Turkey

Turkey at a glance

Turkey stretches from Thrace, on the borders of Greece and Bulgaria, to the edge of Iran. For a holiday it has four main faces: Istanbul, the Ottoman and Byzantine capital set on two continents; Cappadocia, with its fairy chimneys and churches carved into the tuff; the Aegean coast and its ancient cities; and the Lycian coast, with its coves and tombs cut into the cliffs.

Istanbul is a few hours' flight from Europe's main cities, direct or with one stop. The country is on UTC+3 all year: 3 hours ahead of London in winter and 2 hours ahead in summer. The currency is the Turkish lira. Turkish is written in the Latin alphabet.

Turkey welcomes a great many Europeans. In 2025, the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism (KTB, Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı) counted 52.8 million entries by foreign nationals at its borders, including 6.7 million Germans, 4.3 million Britons, 1.9 million Poles, 1.3 million Dutch and 1.1 million French. Germans and Poles arrive mostly through Antalya, Britons as much through Antalya as through Dalaman and Bodrum airports; nearly two in three French visitors enter through Istanbul.

Holiday clubs and all-inclusive hotels, very numerous around Antalya, are not part of the Sabaro selection. It brings together hotels of character and luxury hotels: historic palaces and mansions in Istanbul, cave hotels in Cappadocia, stone houses in Aegean villages and resorts on the bays of Bodrum.

Six areas and twenty-six regions

Sabaro divides the country into six areas and twenty-six regions, each built around one or more hotels in its selection.

Istanbul and the Marmara region

• The historic peninsula: Hagia Sophia, the Blue Mosque, Topkapı Palace, the Basilica Cistern and the Grand Bazaar, at the heart of the "Historic Areas of Istanbul" listed by UNESCO (the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) in 1985.
• Pera, Galata and the Golden Horn: the Galata Tower, İstiklal Avenue, the museums and galleries of Beyoğlu, the Karaköy waterfront and the old shipyards of the Golden Horn.
• The Bosphorus: the Dolmabahçe and Çırağan palaces, the yalı, waterside mansions, and the villages of both shores, from Beşiktaş to Sarıyer and from Üsküdar to Kanlıca.
• The Princes' Islands: Büyükada and Heybeliada, about 1 h 30 by ferry from Kabataş, with their Belle Époque villas.
• Bursa and Uludağ: the first Ottoman capital, listed by UNESCO in 2014 with the village of Cumalıkızık, at the foot of Mount Uludağ. Bursa is 1 h 53 by road from Istanbul, or under 2 hours by boat to Mudanya.
• Edirne: the Selimiye Mosque, the architect Sinan's masterpiece, listed in 2011, 2 h 33 by road from Istanbul, near the Greek and Bulgarian borders.

Cappadocia and Central Anatolia

• Cappadocia: Göreme National Park and the rock sites, listed in 1985, the underground cities of Kaymaklı and Derinkuyu, the valleys around Uçhisar, Ürgüp and Ortahisar, and hot-air balloon flights at dawn. The Ihlara Valley and Soğanlı make day trips.
• Konya: the Mevlana Museum, mausoleum of the Sufi poet Rumi, to whom the order of whirling dervishes traces its origins, and the Neolithic site of Çatalhöyük, listed in 2012.
• Ankara: the capital, its citadel and the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations; Hattusa, the Hittite capital listed in 1986, Gordion and Safranbolu make excursions.

The Aegean coast

• İzmir and Urla: the Kordon seafront and Kemeraltı bazaar in İzmir, the Urla wine route and the small harbour of Sığacık.
• Çeşme and Alaçatı: Alaçatı's stone houses, windmills and restaurants, and its wind, much sought after by windsurfers.
• Ayvalık, Cunda and Pergamon: a town of old houses, Cunda island linked by a causeway, and 52 minutes away by road the acropolis of Pergamon, listed in 2014.
• Assos, Troy and the Dardanelles: the Temple of Athena at Assos above the sea, the site of Troy, listed in 1998, Çanakkale and the Gallipoli battlefields.
• Ephesus, Selçuk and Şirince: the great ancient city of Ephesus, listed in 2015, Selçuk and the hill village of Şirince. The Pamukkale travertines are 1 h 56 away by road, the site of Aphrodisias 1 h 44.
• The Bodrum peninsula: the Castle of St Peter, the harbour and the bays of Yalıkavak, Türkbükü and Gölköy. Most hotels open from April or May to October.
• Datça and Bozburun: two wilder peninsulas between the Aegean and the Mediterranean, the village of Eski Datça and, at the tip, the site of Knidos.

The Lycian coast and Antalya

• Göcek and Dalyan: the Gulf of Göcek, home port of the gulets, and the Dalyan delta with the rock tombs of Kaunos and İztuzu beach.
• Fethiye, Ölüdeniz and Faralya: the Lycian tombs of Fethiye, the Ölüdeniz lagoon, Kayaköy, Saklıkent gorge and the sites of Xanthos and the Letoon, listed in 1988.
• Kalkan, Kaş and Kekova: a former Greek village rising like an amphitheatre, the harbour of Kaş, Patara beach, Myra and the sunken city of Kekova, seen by boat.
• Olympos and Çıralı: a long beach, the ruins of Olympos among the trees, Phaselis and the flames of the Chimaera at Yanartaş, burning on the mountainside.
• Antalya and Kaleiçi: the walled old town and, around the city, the ancient cities of Perge, Aspendos and Termessos.
• Alanya, as a day trip from Antalya: the castle on its headland, high above the sea.

South-Eastern Turkey

Several foreign ministries advise against all or part of these two regions, one of them against all but essential travel to the three whole provinces. They are presented with your country's advice, without trip ideas.

• Gaziantep and Şanlıurfa: the Zeugma Mosaic Museum, Gaziantep's cuisine and the Neolithic sanctuary of Göbekli Tepe, listed in 2018.
• Mardin and Midyat: a stone town overlooking the plain of Mesopotamia, and the Syriac monasteries of Tur Abdin.

Eastern Turkey and the Black Sea

• Kars and Ani: a town shaped by the Russian period, and Ani, the medieval Armenian capital listed in 2016, 40 minutes away by road, on the Armenian border, closed since 1993.
• The Black Sea highlands: Ayder and the Fırtına valley, at the foot of the Kaçkar mountains, with Sumela Monastery and Lake Uzungöl as excursions.

When to go

Turkey has two travel seasons: spring and autumn for Istanbul and Cappadocia, summer and early autumn for the sea. Europeans make 84% of their year's entries between April and October, and October is as busy as September.

These are the 1991-2020 WMO (World Meteorological Organization) normals for the Istanbul-Florya, Nevşehir and Antalya Airport stations; sea temperature is a monthly average from an aggregator.

• Istanbul is pleasant from April to June and from September to October, at 17 to 27 °C by day. Summer is warm without excess, around 30 °C; winter is cool and wet, with 70 to 90 mm of rain a month from November to February.
• Cappadocia, at 1,260 m above sea level, has dry summers, 29 °C by day, and cool nights. Winter is cold, below 0 °C at night from December to February, and snow on the fairy chimneys draws photographers. Balloons fly less often then: 8 flying days in February 2026, 25 in June. The guide Hot-air ballooning in Cappadocia explains how each flight is decided.
• The coasts are for swimming from June to October: the sea reaches 25 to 29 °C at Antalya. July and August exceed 34 °C at Antalya and Fethiye; May, June, September and October are milder. Many hotels in Bodrum and on the Lycian coast close in winter.
• Ramadan 2027 runs from 8 February to 8 March, and the end-of-Ramadan holiday from 9 to 11 March; the Feast of the Sacrifice falls from 16 to 19 May 2027. The guide Ramadan and holidays 2027 in Turkey gives the calendar and what changes for travellers.

The Turkish Formula 1 Grand Prix returns to Istanbul from 1 to 3 October 2027, and the Istanbul Biennial runs from 18 September to 14 November 2027.

Getting there

Istanbul, Ankara, Antalya and İzmir receive direct flights from Europe all year round, Bodrum mainly in summer. Antalya is a few hours' flight from Europe's main cities, direct or with one stop. The Turkish carriers Turkish Airlines, Pegasus, AJet and SunExpress serve many European cities.

For Cappadocia, take a domestic flight from Istanbul to Nevşehir or Kayseri. Turkish Airlines, AJet and Pegasus also link Istanbul with Dalaman, gateway to Göcek, Fethiye and Kalkan, with Kars and with Rize-Artvin for the Black Sea highlands. A high-speed train links Istanbul, Ankara and Konya.

Distances are long: allow about 2 h 25 by road between Ephesus and Bodrum, 2 h 49 between Fethiye and Antalya, and a domestic flight between Istanbul, Cappadocia and the coast.

Entry requirements

• No visa for tourist stays of up to 90 days, within 180 days according to most ministries, for the nationalities Sabaro follows.
• Document and validity. Depending on nationality, an ID card is accepted or a passport is required, and several ministries ask for 150 days' validity after arrival. The rule for your country:

The guide Turkey visa and entry requirements covers the rules for minors, dual nationals, customs and driving licences. You can bring as much Turkish lira and foreign currency into Turkey as you like, but you may not take more than the equivalent of 5,000 US dollars in Turkish lira out of the country.

Safety

None of the European foreign ministries tracked by Sabaro advises against travel to Turkey as a whole. Istanbul, Cappadocia, the Aegean coast, the Lycian coast, Antalya, Kars and the Black Sea call for vigilance. The ministries consider the terrorist risk high nationwide, especially in the big cities and the south-east, and ask travellers to keep away from demonstrations.

They advise against the areas along the Syrian and Iraqi borders, over a width ranging from "the immediate vicinity" to 30 km depending on the ministry. Several also advise against all but essential travel to the provinces of Hatay, Kilis, Şırnak or Hakkari; some add all or part of the provinces of Gaziantep, Şanlıurfa, Mardin, Diyarbakır and Batman. The ministries do not all give the same advice. Yours:

Sabaro offers no trip idea in any area advised against by one of the seven ministries it follows for its proposals: those of France, Belgium, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Germany, Poland and the Netherlands. The guide Safety in Turkey details the situation area by area, with earthquakes, wildfires and the rules on social media.

Where to stay: the hotels in the selection

Sabaro's selection has 83 hotels, from konaks with a few rooms to palaces on the Bosphorus. The prices below were found on Google Hotels for two adults, from 1 to 3 June 2027, in the cheapest room, taxes included. The accommodation tax, 2% of the room rate, reduced to 1% until 31 December 2026, is sometimes charged separately.

All 83 hotels are listed on the Hotels in Turkey page.

The pages Boutique hotels, Beach holidays and Spa and wellness group these hotels by interest.