Beautiful Places in Turkey

The Topkapi Palace is a majestic building which served as the main residence of the Ottoman emperors for nearly 400 years. Today it serves as one of the most important museums in Istanbul. It contains some of the rarest items in the world. Though the complex has several hundred rooms, halls and chambers, only the most significant of them are open to the public.

A sheltered lagoon on the Turquoise Coast where the water sits still and shallow enough to wade a long way out, which is why it photographs the way it does. It is inside a protected nature park, so there is an entrance point rather than open access, and the beach is pebble at the water's edge. Swimming, kayaking and paddleboarding rather than surf.

Koprulu Canyon is located in Manavgat, Antalya, surrounded by a national park of the same name. It is most famous for river rafting. There are several agencies offering a range of packages for rafting in the clear waters of the river Köprüçay. Most rafting tours offer pick-up, drop-off, and lunch and last between 7 and 24 hours, depending on the package chosen.

The eroded volcanic tuff cones that Cappadocia is known for, concentrated around Goreme and best seen from a balloon at first light or on foot in the valleys. They sit inside Goreme National Park and the Rock Sites of Cappadocia, inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1985, and many were hollowed out over centuries into homes, churches and dovecotes.

Termessos is a mountaintop city and one of the best-preserved ancient locations in Turkey, famous for the remains of old structures. It is located in the Gulluk Dagi National Park north-west of Antalya, divided into the Upper City and Lower City. Also called Eagle’s Nest, it is visited for its natural and architectural splendour. Termessos has ruins of the temples, cemeteries with rock-cut tombstones, houses, statues, etc

Two separate falls on the Duden river, which is fed by karst springs rather than anything man made. Upper Duden, about 12 km northeast of the centre, drops into a cave you can walk behind. Lower Duden falls straight off a cliff into the Mediterranean at Lara and is best seen from a boat. Both are inside city limits and easy to pair in a morning.

The Aladaglar National Park in Cappadocia is known for its majestic mountain range, often known as the “Alps of Turkey,” which appear rust-coloured at sunset. It is spread out across the provinces of Kayseri, Niğde and Adana in the Mediterranean region of Turkey. The park is home to the tallest mountains of Turkey's Central Taurus Mountains and is an ideal place for hiking, trekking, mountaineering and bird watching,

Known For : Manavgat Waterfall Koprulu Canyon Scuba Diving in Manavgat

A coastal town about 75 km east of Antalya in ancient Pamphylia, at the foot of the Taurus mountains and effectively joined now to the ruins at Side. Most people pass through it on the way to Manavgat Waterfall, a wide low fall on the river of the same name, or to the rafting on the Koprucay upstream. A working town rather than a resort.

Best Time: June to September

10 Manavgat Attractions

A 369 metre telecommunications tower in the Uskudar district on the Asian side, opened in May 2021 and the tallest structure in Turkey. It is not a skyscraper and not the tallest in Europe, despite what gets written about it. What it does have is the highest observation deck in the city, with the Bosphorus, both bridges and the old city laid out below, plus a restaurant.

Sera Lake is a beautiful natural lake and a popular tourist destination because of its scenic and photographic views. Its location and geography favour cool and airy weather, making it a brilliant place for picnics with friends and family. The lake is also popular for birdwatching and boating.

The palace the Ottoman court moved into when it left Topkapi in 1856, built along the Bosphorus in a European style that could hardly be more different from the one it replaced. The scale is the point: a ceremonial staircase with crystal balusters, and a four tonne chandelier in the ceremonial hall. Ataturk died here in 1938 and the room is preserved.

A hill village about 8 km from Selcuk, resettled by Greek Orthodox families and then exchanged in the 1920s, which is why it has stone houses with red tiled roofs and two old churches rather than the usual Aegean layout. It is known now for fruit wine, sold from almost every doorway, and it gets very busy at weekends. Go on a weekday morning.

Cesme Castle served as a military fortress to protect the region against foreign invasions and is a noteworthy historical and cultural site in Turkey. Stroll within the castle vicinity to find defense machineries like urns, ancient weaponry, and sculptures. Climb the castle stairs to enjoy a panoramic view of the city from above! In addition, there’s a museum inside, open to the public displaying artifacts and exhibits about the region's history.

The best walk in Cappadocia and the one worth timing for late afternoon, when the tuff actually turns the colours the names promise. The two valleys connect as a loop near Goreme, taking in rock cut churches with surviving frescoes and narrow slot sections. Take water and a light, and start early enough that you are not finishing the loop in the dark.

Known For : Pamukkale Natural Park Travertines Pamukkale Hierapolis

Pamukkale is located in southwestern Turkey, in the Denizli Province. It is very famous for its travertines (hot water springs) which is a magical site with turquoise pools and snow-white cliffs. It is one of the most photogenic places in the world.

Best Time: September

10 Pamukalle Attractions

An island off the coast near Demre whose north shore holds the half submerged remains of a Lycian town, dropped below the waterline by earthquakes in the second century. It is a first degree protected archaeological site, so swimming, snorkelling and diving over the ruins are banned: you view them from a boat, and the tours stop to swim elsewhere on the route.

Known For : Bodrum Castle Zeki Muren Arts Museum Bodrum Ancient Theatre

A resort town on its own peninsula on the southwest Aegean, looking across at the Greek island of Kos. The old town is built around a crusader castle, the Castle of St Peter, which now holds the Museum of Underwater Archaeology and its Bronze Age shipwreck finds. Ancient Halicarnassus stood here, and the Mausoleum was one of the seven wonders.

Best Time: August to November

24 Bodrum Attractions

A steep sided cove below Mount Babadag, reachable only by boat from Oludeniz or by a rope assisted scramble down the cliff that is not for everyone. It is a protected area named for the Jersey tiger moths that breed there, and the valley behind the beach can be walked up to a waterfall. There is a small camp and almost nothing else.

Hierapolis is an ancient Greek city next to Pamukkale in the Denizli Province of Turkey. The city dates back to the Hellenistic Period and still contains its magnificent ruins. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site that is mainly known for its hot springs that have been used as a spa since the 2nd century BC. The site is also home to the Tomb of Philip the Apostle.

The best preserved classical city in the eastern Mediterranean, on the Aegean coast in ancient Ionia. The standing ruins are Hellenistic and Roman: the Library of Celsus, the great theatre, the terrace houses with their mosaics. The Temple of Artemis, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, stood nearby and survives only as foundations and a single column.

A 2,134 metre summit in southeastern Turkey topped by the tomb sanctuary King Antiochus I of Commagene built for himself in the first century BC. Giant stone heads of gods and the king himself, toppled from their bodies by earthquakes, sit on the east and west terraces. Inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987, and visited for sunrise or sunset.

Built as a cathedral in 537, converted to a mosque in 1453, a museum through most of the twentieth century, and reconverted to a working mosque in 2020. It is not a museum now, whatever older guides say. Visitors go up to the gallery to see the Byzantine mosaics, worshippers use the main floor, and dress code and prayer times apply to everyone.

Around 18 km of open sand backed by dunes, and one of the longest beaches in Turkey. It is also a protected loggerhead turtle nesting beach, which is why it closes at night in the nesting season along with Turkey's other main nesting sites, and why there are no sunbeds along most of it. The Lycian city of Patara sits at the entrance.

Turkey's highest mountain, a dormant volcano of just over 5,100 metres rising alone off the plain in Agri province, close to the Armenian and Iranian borders. It is a trek rather than a technical climb, but it sits in a sensitive border zone and a climbing permit is mandatory and has to be arranged in advance, normally through a licensed operator.