Hello guys!

Nice to meet you with a new post.
I would like to mention about my short trip to Şile (maybe you pronunce it like shele or shela) and Ağva. I always want to share something with you about places that I have recently visited. Those places are far from the center of Istanbul. It was my first travel to there and I actually went to Ağva via Şile, I am writing on the day after I came back. Ağva and Şile are very close places to each others and they have beaches, nice sea, restaurants, hotels, and lodges. So, I must tell you that a foreign Canadian young couple on our bus inspired me to write this post. Because they had a little  trouble. To sum, driver of the bus doesn’t know english and they don’t know turkish too ( normally ) and it was their first time to Şile too, so they did not know when to get out the bus. I helped them and tried to ease the hassle. After met my friend, I learnt those places, Şile and Ağva, are being visited by foreigners very much.

Şile is one of the provinces of great Istanbul city. It is on the north of Istanbul and has shore to Black Sea that is the sea on the north of  Turkiye. Şile has nice beach and tourism facilities. Şile is mostly preferred by local people who dwell in close locations. Generally, working people of Istanbul come to Şile for sea and sun in their days off. There are a lot of shops, markets, cafes, restaurants and hotels in Şile and you can easily find anything you may need.

Ağva is smaller than Şile and it is closer to Kocaeli(Izmit) city, but still in Istanbul. Ağva has  nice beaches, a number of hotels, shops, marts, cafes and restaurants.

If we talk about both Şile and Ağva, both of them have nice, rough sea. In addition, water of  Black Sea is less salty if we compare with Egean and Mediterranean Sea. Thus,  this makes it more comfortable for your eyes.  Sea is rough and we hear some drown news on TVs from those beaches every summer. But, if you don’t go far away in the sea, there is no matter. There is lifeguards too. You may surely get tan too and you shouldn’t forget your sun blockers to not to have sunburns like me:) Şile is more developed than Ağva and has a lot of facilities. Ağva and Şile are great to spend your free time if you get bored of noisy city life. Both are not crowded in the weekdays and we can’t say crowded in weekends. Briefly, I recommend you both of them.

How to get to Sile / Agva ?

I think it takes about 2.5 hours to reach Şile and 3 hours to Ağva from Kadıköy or Üsküdar by your own car. If you want to go there by public transportation, there are buses leave from center of  Uskudar. Blue colored and midi-bus type buses (you can see how the buses look ) go to Ağva via Şile in short time ranges like half of an hour. Fare is 7 turkish liras( about 5  US dollars) to Şile and 10 turkish liras( about 6.5  US dollars) to Ağva per person. I advise you to have turkish liras( abbreviation is TL) for payment. It takes about 3 hours to arrive Şile and more than 3,5 hours to Ağva. Unfortunately, as far as I see, there is no driver who knows english. For this reason, you should overlook for someones who knows english or you should learn some turkish words. For example, you should note or be able to say “ticket, to Şile“  in turkish.

If you don’t like naked people around you when you are on the beach and sea, like me, you might prefer Ağva and its far part of beach that is some blanky and go there in weekdays. This is just a small tip for conservative/religious people.

I would really like to add some photos but unfortunately I haven’t got a camera yet And, I don’t want to add others’ photos. I hope, at soon I will do it.

In conclusion, I recommend you to visit there if you are Istanbul for a long while to become cool in summer days. Mostly green and blue colors and sound of waves will make you relaxed. Have fun!