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.
432 places match
Category
Typical visit duration
Roma Hamamı
The Roman Baths of Ankara are an open-air archaeological museum in Ulus, on Çankırı Caddesi in the Anafartalar area of Altındağ.
Atatürk Maskı
Atatürk Mask is a monumental outdoor portrait of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk built directly into the Yeşildere hillside in İzmir’s Çaldıran area, between Buca and Konak.
Atarneus is an ancient settlement at Ağılkale, on a hill near Dikili in İzmir. Local heritage information dates its history to approximately 4000 BCE.
Kadifekale, also called Velvet Castle, is an open-air archaeological site on Pagos, the 186-metre-high hill south of İzmir’s city centre.
Kocatepe Camii
Kocatepe Mosque is Ankara’s great urban mosque in Kültür, within Çankaya’s central city fabric.
Sultan Camii
The Sultan Mosque is the centrepiece of Manisa and the reason the city has a festival.
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.
Ankara Zafer Anıtı
Victory Monument, also known as the Ulus Atatürk Monument, stands in Ulus Square in Ankara’s Altındağ district.
Hacı Bayram Veli Camii
Hacı Bayram Mosque is an active place of worship in Ankara’s historic Ulus district, beside the Temple of Augustus. Built in 1427–1428, the mosque is closely associated with Hacı Bayram-ı Veli, whose tomb is attached to the building’s south wall.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
İsa Bey Camii
İsa Bey Mosque is a 14th-century Aydinid mosque on the south-western slope of Ayasuluk Hill in Selçuk, İzmir.
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.
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.
Muradiye Cami
The Muradiye is the mosque Mimar Sinan designed for Manisa, built between 1583 and 1586 for Sultan Murad III. It replaced a smaller mosque begun on the site in 1571 and is the finest Ottoman building in the city.
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.
Ali Şerafettin Cami
Aslanhane Mosque, also called Ahi Şerafettin Mosque, is an active historic mosque at the southern end of Ankara Castle. It stands in Kale Mahallesi on Kale Sokak, in Altındağ’s Samanpazarı area, beside the Ulus Historical City Centre.
Pedasa Antique City
Pedasa is an open-air archaeological settlement in the Gökçeler area of Konacık, in the hills north of Bodrum.
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.
Galata Mevlevihanesi Müzesi
The Galata Mevlevihanesi is the oldest Mevlevi dervish lodge in Istanbul, established in 1491 during the reign of Bayezid II on land that had belonged to İskender Pasha, a prominent governor of the period.
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.
Devlet Mezarlığı
Turkish State Cemetery is Ankara’s national memorial cemetery for presidents of the Republic and commanders of the Turkish War of Independence.
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.
Aziz Yuhanna Katedrali
St. John's Cathedral is a Catholic church in Alsancak, within İzmir's Konak district, at Şehit Nevres Bulvarı No. 29. Construction began in 1862 and the church opened in 1874.
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.
Hisar Camii
Hisar Mosque is an active Ottoman mosque in İzmir’s Kemeraltı bazaar, in the Hisarönü area beside Kızlarağası Hanı. İzmir Metropolitan Municipality dates its construction to 1592 and attributes it to Yakup Bey.
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.
Saint Polycarpe Kilisesi
Saint Polycarp Church is a Roman Catholic church in Akdeniz Mahallesi, in İzmir’s Konak district.
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.
Konak Camii
Konak Mosque, also known as Yalı Mosque, is a small Ottoman-era mosque on Konak Square in central İzmir.
Maltepe Camii
Maltepe Mosque is a functioning place of worship in Maltepe Mahallesi, within Ankara’s Çankaya district. Construction began in 1954 and finished in 1959, while the design adopts the visual language of classical Ottoman mosques.
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.
Melike Hatun Camii
Melike Hatun Mosque is a contemporary religious landmark in Ankara’s historic Ulus district, standing at İtfaiye Meydanı on Kosova Caddesi in Anafartalar Mahallesi, Altındağ.
Telandros
Telandrus refers to the ancient settlement associated with Tersane Island, now called Tersane Adası, in Fethiye district of Muğla Province.
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.
Başdurak Camii
Başdurak Mosque is a functioning Ottoman-era mosque at the meeting of Anafartalar Caddesi and Kemeraltı 863 Sokak in Konak, İzmir.
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.
Bet Israel Sinagogu
Bet Israel Synagogue is an active historic place of worship in Karataş, within Konak, İzmir. Construction began in 1905, and the synagogue opened for worship in 1907.
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.
Ahmet Hamdi Akseki Camii
Ahmet Hamdi Akseki Mosque is a contemporary Ankara landmark beside the Presidency of Religious Affairs at the Bilkent junction. Set on Dumlupınar Bulvarı in Üniversiteler Mahallesi, it opened for worship on Friday, 19 April 2013.
Cebeci Asri Mezarlığı
Cebeci Asri Cemetery is a municipal burial ground in Gültepe Mahallesi, within Ankara’s Altındağ district, and it has served the city since 1935.
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.
Aydınoğlu Mehmet Bey Camii
Birgi Grand Mosque, also known as Aydınoğlu Mehmet Bey Mosque, stands in Birgi in Ödemiş district of İzmir, beside the stream and within the town’s historic settlement.
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.
Karşıyaka Mezarlığı
Karşıyaka Cemetery is a large municipal burial ground in Ankara, maintained as an active cemetery by Ankara Metropolitan Municipality. Its purpose is grave visitation, remembrance and cemetery administration, so the experience differs fundamentally from a sightseeing attraction.
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.
Şaban Ağa Camii
Şaban Ağa Mosque stands in the former Eskihisar village, within Stratonikeia Ancient City in Yatağan district of Muğla Province. Older records identify the building as Tabakhane Mosque.
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.
Sarıhan Kervansaray
Sarıhan Caravanserai is a Seljuk roadside inn built in 1249 during the reign of Seljuk Sultan Izzeddin Keykavus II.
State Agora
The State Agora of Ephesus is the ancient city’s civic square: an open archaeological space where the surviving footprint and stonework help explain how public life was organised in Ephesus.
Aziz Klemens Kilisesi
St. Clemens Church is an archaeological ruin in Ankara’s Altındağ district, in the Ulus area between Anafartalar Caddesi and Çıkrıkçılar Yokuşu.
Midas'ın Tümülüsü
Tumulus MM is a monumental Phrygian burial mound at ancient Gordion near Yassıhöyük in Ankara Province.
Meryem Ana Kilisesi is a former Greek Orthodox church in Zaferiye Mahallesi, central Kula, on Mustafa Sapcı Sokak. Its history is tied to Kula’s Rum community, including the Turkish-speaking Karamanlı population.
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.
