312 Best Sights in Turkey

In an unusual historical-preservation choice, Cunda's Taxiarchis Church, a landmark dating from 1873, was wonderfully restored and reopened in 2014 as a museum that also houses an array of objects belonging to the collection of Turkish businessman and philanthropist Rahmi M. Koç. On the one hand, the restoration preserved the church's elegant neoclassical architecture and decor, as well as its religious iconography; on the other hand, the display of vintage cars and vehicles, ship anchors, nautical instruments, antique dolls and toys, and other curiosities overwhelms the space.

Opened in 2021, this aerial tramway whisks you up to the 1,900-meter (6,200-foot) mountain Babadağ, the main launching point for paragliding over Ölüdeniz. There are four stations on the mountain, including the one at the peak, and each has its own restaurant, access to walking paths, and of course, sweeping views. From November through March, only the lowest station (at 1,200 meters/3,930 feet) is open.

Just off İstiklal Caddesi, next to the entrance to the Çiçek Pasajı, the Balık Pazarı makes for great street theater: it's a bustling labyrinth of streets filled with stands selling fish, produce, spices, sweets, and souvenirs, and there are also a couple of eateries specializing in kokoreç (grilled lamb intestines). The adjacent Second Empire–style arcade, known as Çiçek Pasajı, was one of Istanbul's grandest shopping venues when it was built in 1876. In the early 20th century, it was gradually taken over by flower shops run by White Russian émigrés—earning it the name "Flower Arcade." In later decades, the arcade became dominated by famously boisterous meyhanes, or tavernas. It now houses about a dozen rather touristy meyhane-style restaurants offering meze and fish. For a more authentic local vibe, continue toward the end of the Fish Market and turn right on narrow Nevizade Sokak, a lively strip of bars and meyhanes, all with tiny sidewalk tables packed with locals in summer.

A short walk east from the park leads to Urfa's bazaar, where in summertime merchants wait patiently in the hot sun for the occasional tour group. The bazaar is filled with small hans—a collection of stores and workshops built around a central courtyard—that have tailors, coppersmiths, and other artisans working away, using what seem like ancient machines and tools. At the literal heart of the bazaar is the wonderful Bedesten and adjacent Gümrük Han, a large courtyard filled with chatting men playing backgammon or chess and sipping tea. Around the courtyard are the small workshops of tailors sewing inexpensive suits. The bazaar is a good place to shop for spices and copper items and you can usually find bargains, especially on carpets and kilims.

The heart of the bazaar is the Zincirli Bedestan, with shops selling copper work, mother-of-pearl inlay, saddles, and Ottoman-style leather shoes. Beyond the bedestan is the Bakırcılar Çarşısı, the market of the coppersmiths, where an orchestra of craftspeople tap out bowls and coffee cups between customers. From here you emerge at the Tahmis Coffee House, one of the most traditional places to try the local menengiç (wild pistachio) coffee and where, legend has it, the Sultan Murat IV dropped in for coffee on his way to conquer Baghdad in 1638 (the current shop was built after a fire destroyed the original in the 19th century). The neighboring Sufi lodge, now the Mevlevihanesi Vakif Museum, has historic Korans and kilims (along with free admission).

Diyarbakır's bazaar encompasses the half dozen streets surrounding Ulu Cami; most stalls are shrines to wrought metal—gates, picks, shovels, plumbing fixtures, plastic shoes, and other things you probably would not want to carry home in your luggage. Across the street from the mosque is the grand 16th-century Hasan Paşa Hanı, a photogenic kervansaray (a roadside inn), housing a few carpet and souvenir dealers. It's a tranquil place to stop for tea or a generous brunch.

The pedestrian-only Kunduracılar Caddesi leads into the maze of the covered bazaar, which includes a 16th-century bedestan, or covered market, that has been restored and now houses several cafés and a number of gift shops. The bazaar predominantly sells inexpensive clothes to locals, but does have a small but appealing section of coppersmiths, who make a variety of bowls, trays, and pots. The city's largest mosque, the Çarşi Cami, was built in 1839 and is joined to the market by an archway.

Mardin's lively bazaar runs parallel to the old town's main street, Birinici Caddesi, and is refreshingly free of the stalls selling the usual tourist gifts. This is the place to come if you're looking to buy a new saddle for your donkey or a copper urn—or as is more likely, if you just want to get the feel of an authentic town bazaar. There are also spice shops, fresh fruit and vegetable stands with the produce of the season piled high, and assorted other shops catering to local needs. In the center of the bazaar is the 12th-century Ulu Camii, with its beautifully carved minaret.

One of Istanbul's most fashionable suburbs is 20 to 30 minutes by taxi from central Istanbul and is especially popular with the affluent boating set, thanks to the area's pretty, natural harbor. The European-side neighborhood has a number of cafés and restaurants, as well as a few upscale boutiques selling clothing and jewelry, on both sides of the main coastal road. There's also a small, shaded public park on the waterfront. The stretches of coastline both north and south of Bebek are perfect for a promenade.

Inspired by Ayasofya and completed in 1506, this domed mosque holds the distinction of being the oldest of the Ottoman imperial mosques still standing in the city. Though the inside is somewhat dark, it has an impressively carved mihrab and the large courtyard has 20 columns made of verd antique, red granite, and porphyry that were taken from ancient buildings.

Built as a summer residence for Sultan Abdülaziz in 1865, this palace is like Dolmabahçe in that incorporates a mix of European and Turkish styles, but it is smaller, less grandiose, and has a more personal feel. You must join a tour to see Beylerbeyi, which has ornately painted ceilings, Baccarat crystal chandeliers, gold-topped marble columns, and intricately carved wooden furniture. In addition, its central hall has a white-marble fountain and a stairway wide enough for a regiment. The magnolia-shaded grounds on the Asian side of the Bosphorus, underneath the first bridge, are also pleasant. Two waterfront bathing pavilions (one was for men, the other for women) stand out for their fanciful architecture.

This small museum makes for an interesting break from the summer heat, with models of famous local boats on the ground floor, and a massive collection of seashells of all shapes, sizes, and colors, arranged in showcases upstairs. Don’t miss the old black-and-white photos of sponge divers and sponges being delivered from Bodrum harbor—it’s what the town was known for in its pre-tourism days.

Just west of Ilıca, Boyalık Bay has a 5-km (3-mile) beachfront of warm turquoise waters and pale, smooth sand. Boyalık Bay has many private and public beaches and hotels, as well as a campground. You may have to walk between summer residences to reach the sea. But once you reach the shore, you'll find clear, relatively calm waters over smooth, almost milky-colored sand, with umbrellas and beach chairs available to rent. Boyalık Bay is getting better known, but is not yet as crowded as Ilıca beach. Amenities: food and drink; toilets. Best for: swimming.

Heading south from Troy, you'll pass through Ezine or Geyikli. In either case you'll see a signpost for Bozcaada, one of the two Aegean islands that belong to Turkey. If you have time, spare a day for this island (though you'll probably then want to spare another), with its unspoiled harbor town, beautiful old houses, pristine sandy beaches, and lovely vineyard-covered countryside. The local wine may be the best you'll taste in Turkey without having to spend a fortune.

Bozcaada is only accessible by ferry. In the summer, ferries depart nine times a day from the Geyikli pier—just under an hour south of Çanakkale on E87 and accessible by minibus from the Çanakkale bus station—starting at 8 am to 10 pm, with about half as many voyages in the winter. Reservations can be made in advance for summer departures. Tickets are 100 TL for foot passengers and about 1,600 TL for a car.

The cape on the southernmost tip of the Gallipoli Peninsula has a massive, four-pillared memorial to Turkey's World War I dead. No one knows how many fell in battle, though estimates suggest there were around 250,000 Turkish casualties, including at least 85,000 deaths. If you take the ferry from Gallipoli to Çanakkale, look for the memorials to the campaign carved into the cliffs. The large one at Kilitbahir reads: "Stop, O passerby. This earth you tread unawares is where an age was lost. Bow and listen, for this quiet place is where the heart of a nation throbs."

According to the legend attached to the Cave of the Seven Sleepers (and immortalized in a poem by Goethe), seven young Christian men hid in a cave to avoid persecution by the Romans in the 3rd century AD. They fell into a sleep that lasted 200 years, waking only after the Byzantine Empire had made Christianity the official state religion. When they died, they were buried here, and a large church and monastery complex was built over them. The site has unfortunately been closed off due to the collapse of much of the cave but it's still interesting to peek through the fence at the ruins or look down at them from the adjacent hillside.

Ankara’s first and only contemporary art museum is in a renovated former train maintenance depot not far from the train station. The space showcases both established international artists and up-and-coming local artists through well-conceived temporary exhibits (the museum has no permanent collection).

Formerly a church, a museum, and now a mosque, this historic marvel contains dazzling mosaics and frescoes that are considered to be among the world's finest Byzantine artworks. Most of the mosaics, in 50 panels, depict scenes from the New Testament and date from the 14th century. They are in splendid condition, having been plastered over when the church became a mosque in the 16th century and not uncovered until the 1940s. "Chora" comes from the Greek word for countryside; the original church here was outside the city walls that were built by Constantine the Great, but at the beginning of the 5th century AD, Theodosius built new fortifications to expand the growing city, which brought the church inside the walls. The current edifice is believed to have been built in the 12th century. The tree-shaded café outside the mosque is a pleasant spot for lunch before you trek back into town. 

The goal of the Allies was to occupy this strategic location overlooking the Gallipoli Peninsula. They failed, and Mustafa Kemal (Atatürk) became a hero and went on to establish the secular republic of Turkey. It was here that he told his soldiers, "I order you not just to fight, but to die." All the men of one of his regiments were wiped out, and he himself was saved miraculously when a bullet hit the pocket watch that was over his heart—a moment commemorated with a huge statue of Atatürk here—but the line held. The hilltop holds Turkish trenches, a cemetery, and the New Zealand national memorial and has good views of the peninsula and the Dardanelles Strait.

Trabzon's Byzantine-era citadel was built on part of a hill formed by two ravines, and while not much is left of the building's former glory, the soaring outside walls and massive columns are still impressive (restored after the Ottoman conquest in 1461) and a testament to the fact that no army ever took Trabzon by force, though many tried. The only remaining part of the interior is the 10th-century church of Panagia Chrysokephalos (the Virgin of the Golden Head), which was the city's cathedral and where many of its rulers were married, crowned, and buried. The Ottomans converted it into a mosque, the Ortahisar Camii, in the 15th century.

The northern exit of the Zincirli Bedestan brings you out beside the 19th-century Alaüddevle Mosque, with its large dome. From here Hamdi Kutlar Caddesi leads past more coppersmiths, several restored 19th-century kervansarays, and the small but interesting Emine Göğüş Culinary Museum (1 TL). The street eventually arrives at the prominent kale (castle), built over the layers of the pre-Roman city by the Emperor Justinian in the 6th century and remodeled by the Seljuk Turks in the 12th and 13th centuries. It's a steep walk to the top, but the view over the bazaar district is fantastic (if it ever finally reopens—as of this writing, it was closed for renovations). For now, it's possible to visit the Defense Panorama Museum housed in the approach tunnel, which portrays the city defending itself from French and Armenian attackers in 1920. If you need some relaxation after the excursion, on the far side of the castle you'll find the recently restored Naib Hamam, dating from 1640 (23 TL). It's open to women from 9 to 5, and to men from 6 pm to midnight.

For most, the crown jewel of Alanya is this beach that's right next to the city center. In fact, its main draws are its central location, making it one of the easiest to access, and its array of activities, including tennis and beach volleyball. There are many beachside cafés and restaurants along the shore, and there are plenty of opportunities for water sports. In high season there are regular pirate and Viking-themed party ships which are rowdy and imposing—you'll either love or hate them. Amenities: food and drink; parking (free); showers; toilets; water sports. Best for: swimming; walking.

In Turkey's first parliament building, which now houses the Museum of the Republic, politicians debated principles and policies that would shape the Turkish Republic as a modern secular nation. The great hall where parliament convened from 1924 to 1960 is decorated in Seljuk and Ottoman styles, with an ornately inlaid wooden ceiling, enormous crystal chandelier, and a loggia-like gallery from which dignitaries addressed the assembly. The museum includes a small exhibit on the early years of the Republic. Although signs are only in Turkish, a free—and very informative—English audio guide is available.

Founded in 1897 and located here since 1961, Istanbul's Naval Museum reopened in late 2013 with a new, state-of-the-art wing that impressively showcases its large collection of Ottoman-era boats and maritime paraphernalia. The multistory, hangar-like structure was built to house more than a dozen kayıks (caiques)—long, slim wooden boats rowed by oarsmen, that served as the primary mode of royal transportation in Istanbul for several hundred years. These graceful vessels are decorated with gorgeous painted patterns and intricate carvings and figureheads covered with gold leaf; most also have an equally ornate curtained wooden pavilion that was built for the sultan, his wife, or his mother. The underground level houses several exhibits of paintings, naval coats of arms, and other objects that give a good sense of the Ottoman Empire's onetime supremacy at sea. In the square just beside the museum are the tomb (usually locked) and a statue of Hayreddin Pasha, or "Barbarossa," the famous admiral of the empire's fleet in the Ottoman glory days of the early 16th century.

Meaning "deep well," Derinkuyu is the deepest of the known underground cities that have been explored. Eight floors are open to the public, though there may be many more. The subterranean labyrinth has stables, wineries, a chapel and baptismal pool, a school, scores of other interconnected rooms, and as many as 600 entrances and air ducts. You'll also see a ventilation shaft that plunges 54 meters (180 feet) from ground level. Claustrophobes, take note: spaces here are so tight that you'll have to walk doubled over for about 100 meters (330 feet) up and down steps in a sloping cave corridor.

In the olive tree–covered hills above Bodrum, the “culture and arts village” of Dibeklihan is a pretty complex of traditional stone buildings holding artist studios, galleries, boutiques, and a couple of cafés and restaurants. It’s a pleasant place for shopping or dinner, and there is sometimes live music on summer evenings. It’s at the entrance to Yakaköy village on the outskirts of Ortakent, and best reached with your own transportation, even though there is a minibus dolmuş from Bodrum.

Didyma's Temple of Apollo is as grand in scale as the Parthenon—measuring 623 feet by 167 feet—and has 124 well-preserved columns, some still supporting their architraves. Started in 300 BC and under construction for nearly five centuries, the temple was never completed, and some of the columns remain unfluted. The oracle here rivaled the one at Delphi, and beneath the courtyard is a network of underground corridors used by temple priests for their oracular consultations. The corridor walls would throw the oracle's voice into deep and ghostly echoes, which the priests would interpret. The tradition of seeking advice from a sacred oracle here probably started long before the arrival of the Greeks, who in all likelihood converted an older Anatolian cult based at the site into their own religion. The Greek oracle had a good track record, and at the birth of Alexander the Great (356 BC) predicted that he would be victorious over the Persians, that his general Seleucus would later become king, and that Trajan would become an emperor. Around AD 385, the popularity of the oracle dwindled with the rise of Christianity. The temple was later excavated by French and German archaeologists, and its statues are long gone, hauled back to England by Sir Charles Newton in 1858. Fragments of bas-reliefs on display by the entrance to the site include a gigantic head of Medusa (twin of the one in Istanbul's underground cistern, across from Hagia Sophia) and a small statue of Poseidon and his wife, Amphitrite. You can rent a combined Miletus and Didyma audio guide for 220 TL.

Of the three beaches in Dikili awarded blue flags for their water quality, environmental management, safety, and services, the public beach is the most popular and accessible. Starting just north of the port, almost 6 km (4 miles) of dark golden sand stretch along the water. The beach is well stocked with umbrellas, sunbeds, and people selling refreshments. Lifeguards keep watch most of the day, but not always. Amenities: food and drink; lifeguards; toilets. Best for: sunset; swimming.

Upon being kicked out of Ayasofya after the Turkish conquest of the city, the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate wandered among several churches before settling here in the Church of St. George in 1601. Rebuilt after a fire in 1720, the church is a relatively simple basilica, though the (rather dark) interior has a refined atmosphere. Sarcophagi with the remains of some famous Byzantine saints, a Byzantine-era patriarchal throne, and two very old mosaic icons on the right side of the elaborate iconostasis are considered the most noteworthy features of the church. The main front gate of the compound has been welded shut ever since Sultan Mahmud II had Patriarch Gregory V hanged from it in 1821 as punishment for the Greek revolt. This small church is theoretically the center of the Orthodox world, though some Turks would like to claim that it serves only the dwindling community of Istanbul Greeks.