Ancient sites in Turkey off the beaten path.
Less-touristed ancient sites in Turkey, for travelers seeking fewer crowds but all the beauty.
Amasya
Rock tombs of the Pontic kings carved into cliffsides above the Yeşilırmak River make Amasya one of northern Turkey's most visually striking cities.
Çanakkale
This seaport city on the Dardanelles with a walkable, café-lined waterfront, Çanakkale is the main base for visits to the ruins of ancient Troy and the First…
Milas
Ancient Caria's first capital and later seat of the medieval Menteşe beylik, Milas is a historically dense town in southwest Turkey with more than two dozen…
Seferihisar district
This coastal district on the Aegean Sea southwest of İzmir, Seferihisar is known for its tangerine and satsuma orchards, the seaside resort neighborhood of S…
Orhangazi
A town in Bursa Province sitting on the western shore of Lake Iznik, with the Sea of Marmara close to the north and mountain ranges on both sides.
Corycus
Corycus, an ancient city in Cilicia Trachaea on the southern Anatolian coast, now lies beneath the modern town of Kızkalesi in Mersin Province.
Bergama
Bergama, a town in the Northern Aegean region of Türkiye, is best known as the site of Pergamon, a World Heritage-listed ancient city that served as a major…
Burhaniye
This Aegean coastal town in Balıkesir Province known for its olive oil production, Burhaniye sits on the Gulf of Edremit with a port, a compact café and rest…
Demre
Demre, on the Mediterranean coast of Antalya Province, stands over the ruins of ancient Myra and is home to the tomb of Saint Nicholas — the 4th-century bish…
Kütahya
Kütahya, a city in western Turkey on the Porsuk River, is renowned for its decorated tiles and has a well-preserved old quarter to explore.
Kaunos
This ancient Carian port city near Dalyan in Muğla Province, Kaunos dates its history to around the 10th century BC and is still under active archaeological…
Buldan district
Buldan, a pocket-sized hill town in Turkey's Denizli province, is known across the country for its textile weaving tradition, and the fabric produced here —…
Euromus
The ruins of Euromus, an ancient Carian city in Muğla Province, sit at the foot of the mountains near Selimiye in western Türkiye.
Kesmekoeprue
A modest Kurdish village in southeastern Türkiye's Batman Province, where dramatic eroded limestone cliffs drop to a wide river, ancient cave openings dot th…
Mopsuestia
An ancient city in Cilicia Campestris on the Ceyhan River (the classical Pyramus), Mopsuestia — now called Yakapınar — sits on what was once a Silk Road rout…
Shirakavan
Shirakavan, now the village of Çetindurak in Kars Province, was one of the thirteen historic capitals of Armenia, serving as the seat of the Bagratid Kingdom…
Datça
This modest Turkish town sits at the midpoint of the Datça Peninsula, a forested, mountainous strip of land that divides the Aegean and Mediterranean Seas.
Akhisar
Akhisar, a city in Turkey's Manisa Province, stands on the site of ancient Thyatira — one of the Seven Churches of Asia mentioned in the Bible — whose ruins…
Güzelyurt
A tiny Cappadocian town in Aksaray Province with an unusual concentration of historic churches for its size, Güzelyurt sits at high elevation near the Ihlara…
Didim
Didim is an Aegean resort city on Turkey's western coast whose main draw is the ruined Temple of Apollo at ancient Didyma, one of the great sanctuaries of th…
Geldibuldu
This pocket-sized village in Adıyaman's Kâhta District, southeastern Türkiye, sits on an ancient site with Hellenistic and Roman remains — tombs, cemeteries,…
Heraclea at Latmus
Ancient Greek and Roman ruins line the shore of Lake Bafa at Heraclea at Latmus, a site in Mugla province where substantial city walls and other remains surv…
Patnos
This city on the Patnos plain in eastern Turkey, ringed by high mountains including the extinct volcano Süphan to the south and watered by a tributary of the…
Bozyazı district
Mediterranean coast town in Mersin Province, Türkiye, where the shoreline is clean enough to support a colony of the critically endangered Mediterranean monk…
Comana
The ruins of Comana, an ancient city known in classical sources as Comana Chryse — "the golden" — to distinguish it from its namesake in Pontus, lie in the T…
Belisirma
This modest village in Aksaray Province, Türkiye, set along the water with cafés and restaurants in its compact centre and scenic surrounds.
Selçuk
Selçuk, a town on Turkey's Aegean coast in İzmir Province, sits within easy reach of the ancient city of Ephesus and the Temple of Artemis — one of the Seven…
Magnesia on the Maeander
The ruins of an ancient Greek city in Ionia, Magnesia on the Maeander occupied a strategically important position in the triangle between Priene, Ephesus, an…
Kadıköy
Kadıköy is the Asian-side district of Istanbul with one of the city's densest concentrations of cafés, bars, bookshops, and restaurants, spread across a wate…
Claros
This ancient Greek sanctuary on the Ionian coast, Claros was home to a temple and oracle of Apollo — rivaling Delphi and Didyma as a center of prophecy — fro…
Cyme
The largest of the twelve ancient Aeolian cities along the Asia Minor coastline, Cyme — also known as Kyme or Phriconian Cyme — sits near Aliağa in Turkey's…
Çorum
Çorum is a highland city in northern Anatolia known for its Hittite and Phrygian archaeological sites, its thermal springs, and leblebi — roasted chickpeas t…
Eyüp
Eyüp, on Istanbul's European shore at the head of the Golden Horn, draws visitors above all to the tomb of Abu Ayyub al-Ansari — companion and standard-beare…
Kırklareli
The provincial capital of Kırklareli sits in Eastern Thrace, close to the Bulgarian border in the European part of Turkey, with a walkable centre well suppli…
Lebedus
This small sandy bay curves around an ancient Ionian peninsula on Türkiye's Aegean coast, where the ruins of a once-prominent Greek city-state sit above turq…
Elaea
The ancient port city that once served as Pergamum's gateway to the sea, Elaea stood on the Aegean coast of what is now İzmir Province in western Türkiye.
Karkamış district
A modest town on the Euphrates River in southeastern Turkey, Karkamış sits beside the ruins of ancient Carchemish, a Bronze Age city that some traditions ass…
Tevfikiye
Sitting directly beside the archaeological site of Troy, Tevfikiye is a compact village in Çanakkale Province that some sources describe as the "eleventh set…
Manisa
Spreading across the slopes of Mount Sipylus in Turkey's Aegean region, Manisa is a city known for its old mosques and a five-hundred-year-old Mesir Paste Di…
Enez
A pocket-sized town on the Aegean coast of Eastern Thrace, Enez sits at the point where the Meriç river meets the sea at the Turkish-Greek border.
Sidyma
An ancient Lycian town on the southern slope of Mount Cragus in Muğla Province, Türkiye, Sidyma survives today as the small village of Dudurga Asari, northwe…
İznik
İznik tiles and pottery — produced in this Turkish town since the Ottoman period — made Nicaea, as it was known in antiquity, one of the most influential cer…
Çavdarhisar district
Aizanoi, an ancient Roman city whose ruins are scattered in and around this pocket-sized highland town in Kütahya Province, is among the most substantial arc…
Ödemiş district
A town in İzmir Province with a walkable centre full of cafés and restaurants, Ödemiş is also known as Turkey's leading potato-growing region and for its loc…
Foça
A compact Aegean town in Izmir province with a walkable centre of cafés and restaurants and scenic coastal viewpoints, Foça stands on the site of ancient Pho…
Çayönü
Çayönü Tepesi is a Pre-Pottery Neolithic settlement in Diyarbakır Province where excavations have traced the continuous transition from hunter-gatherer life…