960s contributed to the publicizing the Blue Cruise and guidebooks have been published in Turkish and German.
Excerpt: Wikipedia
The boat cruises realized by these well-known, humanist writers which were made in serenity and exploration in the 1950’s, have become an alternative type of holiday in our days. Until the 1980’s that type of holiday was only being realized by a wealthy minority. Nowadays, the increase in the number of the boats and the decrease in the prices have raised the interest of both domestic and foreign tourists in that concept of holidays.
In our days, Blue Cruise is a type of holiday being made in 5 to 15 days, on board, on a route around the coastal areas in serenity and in nature which gives you tranquility.
“If you ask what it is to be a Blue Cruiser, I would say it is a work of consciousness. This consciousness gives to the one a privilege, a feeling of superiority, but does not tear the passenger apart from the environment; on the contrary, it gives you morality and makes you want to pass it on to other people too. The biggest success of a Blue Cruiser is to arrange a Blue Cruise themselves and make their friends to live the adventure of the Blue Cruise.” Azra Erhat
The story of Blue Cruise
The judges, who sentenced Cevat Sakir to a number of years in the remote port, knew nothing of its lifestyle which ,as Cevat Sakir found out, was something like paradise. He settled down and adopted the name “Fisherman of Halikarnas”,writing stories about the town and its locals- in particular, the fishermen.
On his regular outings with fishermen, he gradually got to know the various coves and bays in the Gulf of Gokova. When visiting intellectuals from Istanbul dropped in, he took the opportunity to introduce them to the fishermen’s way of life. Together they constructed a theory of culture which embraced the cultures of all the people who lived in Asia Minor.
Sakir’s tours of the Gulf of Gokova became famous and were given the name, “Mavi Yolculuk” or “Blue Cruise”, and at this point. What they have taken with them during these Blue Cruises were; Feta cheese, water, rusk of Kos, tobacco and rakı. They would never take newspapers with them nor listened to the radio.
The purpose was to get away from the world and be away from the civilization in tranquility. They used to stay at the sea for weeks and went on land only to provide their basic needs.
Tirhandil
The Tirhandil is the oldest style of vessel on the Aegean Sea. Tirhandils are rarer these days due to their accommodation capacity. Double-ended traditional design allows for only a small number of cabins. Tirhandils sail well and are an attractive vessel with plenty of deck space.
Tirhandil carries the most traditional elements of Aegean sailing boats of the last two millenniums. It takes its origins from the Bodrum area, has one or two masts, a bowsprit and lateen sails. It is beak-nosed with a scoop stern and simple interior capacity.
Tirhandils have been the workhorses of the Mediterranean for the last two thousand years and is similar to its cousin, the caique, and the Greek transport vessel called perama. The Greek equivalent of tirhandil is trechenderi.
