Turkey has been receiving travellers for three thousand years and the infrastructure for it has become very good. What follows is not an exhaustive list but a curated one: the experiences that genuinely justify the flight, the things that stay with you after you leave.

History and Ancient Sites

1. Hagia Sophia, Istanbul

One of the great buildings of human civilisation. Built in 537 AD as a Christian cathedral, converted to a mosque in 1453, a museum from 1934, and a working mosque again since 2020. The dome was the largest in the world for nearly a thousand years. The scale inside is difficult to process on first entry: most people stop walking and simply stand. Free entry outside prayer times.

2. Ephesus

The best-preserved Greco-Roman city in the eastern Mediterranean, 70km south of Izmir. The Library of Celsus is the most photographed building in Turkey after the Hagia Sophia. The city’s colonnaded main street, public latrines, great theatre (seating 25,000), and private houses with intact mosaic floors give a genuinely detailed picture of urban life in the Roman Empire. Go early — by 10am the tour buses have arrived and the main street becomes very crowded.

3. Topkapi Palace, Istanbul

The administrative heart of the Ottoman Empire for four centuries. The Harem section (400 rooms) and the Imperial Treasury (an 86-carat diamond, the Topkapi Dagger) are the highlights. The views from the fourth courtyard over the Bosphorus are some of the finest in Istanbul. Book tickets online; queues at the gate in summer can exceed 90 minutes.

4. Goreme Open Air Museum, Cappadocia

A UNESCO-listed rock-cut monastery complex with Byzantine frescoes from the 10th to 13th centuries. The Dark Church has frescoes so well-preserved they look painted last year. A short walk from Goreme town centre.

5. Hierapolis and Pamukkale

A Greco-Roman spa city above the famous white travertine terraces. The combination of the geological spectacle and 2,000-year-old ruins makes this the most visually distinctive UNESCO site in Turkey.

6. Termessos

The mountain city that Alexander the Great decided not to besiege. Reached by a steep hike through cedar forest at 1,000m elevation, the ruins sit dramatically in the clouds above Antalya. The most atmospheric ancient site in Turkey and visited by a fraction of the tourists who go to Ephesus.

7. Nemrut Dagi

A 2,150m summit in eastern Turkey where King Antiochus I of Commagene built his tomb (62 BC) surrounded by colossal stone heads of himself and the gods, each two metres tall. The heads have toppled and now sit facing the dawn and sunset at altitude. The sunrise visit is a bucket-list Turkey experience that relatively few international tourists make the effort to reach.

8. The Rock Tombs of Lycia

The Lycian civilisation carved its tombs into cliff faces across southwestern Turkey between 400 and 300 BC. The best are in Fethiye (the Tomb of Amyntas, visible from across the bay) and Myra (near Demre, where the tombs are five storeys tall). They represent an architectural tradition found nowhere else on earth.

Natural Wonders

9. Hot Air Balloon over Cappadocia

The sunrise balloon flight over the fairy chimneys is the most iconic Turkey experience. On a still morning with 60 to 100 balloons in the air at once, the Cappadocia valley looks like a scene from a dream. Book two to three days in advance; flights are weather-dependent and the best operators fill quickly.

10. Pamukkale Travertines

White calcium carbonate terraces built over 400,000 years by hot springs flowing over the cliff face. Walking the travertines barefoot, with warm mineral water over your feet and the Menderes Valley below, is genuinely unlike anything else.

11. Butterfly Valley, Fethiye

Accessible only by boat, a narrow canyon opening onto a pebble beach where thousands of Jersey Tiger butterflies congregate in late summer. Basic camping and no road access preserve a wildness increasingly rare on the Turkish coast.

12. Ihlara Valley, Cappadocia

A 14km gorge cut through volcanic rock by the Melendiz River, lined with rock-cut Byzantine churches and walkable along the river floor. The combination of lush vegetation, frescoes, and dramatic cliffs makes it the best half-day walk in central Anatolia.

13. Mount Ararat

Turkey’s highest peak (5,137m), a dormant volcano near the Iranian border. The climb takes three to four days and requires a guide and permit. The summit experience — above the clouds, the biblical mountain beneath your feet — is for committed mountaineers.

Coastal Experiences

14. Blue Cruise (Gulet Tour)

A multi-day sailing trip on a traditional wooden gulet along the Turkish coast between Fethiye and Marmaris. The boat anchors in coves inaccessible by road; swimming off the back deck; eating together on deck in the evening. The classic Turkey coastal experience.

15. Bosphorus Ferry, Istanbul

The public ferry from Eminonu to Anadolu Kavagi and back takes three hours and costs approximately 40 TRY ($1.20). The route passes Ottoman palaces, waterfront mansions, two suspension bridges, and the point where Europe becomes Asia. One of the great travel bargains anywhere in the world.

16. Oludeniz and Paragliding

The turquoise Blue Lagoon at Oludeniz is Turkey’s most photographed beach. The paragliding from Babadag Mountain (1,960m directly above) and landing on the beach is one of the best tandem paragliding sites in the world. Approximately $80 to $120 per person.

17. Aegean Swimming: Akyarlar and Cirali

Turkey has 8,000km of coastline. The clearest water is at Akyarlar at the tip of the Bodrum peninsula, and at Cirali beach (near Olympos) where loggerhead turtles nest and the Chimaera flames burn on the hillside above.

Food and Culture

18. Turkish Breakfast in Istanbul

A full Turkish breakfast (kahvaltı) involves 15 to 20 small dishes: white cheese, tomatoes, olives, eggs, honey, clotted cream, pastries, and unlimited tea. Van Kahvaltı Evi in Cihangir is the Istanbul benchmark. Allow two hours.

19. Grand Bazaar, Istanbul

61 covered streets, 4,000 shops, continuously operating since 1461. Go without an agenda and with cash. The asking price is never the selling price.

20. Gaziantep Food Scene

Gaziantep is the gastronomic capital of Turkey. The city has more restaurants per capita than anywhere else in the country, and the cuisine is genuinely distinct: baklava with fresh pistachio (Gaziantep claims to have invented it), beyran soup, katmer, and a kebab tradition that would embarrass most other cities. A food-focused trip to Gaziantep is one of the most underrated Turkey travel choices.

21. Hamam (Turkish Bath)

The traditional hammam experience — marble room, steam, exfoliation by a tellak, full-body soap massage — is an institution that has been practised in essentially the same form for 600 years. The best Istanbul options: Cagaloglu Hamami (1741, used by Franz Liszt, Florence Nightingale, and reportedly Kaiser Wilhelm II). Allow 90 minutes.

22. Spice Bazaar and Eminonu, Istanbul

The Spice Bazaar (Mısır Çarşısı) is where Istanbul actually shops for saffron, Turkish coffee, dried fruits, and spices. The area around it — Eminonu and the Golden Horn waterfront — is the best midday street food zone in the city. Balık ekmek (grilled mackerel sandwich) from the boats on the water: approximately 80 TRY and genuinely one of the best things you will eat in Turkey.

Unique Experiences

23. Cappadocia by Scooter at Dawn

Before the tour groups arrive at 10am, the fairy chimney valleys are silent. Rent a scooter from Goreme (approximately 400 TRY/day), get up at 7am, and ride Rose Valley and Red Valley in the early morning light. The valleys glow amber-red at sunrise. You will likely have them to yourself.

24. Overnight Train: Istanbul to Ankara

The Ankara Express departs Istanbul Halkali station at 11:30pm and arrives in Ankara at 8:30am. Sleeping compartments, dining car, the feeling of travelling through Anatolia at night. The infrastructure of long-distance train travel still exists in Turkey and is under-used by tourists.

25. Mardin Old Town at Sunset

Mardin is a city of honey-coloured stone built on a ridge above the Mesopotamian plain, 50km from the Syrian border. The old town is a UNESCO-listed collection of Assyrian Christian churches, Ottoman mansions, and maze-like streets. The view west from the old town at sunset — the plain extending 100km into Syria, the last light on the stone — is one of the most beautiful in the country.