Things to do in Ankara
And where to stay, the best time to visit, what a day costs, and the traps to skip.
Best time to visit Ankara
• a note or something on ✦ an occasion worth the trip
Spring is joint best: steppe green, blossom, ideal castle and Eymir weather and the cultural season in full swing.
Hot dry summer with cool evenings. Sightsee early, take lakes and long lunches at midday, expect an August lull.
Autumn is joint best: harvest light, comfortable walking, the new concert season and Republic Day on 29 October.
Cold continental winter and museums season. Late January to February is the coldest, bleakest stretch.
What's on
- International Ankara Music Festival April
The capital's long running classical festival, anchored by the Sevda Cenap And Music Foundation.
- Flying Broom International Women's Film Festival May
A long established Ankara film festival focused on women filmmakers.
- Traditional Beypazarı Festival early June
Beypazari's town festival of food, crafts and local produce, worth timing a day trip around.
- Republic Day at Anıtkabir 29 October
The city's great civic moment at the mausoleum, moving and very crowded.
- Ankara International Film Festival November
One of Turkiye's oldest film festivals, the heart of Ankara's autumn cultural calendar.
Best things to do in Ankara
Museum of Anatolian Civilizations
A chronological walk from Palaeolithic Anatolia to Rome, with Hittite and Catalhoyuk rooms among the finest anywhere.
Anıtkabir
Ataturk's vast mausoleum and War of Independence museum, with an hourly changing of the guard on the Road of Lions.
Ankara Castle
Layered walls above old town lanes of timber houses and workshops, with the best panorama over both old and new Ankara.
Rahmi M. Koç Museum
Transport, industry and everyday life in a restored caravanserai opposite the castle, and the most family friendly Ulus museum.
Ankara Ethnography Museum
Seljuk woodwork, Anatolian carpets, embroidery and folk life in a quiet marble museum an hour covers well.
Temple of Augustus and Rome
A Roman temple carrying the Monumentum Ancyranum, Augustus's own account of his reign carved in Latin and Greek.
Hacı Bayram Mosque
A busy 15th century mosque attached to the Temple of Augustus, at the heart of old Ankara's living religious quarter.
Ankara Roman Baths
The excavated foundations of a large third century Roman bath complex, legible, open air and almost always empty.
Where to stay in Ankara
Çankaya and Kavaklıdere
first trip, all-round base
Embassy quarter streets with Tunali Hilmi cafes, Kugulu Park, Atakule and the best restaurant streets, near everything else.
Kızılay
transport and value
The metro and bus crossroads with Aspava and doner rows, bookshops and honest mid range and budget prices.
Ulus and the old town
museum-heavy short stay
Walk to the castle and the Ulus museums and Roman remains, but evenings are quiet so most visitors dine south.
Think twice about
- Söğütözü and Çukurambar corridor
Tower hotels and malls along a highway with no evening street life. Comfortable rooms, soulless base, a taxi for every coffee.
- Far western and northern suburbs
Residential sprawl in Eryaman and deep Kecioren with nothing a visitor needs and long rides to every sight.
- Station and older Ulus streets after dark
Shabby, dimly lit and quiet at night. Walk them in daylight for the museums, sleep and dine in Kavaklidere.
Best restaurants in Ankara
Trilye Restaurant
Ankara's famous fish table in a Gaziosmanpasa villa, seasonal fish, olive oil mezes and a serious wine list.
Niki Restaurant
The contemporary Gaziosmanpasa splurge, modern Turkish and international cooking with the city's dinner energy.
Hacı Arif Bey Restaurant
The city address for Beypazari cooking, slow cooked guvec, tarhana soup and walnut baklava without the day trip.
Uludağ Kebap
An Ulus institution since the 1950s for Iskender kebab near the old bazaars, the historic centre lunch to queue for.
Kebap 49
A beloved kebab house named for its old phone number, known for beyti, kebabs and wood fired pide.
Afitap Meyhane
A well regarded Tunali area meyhane for raki, a procession of mezes and a table that stays yours all evening.
Zenger Paşa Konağı
Dinner in an 18th century castle mansion, half restaurant and half Ottoman museum, with a view over old Ankara.
Düveroğlu
Serving doner, lahmacun and pide in Kizilay since 1974, one of the names in the Ankara doner argument.
Outdoor things to do in Ankara
Lake Eymir
A car free reed fringed lake shore to cycle or walk, about 13 km, with tea gardens and rowers for company.
Lake Mogan
A broad lake with promenades, picnic lawns and bird rich reed beds, best at sunset after a morning at Eymir.
Beypazarı
An Ottoman market town of konaks, carrot everything and silver work, and Ankara's most complete day trip.
İnözü Valley
A green cliff lined valley on Beypazari's edge, walked between caves and valley floor restaurants.
Gordion
The Phrygian capital and Midas tumulus on open steppe, a UNESCO site that is still almost crowd free.
Soğuksu National Park
Pine forest walks above a thermal resort town, so walk the forest in the morning and soak in the afternoon.
Ahlatlıbel Atatürk Park
A residents picnic and walking area on the Incek hills, with steppe views back over the city.
Regnum Golf & Country Club Ankara
Ankara's championship 18 hole resort course, a full club day at resort prices south of the city.
Best hotels in Ankara
JW Marriott Hotel Ankara
The flagship international luxury hotel, with a serious spa and pool in the Sogutozu business corridor.
Divan Ankara
The Turkish luxury classic in residential Cankaya, calmer and better placed than the business strip towers.
Gordion Hotel - Special Class
A well run boutique style hotel that puts Tunali Hilmi, Kugulu Park and Gaziosmanpasa restaurants on foot.
Warwick Ankara
A smart good value hotel on Tahran Caddesi by Kugulu Park, with the same walkable evenings as pricier neighbours.
Radisson Blu Hotel, Ankara
The reliable full service hotel in the old town, walkable to the castle and the Ulus museum cluster.
ibis Styles Ankara
Small bright functional rooms in the right neighbourhood, walkable to Kizilay and Tunali at budget prices.
Elit Palas Hotel
A small long standing hotel on Bestekar Sokak in the middle of the Kavaklidere cafe streets.
Is Ankara expensive? What a day costs
| Budget | TRY 2,500 a person |
|---|---|
| Classic | TRY 5,500 a person |
| Splurge | TRY 14,000 a person |
A day of food, drink, sights and getting around, before the room
What to book ahead
- CSO Ada Ankara: a few days ahead
- Regnum Golf & Country Club Ankara: weeks ahead
- Ankara Golf Club: a few days ahead
- Trilye Restaurant: a few days ahead
- Niki Restaurant: a few days ahead
- Hacı Arif Bey Restaurant: a few days ahead
- Afitap Meyhane: a few days ahead
- Book Trilye and Niki days ahead for weekend dinners.
- Book Afitap and other meyhanes for Friday and Saturday, and CSO Ada for popular programmes.
- Book Regnum golf tee times for weekends and arrange Beypazari and Gordion tours before arriving.
Is Ankara safe?
- Ankara has no real no go zone for visitors and violent crime against visitors is rare.
- Watch for pickpockets in crowded Kizilay transport interchanges.
- Cross the wide boulevards defensively, as drivers treat pedestrian crossings optimistically.
- In winter, icy pavements in the castle quarter are a genuine slip risk.
Ankara travel tips: tourist traps to skip
- View only panoramic restaurants: take the Atakule or castle view with a drink and eat elsewhere.
- Generic kebab houses on the Ulus tourist approach when Uludag, Bogazici and Duveroglu exist.
- Genclik Park funfair nostalgia and highway strip mall dining in Sogutozu and Cukurambar.
- Treating Ankara as a half day stop between Istanbul and Cappadocia, which the museums alone refute.
Getting around Ankara: public transport and more
- Use the metro and Ankaray via Kizilay and an Ankarakart for city buses.
- Taxi to Anitkabir, Atakule and the Golbasi lakes, and between the Ulus cluster and Cankaya.
- Esenboga Airport is about 28 km northeast with airport buses and taxis and no rail link.
- Cluster sights by quarter: Ulus, Anitkabir and centre, Cankaya and Kavaklidere, Golbasi lakes.
Who Ankara suits
| Solo travellers | Good |
|---|---|
| Groups of friends | Good |
| Couples | Good |
| Bachelor parties | Not ideal |
| Families | Great |
| Bachelorette parties | Not ideal |
Make Ankara your trip
Swearby drafts the days from places people swear by. Swap any stop, then invite the crew by text, even friends without the app. Vote on dates, track costs as you go, and everyone gets one number at the end.
Get Swearby on the App Store