Places to visit in

Turkey

Sabancı Central Mosque (Sabancı Merkez Camii) in Adana is one of Turkey's most prominent modern mosques, built through the philanthropic efforts of the Sabancı family. It combines contemporary construction with classical Ottoman architectural references, serving as a major religious, cultural and social landmark for Adana and the Çukurova region. The mosque is both a functioning place of worship and a visible symbol of late-20th-century civic investment in cultural infrastructure.

Varda (German) Bridge) (Varda Köprüsü), also known locally as the German Bridge, is a striking early 20th‑century stone railway viaduct built by German engineers as part of railway works connecting southern Anatolia. It is an important example of engineering and transport history in Turkey and a landmark in the rugged Taurus Mountains near Hacıkırı (Karaisalı district, Adana Province). The bridge symbolizes the region's industrial heritage and the era of Ottoman‑German railway collaboration.

Cunda (Alibey) Island is the largest of the Ayvalık archipelago in Balıkesir Province on the Aegean coast of Turkey. Historically known as Moschonisi and later called Alibey (Turkish) and Cunda colloquially, the island has a layered Greek and Ottoman heritage: traditional stone houses, churches, and narrow streets reflect a strong Greek Orthodox presence before the 1923 population exchange, while Ottoman and Turkish influences shaped the modern town. The island is also part of an important Aegean maritime and olive-growing landscape, with scenic bays, clear waters, and rich coastal biodiversity that make it both culturally significant and naturally attractive.

Ayvalık Old Town (including the streets of Ayvalık proper and nearby Cunda/Alibey Island) is an important cultural and historical area on Turkey's Aegean coast. It preserves a rich Ottoman-Greek architectural heritage: stone mansions, narrow cobbled lanes, wooden balconies and seaside waterfronts that reflect centuries of cross-cultural life. The town is also set amid olive groves and coastal scenery, making it notable for both cultural tourism and natural beauty. Ayvalık played a key role in regional trade and maritime life and remains a living example of multi-ethnic Aegean townscapes.

Kazdağları (Mount Ida) National Park is one of Turkey's most important natural and cultural landscapes. The range is famed for its rich biodiversity (many endemic plant species, including the Trojan fir), dense forests, clear springs and streams, and sweeping views of the Aegean coast. It also has deep cultural and mythological importance: the area is associated with ancient Anatolian and Greek myths (notably the Homeric Mount Ida near Troy) and traditionally served as a sacred mountain in antiquity.

Natural and geological significance. Lake Salda (Salda Gölü) in southwestern Turkey is renowned for its striking turquoise waters and brilliant white, magnesium-rich sandy shores. Geologically important for its hydromagnesite deposits and well-preserved microbialite formations (stromatolite-like structures), the lake is studied as an analogue for ancient sedimentary environments. It is also an important local nature resource in the Yeşilova district of Burdur Province and has become a high-profile conservation area in recent years.

Sagalassos is an ancient Pisidian city that flourished from the Hellenistic through the Roman period and into late antiquity. Perched high in the Taurus Mountains near modern Ağlasun (Burdur province), it is renowned for its high-altitude marble architecture, well-preserved urban layout and rich archaeological finds. Long-term excavations led by Belgian archaeologists have revealed monumental public buildings, sculptures and inscriptions that illuminate civic, religious and economic life in southwest Anatolia. The site's combination of classical urbanism and mountain setting make it important for understanding regional interactions between local Pisidian traditions and Greco-Roman culture.

Eğirdir Lake (Eğirdir Gölü) is a major natural landmark in southwest Turkey, located in Isparta Province within the Taurus Mountain region. It plays an important role in local agriculture, fisheries, and tourism, and is valued for its clear waters, scenic shoreline, and surrounding orchards. The lake and its surroundings have been inhabited since ancient times (the broader region formed part of Pisidia and later empires), and the town of Eğirdir preserves traditional Ottoman architecture and lakeside culture.

Kuyucak Lavender Fields are part of the greater Isparta lavender region, a key area for Turkey's aromatic plant agriculture. The fields contribute to the local economy through essential oil and honey production, and have become an important rural tourism attraction that highlights traditional farming practices and seasonal community life.

Hattusa (Hattuşa) was the capital of the Hittite Empire in the Late Bronze Age (c. 17th–12th century BCE). It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site important for understanding Anatolian and Near Eastern history: monumental city walls and gates, royal residences, temples, cuneiform archives, and the nearby rock sanctuary of Yazılıkaya illuminate Hittite political, religious and diplomatic power. Hattusa played a central role in major international events of the era, including treaties and diplomacy with Egypt and other states.

Alacahöyük is one of Anatolia's earliest and most important archaeological sites, with occupation layers from the Chalcolithic through the Bronze Age and into the Hittite period. It is especially celebrated for its richly furnished Early Bronze Age royal tombs and for evidence of advanced metalworking and craft traditions in ancient central Anatolia. The site sheds crucial light on pre-Hittite Hatti culture and the development of the Hittite civilization, making it a key stop for anyone interested in the origins of state societies in Anatolia.

Yazılıkaya is an open-air Hittite rock sanctuary adjacent to the ancient capital of Hattusa (near modern Boğazkale, Çorum Province). Dated to the Late Bronze Age (around the 13th century BCE), it is one of the best-preserved Hittite religious sites and forms part of the UNESCO World Heritage listing for Hattusa. The site provides exceptional insight into Hittite religious practice, iconography and imperial ideology through large-scale carved reliefs of deities and ritual processions directly on the limestone cliffs.

The Midas Monument (Yazılıkaya) is a striking Phrygian rock-cut façade carved into a cliff face and dates to the early Iron Age (roughly 8th–6th centuries BCE). It is an important archaeological and cultural landmark that illustrates Phrygian funerary or cult architecture and provides one of the clearest material links to the Phrygian civilization of central Anatolia. The site is particularly valued for its stone-carved decoration and inscriptions in the Phrygian script.

Lake Bafa (Bafa Gölü) is an ecologically rich wetland and former gulf of the Aegean Sea, located on the border of Muğla and Aydın provinces in southwestern Turkey. It is notable for its combination of natural biodiversity — wetland habitats, migratory bird stopover, endemic flora and fauna — and deep historical significance, sitting beneath the ruins of the ancient city of Herakleia ad Latmos and the Byzantine-era settlements on the slopes of the Beşparmak (Latmos) Mountains.

Dilek Peninsula–Büyük Menderes Delta National Park combines a rugged Mediterranean peninsula (Dilek/Panaroma of Mount Mycale) with one of Turkey's most important river deltas. The area is significant for its high biodiversity—coastal maquis, pine forests, lagoons and salt marshes—and for serving as a crucial stopover and breeding ground for numerous migratory and resident bird species. The landscape also connects to the classical past: the surrounding region contains important ancient sites (for example, the ancient cities near the Büyük Menderes plain such as Priene and Miletus), giving the park both natural and cultural value.

Kuş Cenneti (Manyas Bird Paradise) is one of Turkey's most important wetland reserves and a critical stopover and wintering site on the East Atlantic–Western Palearctic migratory flyway. The park preserves a mosaic of freshwater lake, marshes and reedbeds that support exceptionally high bird diversity, including several globally threatened species. It is recognized for its conservation value at national and international levels.