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.
514 places match
Category
Typical visit duration
Cave Tomb is a specific rock-cut burial feature marked in the Güllüdere walking area of Nevşehir’s Cappadocia landscape. Its identity comes from the carved tomb itself, rather than from a museum collection, fortress, church complex or staffed visitor building.
Cave village is the historic outdoor settlement landscape of Çavuşin, in Avanos district of Nevşehir Province, rather than a single museum building.
Çavuşin Kalesi
Çavuşin Kalesi is the prominent rock settlement rising above Çavuşin village in Avanos district of Nevşehir.
Çeç is a large stone-covered tumulus rising from Çeç Tepesi in the countryside between Avanos and Özkonak. Its broad artificial profile makes it a landmark across the surrounding Cappadocian landscape, including views from the Avanos area.
Cemal Ranch is a working horse-riding base in Kızılçukur Mevkii, Yukarı Mahallesi, outside Ortahisar in Cappadocia. It is arranged around guided riding rather than a conventional visitor attraction with a separate entrance ticket.
Cemel Höyüğü is identified in the official cultural inventory as Yeşilöz Höyüğü, an open-air archaeological site near Yeşilöz village in Gülşehir district, Nevşehir. The mound is registered under decision K.K.T.V.K.K.
CerModern is a contemporary arts centre in Ankara’s Sıhhiye district, bringing exhibition halls, the Flow digital exhibition, a shop, CafeModern and a library into one venue.
Chimney Police Station is a working police-service facility near the fairy chimneys of Paşabağları and Çavuşin, in Avanos District of Nevşehir Province. The map identifies it with amenity=police and historic=yes.
Church is a rock-hewn Christian sanctuary in Nevşehir’s Cappadocian heritage landscape. The sanctuary belongs to a tradition in which worship spaces were carved directly into volcanic tuff and other eroded formations.
El Nazar Church is a compact rock-cut sanctuary in El Nazar Valley near Göreme, carved directly into Cappadocia’s volcanic tuff. Its free-cross plan, three apses and central dome give the small interior a distinct architectural identity.
Church, also known as Kaymaklı Church, is a twentieth-century heritage building in Kaymaklı, within Nevşehir’s Merkez district. The heritage record connects it with the Greek Rum community.
Church is a rock-cut Christian space within the Zelve archaeological site near Aktepe, in Avanos district of Nevşehir Province.
Column Church is a rock-cut church encountered in Güllüdere Valley, the natural corridor between Göreme and Çavuşin in Nevşehir.
big cave church
Big Cave Church is a rock-cut Christian sanctuary in the Mısırören Deresi valley, about 3 kilometres north of Ortahisar. It is also known as Columned Church, Column Church, Sütunlu Kilise and Kolonlu Kilise.
Delikli Bent is a natural and historic rock formation in the Selendi River bed, in Yıldız neighbourhood of Selendi district, Manisa. The site is also known locally as Delik Düven.
Deliklitaş is a compact rock feature in the Çilehane area of Hacıbektaş, Nevşehir. The feature is defined by a cave cut into the rock, with an entrance and exit, together with a narrow opening that leads outdoors.
Demokrasi Meydanı is an open-air civic square in central Manisa’s Şehzadeler district, known in official notices as 15 Temmuz Demokrasi Meydanı.
Devrent Vadisi
Devrent Valley, also called Hayal Vadisi or Imaginary Valley, is an open Cappadocian landscape of fairy chimneys, tuff rocks and natural silhouettes.
DSM is an open-air monument in Salihli, within Manisa province, set in the everyday urban landscape rather than inside a museum or visitor complex.
Durmuş Kadir Kilisesi
Durmuş Kadir Kilisesi is a Byzantine rock-cut monument in Göreme’s Karşı Bucak area, dating from the sixth or seventh century.
Entry to Sable Valley is a named access point in Göreme National Park, near Göreme in Nevşehir Province. It is a starting point for an outdoor experience: moving from the settled approach into Sable Valley and its Cappadocian terrain.
Efes Deneyimi Müzesi
Efes Deneyimi Müzesi is an immersive museum opposite the Ancient Theatre inside the Efes Ancient City site. It presents the story of Ephesus through a sensory, audiovisual experience rather than a conventional sequence of display cases.
Eski Gördes Harabeleri are the surviving traces of Gördes’s former hillside settlement in Manisa. The place lies in Eski Gördes, in Atatürk Mahallesi, near Eski Gördes Pazar Camii on the eastern slope of Kepez, also called Tekke Dağı.
Eski Kilise is a ruined historic Christian place of worship in Kula, a district of Manisa province.
Fairy chimneys at Paşabağları are a specific cluster of volcanic-tuff pillars in Cappadocia, not a single freestanding monument. Harder cap rocks protected softer material below, while erosion shaped the grouped cones and columns.
Fairy Chimneys is a named landscape feature in Çavuşin, within Avanos district of Nevşehir, beside the Göreme–Avanos road. Its identity comes from distinctive volcanic-rock formations set among village buildings and the wider Cappadocian terrain.
Alibağı
Alibağı is a small, open-air landscape stop near Çavuşin, where fairy chimneys and weathered tuff formations are encountered in their natural setting.
Former USAF Jupiter IRBM is an outdoor Cold War historical site in rural Manisa province. It is associated with a United States Air Force Jupiter intermediate-range ballistic-missile launch position in the Kemiklidere area on the Manisa–Akhisar route.
Gavurhöyüğü is a rural archaeological mound in Şahinler village, Gülşehir District, Nevşehir Province. Its identity is tied to the höyük itself, its unusually elongated footprint, and evidence of occupation over several archaeological periods.
Gizlikent Şelalesi
Gizlikent Şelalesi is a waterfall reached through the entrance area of Saklıkent Canyon, in Kayadibi Mahallesi, Seydikemer, Muğla.
Gökçe Höyüğü is a rural settlement mound in Kozaklı district of Nevşehir province, positioned between Karahasanlı and Yassıca.
Gökçeler Canyon is an approximately eight-kilometre natural ravine near Milas, shaped by Değirmen Deresi, also known as Hamzabey Stream. The watercourse divides the canyon into two sides, creating a landscape of wooded slopes, rocky formations, waterfalls and ponds.
Golgoli is the hill identified by the responsible cultural-route body as Golgoli Dağı–Meryem Ana Dağı, also called Golgoli Dağı, near Mustafapaşa in Ürgüp district.
Göreme Valley is a carved-rock settlement and archaeological landscape in Cappadocia, presented by the responsible ministry through the Göreme Open-Air Museum.
Göre Açık Hava Müzesi
Göre Açık Hava Müzesi is a rock-settlement heritage area within Göre, in Nevşehir Central District. Its defining sights are spaces cut directly into soft volcanic rock: former homes, openings and animal shelters shaped around everyday domestic and agricultural needs.
Great Caves is a distinctive open-air rock settlement on the Çavuşin slope, where carved spaces and weathered volcanic surfaces meet the edge of a living Cappadocian village.
Günbatımı | Sunset Point is a named outdoor lookout near Göre in Nevşehir, Türkiye, at approximately 38.59464° north and 34.72226° east.
At Sardes, the Gymnasium is a Roman Imperial bath-and-exercise complex rather than an isolated ruin. Its eastern palaestra, western bath halls and connecting Marble Court form a legible architectural sequence within the archaeological area near Sart.
Hacı Bektaş Veli is a historic dergah complex and museum in Hacıbektaş, associated with the 13th-century mystic and the Bektashi tradition.
Manisa Hafsa Sultan Şifahanesi
The Hafsa Sultan Hospital Museum is the surviving hospital wing of the Sultan Camii complex, the külliye Ayşe Hafsa Sultan — wife of Selim I and mother of Süleyman the Magnificent — commissioned in Manisa in 1522, where she lived…
Hallaç Manastir is an 11th-century monastic complex carved into a tuff rock mass in the Hallaç Deresi area, about 1 kilometre northeast of Ortahisar in Nevşehir’s Ürgüp district.
Hamam Bay is a sheltered coastal cove in Muğla Province’s Dalaman area, also known locally as Kleopatra Hamamı. Pine-covered slopes descend towards a natural beach and clear water, while ancient Cleopatra Hamamı ruins stand beside the shore.
Hermesin Çizmesi, or Hermes’ Boot, is a natural rock formation near Kazıklı Mahallesi in Selendi district. It stands in the Selendi Çayı Canyon, where the rock’s outline is traditionally understood as Hermes’ right foot.
Saklı Kilise
Saklı Kilise is a rock-cut Byzantine church in Göreme’s El Nazar Mevkii, near El Nazar Church in Nevşehir Province. Its name is linked to its discovery in 1957.
Marmaris Bal Evi
Marmaris Bal Evi is a dedicated honey museum in Osmaniye village, within Muğla’s Marmaris district. Its focus is the long history of beekeeping and the knowledge behind honey production, giving the visit a clear agricultural and cultural identity.
BALONY TURCJA
BALONY TURCJA is a named outdoor balloon-viewing position near Göreme in Nevşehir, at 38.65492, 34.82824, in the Sunrise Viewpoint area.
Iasos is an archaeological site in Kıyıkışlacık Mahallesi, in the Milas district of Muğla, set on a peninsula surrounded by the sea on three sides.
İnözü Vadisi
İnözü Valley is an open rural landscape in Rüstempaşa, about 3 km from Beypazarı district centre. Its character comes from the meeting of rocky valley walls, village views, cultivated fields and visible birdlife.
İStasyon binası ve lojman is a railway heritage complex in central Manisa, at Fabrika Tımarı Mevkii in 2. Anafartalar Mahallesi. Its identity comes from the relationship between historic architecture and a working station, rather than from a separate museum function.
Juliopolis is an archaeological site in the Gülşehri area of Çayırhan, within Nallıhan district in Ankara Province. Set beside Sarıyar Dam, it combines an ancient settlement with a necropolis on limestone rock along the reservoir’s northern shore.
Jupiter Launch Base 5 is the mapped location of a former Turkish launch position associated with the United States Jupiter intermediate-range ballistic-missile deployment. It was the fifth of five positions established in Turkey near İzmir during the Cold War.
Kayaköy is a preserved archaeological settlement on a hillside about 8 km south of Fethiye, where the remains of Levissi meet the older place-name Karmylassos.
Kızkumu is a natural shallow sandbar extending about 600 metres through Orhaniye Cove near Marmaris. Its low strip of sand creates the memorable impression of walking across the sea, while the cove’s wooded slopes frame the route from every angle.
Koca Bektaş Dede Türbesi stands in Beyoba Mahallesi, within Manisa’s Akhisar district. The municipality presents the site as the Koca Bektaş Dede Dergâhı and a hayır alanı, meaning that the tomb belongs to a wider devotional and charitable setting.
Kurşunlu Hanı is a late-fifteenth-century Ottoman han in Manisa, built in 1488 as part of the Hatuniye Külliyesi beside Hatuniye Mosque. Hüsnüşah Sultan, the wife of Sultan Bayezid II, commissioned the building.
Kurşunlu Şelalesi is a natural waterfall landscape in Allahdiyen Mahallesi, within the Kurşunlu mevkii of Salihli district in Manisa. Kurşunlu Creek runs through a wooded setting where waterfalls, stream beds and dense tree cover define the experience.
Kuş Cenneti is a wetland in Davutoğlan village, within Ankara’s Nallıhan district, where the Aladağ Stream meets the Sarıyar Dam. Its character comes from the meeting of flowing water, reservoir shoreline, reed beds, rocky ground and bird habitat.
Love Valley, known locally as Aşk Vadisi and also identified as Bağlıdere Valley, is a natural Cappadocian landscape between Göreme and Uçhisar in Nevşehir Province.
Love Valley, also called Bağlıdere Valley, is a natural valley near Göreme in Cappadocia. It is an open outdoor landscape with walking paths, fairy chimneys, tall rock formations and changing views.
Manisa Mevevihane Müzesi
The Manisa Mevlevihane is a Mevlevi dervish lodge built in 1368-69 by İshak Çelebi, grandson of the Saruhanoğlu ruler Saruhan Bey, on a slope at the foot of Spil Mountain.
Hekatomnos Anıt Mezarı ve Kutsal Alanı
Hekatomnos Anıt Mezarı ve Kutsal Alanı is the archaeological centrepiece of the Uzunyuva complex in Milas, Muğla. The monument is associated with Hekatomnos and is encountered within a town-based museum setting rather than as an isolated countryside ruin.
Beçin Ortaçağ Kenti
Beçin Medieval City is an archaeological settlement in Beçin Mahallesi, about 5 km south of Milas in Muğla Province.
Merkez Çarşı'yı Canlandırma Projesi (Özhan) identifies an urban redevelopment project in Akhisar’s Merkez Çarşı, within Şeyhisa Mahallesi, rather than a completed visitor attraction. The project concerns an excavation area in the town centre where commercial renewal intersects with archaeological history.
M.Kemal Atatürk Havuzu is a compact civic memorial in Salihli, Manisa, positioned at approximately 38.48308° north and 28.12486° east.
Müftü Alim Efendi Evi is a registered historic residence in Çarşı Mahallesi, within Manisa’s Şehzadeler district, at the junction of Dr. Sadık Ahmet Caddesi and Dumlupınar Caddesi.
Mushroom-like ruins is a small, distinctive remnant near Sart in Salihli district of Manisa, within the wider archaeological landscape of Sardes.
Odeon is a compact ancient performance building within Aigai, near Yuntdağıköseler Mahallesi in Yunusemre, Manisa. Its importance comes from being a distinct cultural space inside a hilltop settlement, not from functioning as a modern theatre.
Park Otel (Demokrat Parti Lokali) is a compact two-storey masonry heritage building at the corner of Atatürk Bulvarı and 1205 Sokak in Manisa’s Nişancıpaşa neighbourhood.
Pasşabağ Vadisi
Pasşabağ Vadisi, also known as the Zelve–Paşabağları archaeological site, is a Cappadocian valley shaped by pale volcanic rock and groups of tall fairy chimneys. Several formations have multiple heads, creating the unusual silhouette associated with Paşabağ.
Paşabağları, also called the Valley of the Priests, is the distinctive landscape represented by this Pashaba Valeri listing within the officially named Zelve–Paşabağlar Archaeological Site.
GÜVERCINLIK VADISI başl.
Güvercinlik Vadisi, or Pigeon Valley, is a Cappadocian landscape route linking Uçhisar and Göreme. Its identity comes from numerous pigeon houses carved into the valley rocks, combining natural scenery with visible traces of how people adapted to the terrain.
Çarıklı Kilise Yemekhanesi
Çarıklı Kilise Yemekhanesi is a long, rectangular communal dining hall cut directly into the rock at the Göreme Open-Air Museum in Göreme, Nevşehir.
Güllüdere
Güllüdere is a Cappadocian valley between Göreme and Çavuşin, best experienced as an outdoor walk rather than as a single enclosed monument. Official regional material identifies two established trekking routes, Güllüdere-I and Güllüdere-II.
Rum Mehmet Paşa Hanı, also known as Rum Mehmet Paşa Bedesteni, is a restored historic covered commercial building in Manisa’s Çarşı Mahallesi.
Saklıkent Kanyonu
Saklıkent Kanyonu is a water-shaped gorge in Seydikemer, Muğla, beside the Antalya provincial border. Its documented length is about 18 kilometres, with canyon height varying roughly from 200 to 600 metres.
Sandikkale
Sandıkkale is the inner citadel of the Byzantine-era Manisa Kalesi, on the north slope of Spil Dağı immediately above Manisa city centre, in the Turgutalp neighbourhood.
Sart Kalesi
Sardis Acropolis — Sart Kalesi on the road signs and local maps — is the fortified hilltop above Sardis, the citadel the Lydian capital was built around and the last stronghold the city ever held.
Schlammbad is a mud-bath stop across the Dalyan channel from Dalyan, within Köyceğiz district of Muğla Province.
Şehitlik Anıtı is a memorial landmark at the lower part of Alparslan Türkeş Meydanı on Turhan Alakent Caddesi in Alaşehir, Manisa.
Şevket Sabancı Parkı is a public outdoor park and event venue in Turgutreis, on Muğla’s Bodrum peninsula. Opened on 19 July 2003, it bears the name of Şevket Sabancı and occupies a distinctly civic waterfront setting beside Turgutreis Marina.
Şeyh İsa ve Şeyh İlyas Çelebi Türbesi is a compact religious heritage site at Şeyh İsa Mosque in Şeyhisa Mahallesi, Akhisar, Manisa.
Tarihi Lokomotif 56507
Tarihi Lokomotif 56507 is a preserved steam locomotive displayed beside Manisa railway station in Şehzadeler. Henschel & Sohn of Kassel built the engine in 1943, and its builder’s construction number is 27741.
Tarihi Lokomotif 56550
Tarihi Lokomotif 56550 is a preserved railway object displayed beside Soma Railway Station in Soma, Manisa.
Sultan Hamamı is a protected Ottoman double bathhouse in central Manisa, built in 1539 according to the official cultural inventory.
Suluhan is a sixteenth-century urban han in Ankara’s Ulus district, known in historical records and local heritage inventories as Hasanpaşa Hanı and Ankaravî Hanı.
Tabak Deresi Dev Kazanları is a natural geosite in Manisa’s Kula-Salihli UNESCO Global Geopark, shaped by the Tabak River rather than built as a conventional attraction.
Tavşan Adası
Tavşan Adası, also called Tavşan/Asar Adası in Bodrum Municipality material, is a rocky island within Gümüşlük Bay and part of the harbour landscape of ancient Myndos.
Teleferik is Balçova’s enclosed cable-car attraction, with its lower facility on Sakarya Caddesi opposite İzmir University of Economics.
Temple of Apollon is the monumental sanctuary of Apollo at ancient Didyma, in today’s Didim.
Temple of Artemis
The Temple of Artemis at Sardis is an unfinished sanctuary within the Sardes Archaeological Site at Sart Mahallesi in Salihli, Manisa.
The Temple of Zeus Lepsynos is Euromus’s defining monument, standing outside the ancient city rather than within its central civic area.
Tepe Mezarı is a compact archaeological site in Ragıpbey Mahallesi, at the heart of Akhisar in Manisa. Its remains belong to Thyateira, the ancient city whose name survives in Akhisar’s historical identity.
Sultaniye Kaplıcaları
Sultaniye Kaplıcaları is a municipal thermal-bath facility near Köyceğiz in Muğla. Visitors come to bathe in naturally warm source water, pause in a peaceful setting and combine the visit with a wider outing around Köyceğiz, Dalyan or Ekincik.
Three beauties
Three Beauties is a compact outdoor viewpoint at Ürgüp’s western entrance, centred on three fairy chimneys standing together at different heights. Their unequal sizes create the silhouette associated with the Turkish name Üç Güzeller.
Tribal Collections Nomadic Rugs & Textiles is a specialist gallery set in a restored cave dwelling in Göreme, where the architecture is part of the setting rather than a neutral shop interior.
Alyattes'in Tümülüsü
The Tumulus of Alyattes — Alyattes'in Tümülüsü on local maps — is the largest of the Bin Tepe mounds and one of the largest burial tumuli known anywhere, traditionally identified with the Lydian king Alyattes, father of Croesus, who died…
Giges Tümülüsü
The Tumulus of Gyges — Giges Tümülüsü on local maps, and known archaeologically as Karnıyarık Tepe — is the second-largest of the more than a hundred royal Lydian mounds gathered in the Bin Tepe field north of Sart, in Salihli…
Turgutlu Saat Kulesi
Turgutlu Saat Kulesi is a civic clock tower in Orta Park, central Turgutlu. The landmark belongs to the town’s public centre and is best visited as part of an urban walk.
Underground City Kayaşehir is a historic subterranean settlement beneath Nevşehir Castle, in the centre of Nevşehir.
Usturumcalı Halil Efe Anıt Mezarı is an outdoor memorial grave on Yağcı Dağı, in the Eşemenler hamlet of Yenice Mahallesi in Selendi district.
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.
