Continent Hop
Explore · Easy · 100 points · 1–2 hrs
Cross between Europe and Asia by public ferry and have tea on deck.
The catch: No taxi, no bridge, no tour ticket.
Bonus +50: Walk twenty minutes inland on the other side before returning.
Free travel game
Side Quest
Turn Istanbul into an adventure.
Tell us where you are. Pick your kind of adventure. We'll give you something unexpected to do. No account. No app. Just go.
Start a side questPlay anywhere · Complete quests · Earn points · Screenshot your wins · Challenge your friends
Step 1
Pick your place
Tell us what city you're exploring.
Step 2
Get your quest
Choose a category or let us surprise you.
Step 3
Complete + share
Finish the challenge, earn points and screenshot your achievement.
Playing Side Quest in Istanbul
Istanbul runs on ferries, tea and negotiation. The pack sends you across continents on a commuter boat, into a breakfast that takes an hour and through a bazaar where walking away politely is part of the ritual.
- Best time to play
- Weekend mornings for breakfast, sunset for the ferry crossing.
- Local rule
- Accepting tea does not oblige you to buy. Refusing it rudely does end the conversation.
- Honest note
- The commuter ferry costs a fraction of a Bosphorus cruise and follows nearly the same water.
Where are you right now?
No location access needed — just tell us the city.
What kind of side quest?
How far do you want to go?
Your side quest score today
0 points
0 all-time
100 points to Explorer
Scores are saved in this browser on this device only. No account, no email, nothing sent anywhere. Clearing your browser data clears your score.
Side quests written for Istanbul
These challenges only work here. Play them in any order — the game will mix them with quests that work anywhere in Turkey.
The Long Breakfast
Food & Drink · Adventure · 200 points · 1–2 hrs
Sit down for a full Turkish breakfast and stay at least an hour.
The catch: No leaving before an hour has passed.
Bonus +50: Try a cheese or spread you cannot name.
The Polite Refusal
Local Culture · Bold · 300 points · 1 hr
Negotiate for something small in a bazaar and walk away happy either way.
The catch: Never start negotiating for something you do not want.
Bonus +50: Learn and use teşekkür ederim.
Follow the Cats
Hidden Gems · Quick · 50 points · 30 min
Let street cats decide your next three turns.
The catch: Look, do not pick up or feed anyone's cat.
Bonus +25: Find one of the neighbourhood cat shelters residents build.
Share your Side Quest
Istanbul Side Quest
Send Istanbul side quests to whoever you're travelling with. The link opens this city ready to play.
https://buybeforeyoufly.com/de/side-quest/istanbul
#BuyBeforeYouFly #SideQuestTravel #IstanbulSideQuest
What is a travel side quest?
A side quest is a small, self-contained challenge you can complete wherever you happen to be standing. Side Quest is a free browser-based travel game from Buy Before You Fly: you tell it which city you are exploring, choose the kind of adventure you are in the mood for, and it hands you something unexpected to do. Every quest is built from an objective, a constraint that makes it interesting, and an optional bonus — so instead of another list of the same twenty attractions, you get a reason to walk down a different street, order something you cannot pronounce, or look at one painting for twenty minutes.
There is nothing to install and nothing to sign up for. It works on the phone in your pocket, in the gap between a late checkout and an evening flight, or on a full free day in a city you have never visited.
How Side Quest works
- Pick your place. Search for the city you are exploring. No location permission and no precise GPS required.
- Choose a category. Food, museums, landmarks, exploring, photography, culture, outdoors or hidden gems — or let the dice decide.
- Get your quest. Each one comes with a mission, a catch and a bonus objective worth extra points.
- Earn points. Quick quests are worth 50 points and epic ones 500, with bonuses from 25 to 100 on top.
- Screenshot and share. Completing a quest turns it into an achievement card built to fit a phone screenshot.
Side Quest ideas for travelers
Food & Drink
Markets, bakeries, street food and the dish locals order without looking at the menu.
Museums
One room, one object, one story — museum challenges that beat drifting past everything.
Must-Do
The landmark experiences, with a twist that stops them feeling like a checklist.
Explore
Neighbourhood walks, wrong turns on purpose and streets guidebooks skip.
Photo Quest
Small photo missions that train you to notice details other travellers walk past.
Local Culture
Language, music, craft, ritual and everyday life where you happen to be standing.
Outdoors
Parks, water, viewpoints and green detours between the busy bits.
Hidden Gems
The small, quiet, odd and overlooked corners of a city.
Play Side Quest with friends
Side Quest has no accounts, no friend lists and no leaderboards to join — which is exactly what makes it easy to play together. Everyone opens the page on their own phone, plays the same city, and compares screenshots at dinner. Agree on a target before you split up: first to 500 points, most quests completed before sunset, or one epic quest each. Points are kept in your own browser, so the only scoreboard is the one you keep between you.
- 100 — Explorer
- 500 — Wanderer
- 1,000 — Adventurer
- 2,500 — Globetrotter
- 5,000 — Side Quest Legend
Explore more with Buy Before You Fly
Side Quest is free and always will be. When you want the rest of the trip sorted, the same site covers it:
- Destination guides
Country-by-country guides, things to do and short itineraries.
- Airport guides
Arrivals, transport, wi-fi, food and connections for major hubs.
- Travel eSIMs
Mobile data in 200+ destinations, installed before you land.
- Personalized trip plans
A downloadable plan built around your pace, interests and budget.