Language · 11 published
Country guide
Türkiye is 783,562 km² across 81 provinces, most of it Anatolia in West Asia with East Thrace on the European side of the straits. It has three coasts to choose between — the Black Sea to the north, the Aegean to the west, the Mediterranean to the south — and an interior plateau that behaves like a different country in winter. Istanbul is the largest city and the economic centre, Ankara the capital and the second-largest, and the December 2025 population of 86,092,168 is weighted heavily to the west. A first trip is usually Istanbul and one coast; the plateau is the second trip.
Reviewed by Elena Voss · Roavina Travel Editor
Every city catalogued in this country so far, ranked by how much there is to see.
Photograph · Ben Morlok · CC BY-SA 2.0
Photograph · Diego Delso · CC BY-SA 4.0
Photograph · REHBER0770 · CC BY-SA 4.0
Photograph · Anonymous · CC0
Photograph · Dan Taylor · CC BY 2.0
Photograph · Dogaaunlu · CC BY-SA 4.0
Photograph · Egemenakgul · CC BY-SA 4.0
Ranked by importance — sitelinks, pageviews and heritage status, not editor preference.
438 places match
Category
Typical visit duration
Interests
Oinoanda
Oenoanda is a remote ancient city of northern Lycia near İncealiler village in Seydikemer, Muğla, occupying an isolated mountain ridge rather than a compact monument.
Andriake-Plakoma
Andriaca, locally known as Andriake-Plakoma, is an ancient archaeological site situated within the Antalya region of southern Turkey. The settlement served as the port city for ancient Myra, an important Lycian urban centre.
Arikanda
Arycanda, locally known as Arikanda, is an ancient Lycian city ruin situated in the mountains of Antalya Province. The archaeological site occupies a dramatic hillside position with steep terraced construction typical of Lycian urban planning.
Ankara Zafer Anıtı
Victory Monument, also known as the Ulus Atatürk Monument, stands in Ulus Square in Ankara’s Altındağ district.
Syedra Antik Kenti
Syedra is an ancient city on a hillside above Turkey’s Mediterranean coast near Alanya, in Antalya Province.
Notion is an ancient Greek city spread across two hills at Ahmetbeyli in Menderes, İzmir.
Labranda
Labraunda is a mountain sanctuary near Kargıcak in Muğla Province, about 14 kilometres northeast of Milas. In antiquity it belonged to Mylasa and became one of Caria’s major sacred places.
Konak Meydanı
Konak Square is İzmir’s civic waterfront heart, where the city centre opens towards the Gulf and the historic entrance to Kemeraltı. Its defining landmark is the İzmir Clock Tower, completed in 1901 and rising 25 metres above the square.
Euromos
Euromus is a roadside open-air archaeological site in Selimiye Mahallesi, within Muğla’s Milas district.
The Harpy Tomb is an ancient Lycian funerary monument located in the Xanthos archaeological area within Antalya province.
Apollon ve Athena Tapınağı
The Temple of Apollo, locally known as Apollon ve Athena Tapınağı, is an ancient religious site in Antalya, Turkey. It stands as a significant archaeological landmark within the region's rich classical heritage.
Metropolis is an ancient city between Yeniköy and Özbey in Torbalı, İzmir. Its name is understood to mean “City of the Mother Goddess,” reflecting the religious and civic identity associated with the settlement.
Çukuriçi Höyük
Çukuriçi Höyük is a prehistoric settlement mound in Selçuk, İzmir, southeast of ancient Ephesus and near the Aegean coast. Its importance lies in the archaeological sequence beneath and around the mound, not in standing monuments designed for modern visitors.
Lagina is a Hecate sanctuary in Turgut Mahallesi, Yatağan, where a gateway, processional route and temple platform still describe the logic of an ancient Carian cult centre.
Kaymaklı yeraltı şehri
Kaymaklı is an underground city museum in Kaymaklı town, about 20 km from Nevşehir. Rather than presenting a single above-ground monument, it takes visitors into a subterranean settlement shaped by volcanic rock, compact circulation and successive underground levels.
Antiochia ad Cragum is an ancient archaeological site situated on the southern coast of Turkey's Antalya province. The settlement was established during the Hellenistic period and later developed under Roman rule.
Bargylia/Barbylia
Bargylia is an open-air archaeological site in Boğaziçi, the modern settlement identified with the ancient city on a small peninsula south of Güllük Gulf.
Karabel Kaya Kabartması
Karabel relief is a Hittite-Luwian rock monument carved into the south-facing slope at Karabel Pass near Kemalpaşa.
Aspendos Amfi Tiyatrosu
The Roman Theatre of Aspendos is an ancient amphitheatre located near the modern city of Antalya in southern Turkey. Its local name is Aspendos Amfi Tiyatrosu.
Bodrum Antik Tiyatrosu
The Ancient Theatre of Halicarnassus is an open-air archaeological theatre on the southern slope of Göktepe in Bodrum, in today’s Yeniköy area.
Larisa
Larissa is an ancient settlement near Buruncuk in Menemen district, north of İzmir. It belonged to the Aeolis region and occupied an elevated landscape rather than surviving as one compact monument.
Amintas Kaya Mezarı
The Tomb of Amyntas is a monumental Lycian rock-cut tomb in Fethiye, Muğla Province, dated to the 4th century BC. It was carved into the hillside above the ancient settlement and remains one of Fethiye’s most recognisable landmarks.
Sidas is an unexcavated ancient city near İcikler village, south of Demirci in Manisa province.
Julianus Sütunu
The Julian Column is an approximately 15-metre Roman monument in Hükümet Meydanı, the public square at the centre of Ulus in Altındağ.
Amos Ancient City
Amos is an open-air ancient settlement on Asarcık Hill, between Turunç and Kumlubük in Marmaris, Muğla.
Ariassos
Ariassus, known locally as Ariassos, is an ancient archaeological site situated in the Antalya region of Türkiye. The settlement represents a historical location of visitor interest within the broader Antalya area.
The Temple of Aphrodite is an archaeological landmark within the ancient city of Knidos, at Tekir Burnu on the western tip of Muğla’s Datça Peninsula.
Köprüpazar Köprüsü
Eurymedon Bridge, locally known as Köprüpazar Köprüsü, is a historic stone crossing associated with the Eurymedon River in Antalya Province.
Aperlae is an ancient Lycian settlement located along the Mediterranean coast near Antalya, Turkey. The site represents a significant archaeological location from the classical period, positioned on a peninsula with natural harbours that supported maritime trade.
Etenna is a remote ancient settlement in the mountainous interior north of Antalya’s coastal plain. Its character comes from the combination of archaeological remains and rugged natural surroundings, rather than from a managed museum-style visit.
Sidyma is a dispersed ancient settlement in Dodurga Mahallesi, within Seydikemer district of Muğla Province. Its identity comes from the way civic buildings, tombs, defensive works and a hillside theatre remain connected across a living rural landscape.
Belevi Mausoleum is an Early Hellenistic monumental tomb on a hillside near Belevi, in Selçuk district of İzmir.
Teuthrania is an archaeological site identified with Kalerga Tepe, also written Kalarga Tepe, in İzmir’s Bergama district. The remains occupy an elevated rural hill rather than a formal museum building or a compact visitor complex.
Alara Kalesi
Alara Castle is a hilltop fortress ruin above the Alara River in Antalya Province. The castle’s character comes from its position: elevated ground overlooks the river corridor and separates the site from the province’s coastal resort landscape.
Atatürk Anıtı
Atatürk Monument is the equestrian civic sculpture in İzmir’s Cumhuriyet Meydanı, on Kordon at Atatürk Bulvarı, in front of Swissôtel. Its subject is Mustafa Kemal Atatürk as a commander, giving the waterfront square a distinctly republican and military memorial character.
Bubon is an ancient archaeological settlement in Antalya Province, Türkiye, encountered as a quiet rural heritage site rather than a developed attraction with museum galleries, extensive interpretation or a large visitor complex.
Or Yehuda Tarım Okulu
Or Yehuda Agriculture School is the surviving building of a Jewish agricultural colony and school founded near Akhisar in 1899, in what is today the Kayalıoğlu neighbourhood of Akhisar district.
Iotape
Aytap, known locally as Iotape, is an ancient archaeological site on the Mediterranean coast near Alanya in Antalya Province. The settlement occupies a coastal promontory with natural harbour advantages that attracted ancient populations.
Akköprü is a Seljuk-era stone bridge over the Ankara Çayı in Varlık Mahallesi, Yenimahalle. It was built in 1222 during the reign of Sultan I.
Özkonak Yeralti Şehri
Özkonak is an underground city on the northern slopes of İdiş Dağı, near Avanos in Nevşehir Province. It was carved into thick volcanic, granite-like tuff layers and opened to visitors in 1972.
Kadyanda is an elevated ancient settlement in the mountains north of Fethiye, approached through Üzümlü rather than from the coast.
Çeşme Kalesi
Çeşme Castle is a six-towered Ottoman fortress built in 1508 during the reign of Sultan Bayezid II. Moats remain on three sides, framing a historic defensive site in the centre of Çeşme.
Atatürk, Annesi ve Kadın Hakları Anıtı
Atatürk, His Mother and Women's Rights Monument is a landmark in Anayasa Meydanı, Tuna, on Karşıyaka’s İzmir waterfront. Its present structure reopened in 2018 after the original 1972 monument was rebuilt.
Çamlık Eski İstasyonu
Çamlık Railway Museum is an open-air railway collection beside TCDD’s Çamlık station, approximately 7 kilometres from Selçuk in İzmir Province. It opened to visitors in 1991 and preserves steam-era railway heritage in the setting of a real railway yard.
Pydnai
Pydnae is an abandoned Hellenistic fortress settlement on the Lycian coast, at İnce Burun where the Eşen River reaches the sea.
Marmaris Kalesi
Marmaris Castle is a historic hilltop fortress behind Marmaris Harbour, in Tepe Mahallesi’s Kaleiçi Mevkii.
Karşı Kilise
St. John is a rock-cut church in Gülşehir, within Nevşehir Province, known locally as St. Jean Church and Karşı Kilise. Cut into a rock chimney, it forms a compact but layered historic site with two levels.
Gagai
Gagae, known locally as Gagai, is an ancient archaeological site situated in the Antalya region of southern Turkey. This ruined settlement represents a former Lycian city that once held significance in the classical Mediterranean world.
Balbura is identified in OpenStreetMap as a historical site in the Antalya region of southern Turkey. The record preserves a named, fixed mapped location, but does not establish a securely documented date, monument list, excavation history, or visitor interpretation.
Neonteikhos
Neonteichos is an archaeological settlement in the mountainous landscape around Yanıkköy, within İzmir’s Menemen district.
Hyllarima is an ancient settlement spread across the hills around Derebağ Mahallesi in Kavaklıdere district, Muğla. The remains are mainly associated with the Classical, Hellenistic and Roman periods.
Limantepe is a coastal archaeological settlement in İskele Mahallesi, Urla, where research examines a long sequence of occupation rather than a single monument preserved for routine sightseeing.
Akalissos
Acalissus, known locally as Akalissos, is an ancient archaeological site situated in the Antalya region of southern Turkey. This historical settlement represents part of the rich classical heritage distributed across the Turkish Mediterranean coast.
Kyaneai
Cyaneae, known locally as Kyaneai, is an ancient archaeological site situated in the Antalya region of southwestern Turkey. The settlement occupies a hilltop position in the mountainous terrain north of the modern coastline.
Pedasa Antique City
Pedasa is an open-air archaeological settlement in the Gökçeler area of Konacık, in the hills north of Bodrum.
Hacımusalar Höyüğü
Choma, also known as Hacımusalar Höyüğü, is an archaeological mound in the Antalya region. The raised landscape reflects the long sequence of human occupation associated with höyük settlements in southwestern Anatolia.
Apollonia is an ancient archaeological site located in the Antalya region of Turkey. The settlement was established as a Greek colony and later developed under Roman influence, reflecting the layered history of the Mediterranean coast.
Myonnesos
Myonnesus is a small rocky archaeological island off the Doğanbey coast in Seferihisar, İzmir. It is also called Çıfıt Adası, Çiftekale Adası and Çıfıtkalesi. This is a low offshore rock rather than a conventional museum or enclosed attraction.
Domitian Tapınağı
The Temple of the Emperors is an imperial-cult monument within ancient Ephesus, standing on the west side of the State Agora. Its large terrace and altar identify a ceremonial complex set directly into the city’s civic landscape.
Hydisos
Hydissus is an ancient settlement in Caria, the region of southwestern Anatolia that gives this place its historical setting.
Idebessos is an ancient settlement in Antalya Province, within the wider Lycian landscape of southwestern Türkiye. Its identity is defined by surviving physical traces of an older settlement and by the relationship between those remains and the surrounding mountainous terrain.
The Heroon of Trysa is an ancient funerary monument located in the Antalya region of southern Turkey. It represents a significant archaeological site from the Lycian civilization, which flourished in this coastal area.
Arapsu bridge
Arapsu Bridge is a historic stone crossing associated with the Arapsu stream in Antalya. Its appeal comes from the bridge as practical infrastructure: a structure made to carry movement across a watercourse, rather than a museum created for display.
Yeşilova Höyüğü
Yeşilova Mound is an archaeological settlement in Bornova, İzmir, where evidence of human occupation reaches back about 8,500 years, to around 6500 BCE.
Arneai
Arneae, also known as Arneai, is an archaeological site in the Antalya region of Türkiye. It belongs on a cultural itinerary for travelers interested in ancient settlements and the many layers of Anatolian history beyond the region's most famous ruins.
Güven Abidesi
Güvenlik Monument is a 1935 civic artwork inside Güvenpark, in Ankara’s Kızılay district. Its subject is not a private memorial or enclosed museum display: it places a statement about public trust within one of the capital’s busiest everyday spaces.
Gavur Kalesi
Gavurkale Hill is a rocky archaeological landmark near Dereköy in Haymana district, roughly 60 kilometres southwest of Ankara.
Persian tomb
Persian Tomb Monument is a rock-cut funerary monument in Yenibağarası, in the countryside east of Foça. Public descriptions identify it with the additional names Taş Ev and Taş Kule and date it to the 4th century BC.
Araksa
Araxa, also recorded locally as Araksa, is a mapped point of interest in Antalya, Türkiye.
Mehmetçik Anıtı
Mehmetçik Monument is a hilltop memorial at Kartaltepe, about 6 kilometres west of Polatlı in Ankara Province, beside the E-90 Ankara–Eskişehir highway.
Beş Kapılar Kalesi
Foça Castle is the surviving Beşkapılar section of the historic fortifications on Eski Foça’s peninsula, between the Küçükdeniz and Büyükdeniz bays.
Suluhan is a historic commercial han in Ankara’s Ulus area, known locally as Hasan Paşa Hanı and Sulu Han.
İlk Kurşun Anıtı
First Bullet Monument is a memorial in Konak Atatürk Square, where İzmir’s civic history unfolds around the Clock Tower and Konak Government House.
Mazı yeraltı şehri
Mazı Underground City is a historic subterranean settlement in Mazı village, within Ürgüp district of Nevşehir. Mazı’s ancient name was Mataza. The site forms part of Cappadocia’s underground heritage, with living and working spaces carved below ground.
Karyağdı Hatun Türbesi
The Tomb of Karyağdı Hatun is a small Ottoman funerary monument on Doğan Sokak in Ankara’s Ulus area, close to İtfaiye Meydanı.
Odeon (Konser Salonu)
The Bouleuterion at Ephesus is a compact civic auditorium associated with the city council and also known as the Odeon.
Çandarlı Kalesi
Çandarlı Castle is a compact fortified landmark in Çandarlı Mahallesi, within İzmir’s Dikili district.
Kalabantia is an ancient Lycian coastal settlement and harbour town whose archaeological remains lie around Korsan Koyu on the Teke Peninsula. Its identity comes from the meeting of a maritime settlement, rugged coastal terrain and a historic walking route.
TCDD Genel Müdürlüğü
TCDD General Headquarters Building is the Ankara headquarters of Türkiye's State Railways, at Hipodrom Caddesi beside Ankara railway station in Altındağ. Its identity is tied to railway administration rather than a museum collection or a station's passenger functions.
Charadros
Charadrus is a named point of interest associated with Antalya and is also identified by the variant name Charadros.
Telandros
Telandrus refers to the ancient settlement associated with Tersane Island, now called Tersane Adası, in Fethiye district of Muğla Province.
Hemaksia
Hamaxia, known locally as Hemaksia, is an ancient settlement near Antalya in southern Turkey. This archaeological site represents a lesser-visited historical location in the region, offering visitors exposure to Mediterranean antiquity away from heavily trafficked attractions.
Angel Gabriel Church
Alakilise, also called Angel Gabriel Church, is a historical Christian religious site in the Antalya region. It is suited to travelers drawn to quiet stone ruins, religious heritage, and the layered history of southern Türkiye.
Kuva-yi Milliye ve Cumhuriyet Anıtı
The Kuva-yi Milliye ve Cumhuriyet Anıtı is a 63-metre monument on the southern approach to Manisa, and it is the tallest thing a visitor arriving by road will see.
THK Havacılık Müzesi ve Paraşüt Kulesi
Ankara Parachute Tower is a 41-metre aviation landmark in Ulus, beside Ankara Sports Hall and close to Gençlik Park. Opened on 28 October 1937, it was designed around parachute training rather than as a conventional monument or lookout.
Nevşehir Kalesi
Nevşehir Castle is a historic defensive landmark in Camicedit, on one of the highest points in Nevşehir. Its compact, cylindrical plan is built from volcanic rock and tuff, materials that connect the structure directly to the region’s distinctive geology.
Hadrian Tapınağı
The Temple of Hadrian is a Roman Imperial monument on Curetes Street inside the Efes Archaeological Site at Selçuk in İzmir. Associated with Emperor Hadrian, it is recognised as one of Ephesus’s representative Roman Imperial buildings.
Tiyatro
Ancient Greek theatre of Pergamon is a Hellenistic hillside auditorium within the Bergama Acropolis archaeological site. Its seating descends directly along the Acropolis slope, making the terrain part of the theatre’s design rather than a backdrop.
Karanlık kilise
Dark Church is a Byzantine rock-cut church inside Göreme Open Air Museum on Müze Caddesi in Göreme, Cappadocia. It is a focused interior stop within the larger museum route, not a separate monument in central Nevşehir.
Dombaycıoğlu Hanı
Dombaycıoğlu Han is a former Ottoman caravanserai in the middle of Akhisar's market district, built in 1823 by a local merchant, Dombaycıoğlu Mehmet Ağa, as trade through the town grew.
Hastane Höyüğü
Hastane Höyüğü, the Hospital Mound, is an archaeological tell within the same site area as ancient Thyatira, in Akhisar, Manisa province.
Tiyatro
The Great Theater of Ephesus is a vast ancient performance and civic building positioned where the city’s principal harbour route begins.
Açıksaray is an open-air archaeological site near Gülşehir in Cappadocia, on the Nevşehir–Gülşehir road about 3 km from Gülşehir. Its name, meaning “Open Palace”, describes rooms, halls and other spaces carved into soft volcanic tuff.
Estergon Kalesi Türk Kültür Merkezi
Estergon Turkish Cultural Centre is a castle-inspired municipal complex in Güçlükaya, Keçiören, rather than a surviving medieval fortress.
Trayan Tapınağı
The Temple of Trajan occupies the highest terrace of the Pergamon Acropolis on Kale Hill above Bergama, İzmir.
Hoca Seyfettin Köprüsü
Hoca Seyfettin Bridge is a historic stone crossing in the Gediz River valley, about 13 kilometres north of Kula in Manisa Province.
Ayasolouk
Ayasuluk Citadel occupies the summit of Ayasuluk Hill in Selçuk, where the town’s central heritage landscape rises into a defended archaeological enclosure. Its surviving walls belong to a layered setting associated with Byzantine, Aydınoğlu and Ottoman periods.
Evdir Han is a Seljuk caravanserai near Antalya, built as a roadside stopping place for people, pack animals and goods moving through the region.
Saat Kulesi
Antalya Clock Tower, also called Saat Kulesi, is a prominent historic marker at the edge of Kaleiçi, Antalya’s old town.
Bademağacı Höyüğü
Bademağacı Höyüğü is an archaeological mound in Antalya Province, Türkiye, where the visible landform represents a settlement built up through repeated occupation over time.
Source: OpenStreetMap contributors, Wikidata ·
Ten to fourteen days allows about four days in İstanbul and at least three around Antalya when coastal archaeology is included. Cappadocia needs its own regional stay, and a one-way coastal route is more workable than returning to the same city each night.
Türkiye's visa position varies by passport and purpose. Verify the rule through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and, when eligible, use only the official e-Visa service rather than an intermediary.
İstanbul's two airports and Antalya are the principal gateways for this itinerary. Domestic flights cover long cross-country legs, coaches serve many city pairs, and high-speed rail is most useful on the İstanbul-Ankara axis rather than as a universal substitute.
April to May and September to October are broad choices for combining İstanbul with the Mediterranean coast. Cappadocia nights, inland heat, and Antalya's coastal conditions differ, so confirm weather for each overnight base.
Türkiye uses the Turkish lira (TRY). Keep lira available for smaller transport and market transactions even when cards are accepted, and review the displayed amount in TRY before agreeing to any card conversion.
Dial 112 for emergencies in Türkiye. Electricity is 230 V through Type C and F sockets; tap-water safety is not recorded here, so obtain current local advice at each stop.
