Anyone who has been in Turkey can tell that there is an uncountable number of beautiful places in Turkey. From castles, to beaches, mosques or even different rock formations in their incredible landscapes, the truth is that the tourism attractions of Turkey are incredible, and you should definitely visit them.
15 top rated tourist attractions in turkey
Although we could spend hours telling you about the best points of interest in Turkey, we have decided to focus on the most popular areas and the ones that you must visit at least once in your life. Next you will see our list of the 15 most famous places in Turkey.
1) Cappadocia
We know there are other more touristic places in Turkey, but for us, there is nothing like visiting Cappadocia and admiring their landscapes and its “fairy tale chimneys”.
Cappadocia is considered one of the best places to visit in Turkey because there you will be able to admire a mix of a natural area formed by chimneys, mushrooms, cones, pinnacles and many other rock formations combined with underground cites and buildings. It´s amazing!
Other than that, one of the reasons why Cappadocia has become so popular in the last years is because is very photogenic and it´s a paradise for instagrammers and photographers. Plus, in Cappadocia you can enjoy one of the best things to do in Turkey, which is riding a hot air balloon through its incredible landscape.
2) Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque
On second place we needed to talk about one of the most famous landmarks in Turkey, which is Hagia Sophia, an amazing mosque located in the centre of Istanbul.
Hagia Sophia has an incredible history and it has been changing from church to mosque through the years, just so you can imagine, Hagia Sophia was a museum until August 1st of 2020 (now it has converted into a mosque again).
The huge mosque is one of the must visit places in Turkey, is known for its beautiful dome, its incredible minarets and of course the amazing paintings you can find on the inside. Last of all, you should know that the Aya Sophia is the most visited attraction in Turkey.
3) Pammukale
Another of the things to see in Turkey is the Pammukale cotton castle, which is one the most famous natural wonders of Turkey and it´s located in Denizli in southwestern Turkey.
The cotton castle of Pamukkale, or also known as the white travertine terraces, is one of the 17 UNESCO sites in Turkey, and it has been a major tourist attraction since a long time ago. Before the modern tourism, the tourists visited this area to have a bath at their relaxing pools, as other than being a beautiful wonder, it´s also a paradise if you like natural hot springs.
The ruins of Roman Hierapolis (which are also one of the popular places in Turkey), are located on top of the white cotton castle, so you can take the opportunity and visit both places when you get there.
4) Galata Tower
Not as popular as the other places we have mentioned before, but the Galata Tower is still one of the most famous monuments in Turkey, and a symbol of Istanbul.
The Galata Tower is also known as the Christea Turris by the Genoese and as we said it´s located in Istanbul, being more concrete in the Galata quarter of Istanbul. The monument is not only popular for being a medieval stone tower with a fabulous structure, but also for the incredible skyline of Istanbul you are able to admire from the top of it.
There is normally a huge queue to go inside the monument, so we recommend you visiting it as sunrise time as there is way less people and it looks much more beautiful. If you want to know more about the Galata Tower, we recommend you reading our full review from our visit.
5) The ruins of Ephesus
If you are interested in visiting the historical sites of Turkey, we recommend you going to the ruins of Ephesus.
Ephesus is an ancient Greek city which is now formed mainly by colossal and historical monuments that were build many years ago during the Roman empire. Now it´s one of the places with more well conserved Roman ruins in the world.
One curious fact you should know is that the city of Ephesus was very close to the famous temple of Artemis. As soon as you get there, the first thing you should visit is the Library of Celsus (it´s beautiful and very well converved).
6) Mount Nemrut
Mount Nemrut is a 2,134-metre-high mountain located in Southeastern Turkey, being more concrete it´s just about 40km away from Kahta.
The mountain is recognised due its statues located at the top; they are huge stone heads (8-9meters) made in honour of the old gods. Other than that, you will also find statues of animals like lions and eagles.
If you are looking for something similar to the Pascua island but in Europe, this is the closest you are going to get, so we definitely recommend you visiting it. It looks even more impressive at sunset time.
7) Aspendos Theatre
It´s probably the best well conserved theatre in Turkey and one of the best in the world. Although the Aspendos Theatre was built in 155 AD it still maintains in a very good shape the original architecture.
The theatre was built in the 2nd century AD during the reign of the famous emperor Marcus Aurelius, and it was bult after a competition organised by the ruler. The competition consisted of building something useful for the prosperity of the city, and the one who built the theatre was the winner.
Aspendos is located about 45km far from the city of Antalya. It´s one of the best places to visit near the city and also one of the main attractions in Turkey.
8) Ölüdeniz
When someone tells you about the most popular places in Turkey, you are probably expecting, ancient ruins, huge mosques and some natural areas…But what you may not know is that in Turkey there are also incredible paradise beaches.
Ölüdeniz is a small neighbourhood and a beach resort located very close to Fethiye. On this area, there is a sandy bay on a blue lagoon that makes the water of the whole area be one of the most unique in the world, as it has different shades of blues.
Due to the stunning views and very stable and calm weather conditions, Ölüdeniz is also a very popular area to do paragliding.
9) Patara beach
Another interesting but very different beach is Patara, it´s located in the ancient city of Patara, and you can easily get there from Kas or from Fethiye.
The beach of Patara is famous for being one of the longest beaches in the Mediterranean Sea, just so you can have an idea, it has a trail of around 18km through the shoreline. You will be able to find empty spots just for you even in the months of summer.
Other than that, the Patara beach is one of the top 10 places to visit in Turkey because behind the sand and the enormous beach, you can also visit the ruins of the ancient city of Patana. It´s one of those fun places to visit in Turkey.
10) Blue Mosque
We had to finish our list of the most famous tourist attractions in Turkey with another mosque of Istanbul: The blue Mosque. There are just too many things to do in Istanbul, but visiting this mosque is a must.
Although it´s still a mosque and many people go there every day to pray, it´s so beautiful that many tourists visit it every day to admire its six minarets and the fantastic architecture.
The blue mosque is also known as Sultan Ahmed mosque, and it´s name is due to the 20,000 tiles located in line at the ceiling of the mosque.
Any other famous sites in Turkey
And that´s it! Hope you have enjoyed our list of the most popular landmarks in Turkey! Tell us, which one of those places are you more excited about visiting the next time you travel to Turkey? Will you add any other to the list?
