Things to do in Diyarbakir
And where to stay, the best time to visit, what a day costs, and the traps to skip.
Best time to visit Diyarbakir
• a note or something on ✦ an occasion worth the trip
The best months. Warm but not brutal, the Hevsel Gardens at their greenest and most bird rich, everything open.
Newroz on 21 March brings one of the largest gatherings in Turkey, heavy security, road closures and full hotels.
Very hot and dry, regularly 38 to 43 degrees. Sightsee at dawn and in the evening and escape to Egil's water.
Watermelon season and the Watermelon Festival, with the heat easing and harvest food at its best.
Sur Culture Road Festival in the best weather of autumn. The liveliest and most booked up visitor week of the year.
Cold, wet and quiet, with the lowest hotel prices and snow dependent skiing at Karacadag in core winter.
What's on
- Newroz 21 March
Kurdish New Year, celebrated with one of the largest gatherings in Turkey at a festival ground outside the centre.
- Diyarbakır Watermelon Festival September, exact dates vary by year
The city's giant watermelons, celebrated with a festival held since the 1960s at harvest season.
- Sur Culture Road Festival Mid October, about nine days; inaugural Sur edition 8 to 16 October
Diyarbakir's leg of the national Culture Route Festival, concerts and exhibitions across Sur's venues.
Best things to do in Diyarbakir
Diyarbakır City Walls
A 5.5 km circuit of black basalt walls with 82 towers and four gates, best walked from Dag Kapi south to Mardin Kapi.
Ulu Cami
Anatolia's oldest mosque, a vast basalt courtyard complex on Gazi Caddesi that is still the living heart of Sur.
Hasan Paşa Hanı
A 16th century caravanserai opposite the Ulu Cami, now the city's most famous address for a banquet scale breakfast.
Sülüklü Han
A calm 1683 basalt han of cafes, bookstalls and craft shops, the courtyard where locals actually sit in Sur.
Surp Giragos Kilisesi
The largest Armenian church in the Middle East, damaged in 2015 and 2016 and reopened for worship in 2022.
Dört Ayaklı Minare
A basalt minaret from 1500 carried on four stone pillars, the only four legged minaret in Anatolia.
İçkale Müze Kompleksi
The citadel museum complex explaining the region from the first farming settlements, with the best river view in the city.
Cahit Sıtkı Tarancı House Cultural Museum
A 1733 basalt courtyard house arranged by season, the best surviving lesson in traditional Diyarbakir domestic architecture.
Where to stay in Diyarbakir
Sur and the Dağkapı edge
first trip, sightseeing on foot
Walk to the Ulu Cami, the hans and the walls in minutes, accepting smaller rooms and street noise as the price.
Yenişehir / Ofis
practical, connected all round base
The everyday business centre with the best evening restaurants, easy station and airport access and a short ride to the walls.
Kayapınar
modern comfort, drivers and the quietest night
The new city of wide boulevards and malls, 20 to 30 minutes by car from Sur, with the city's largest hotels.
Think twice about
- Bağlar
Dense district hit hard in the 2023 earthquake, with damaged blocks, poor lighting in parts and no visitor infrastructure or reason to sleep there.
- Empty rebuilt fringes of eastern Sur and Ben û Sen
Cleared plots, construction, poor lighting, reported stray dog problems and few people around at night. Sightsee in daylight, sleep on the Gazi Caddesi spine.
- Hevsel Gardens ground level and isolated riverbank after dark
Isolated, with no easy exit and taxis refusing to collect from inside the gardens. The walls and gardens are a dawn to dusk pleasure.
Best restaurants in Diyarbakir
Dağkapı Ciğercisi
The gateway institution for Diyarbakir grilled liver, fast, smoky and eaten by locals at all hours of the day.
Ciğerci Apo Suriçi
Liver and Adana kebab grilled in front of you inside the walls, freshest at lunchtime before the day's liver runs out.
Xançepek Ocakbaşı
A small counter around the charcoal grill near the Ulu Cami, kebabs and liver cooked where you can watch them.
Doğu Mutfağı Ciğer 21
A ciger and kebab house with outdoor seating looking at the city walls, best at lunch before dishes sell through.
Welat Döner
Doner wraps from a pepper studded spit opposite Mardin Gate, the fast cheap lunch on the way to the Ten Eyed Bridge.
Hacıbaba Ciğercisi
The comfortable sit down liver feast, generous portions, samovar tea and hours that run deep into the night.
Kaburgacı Selim Amca
The name Turkey associates with kaburga dolmasi, lamb ribs stuffed with spiced rice and carried in on a heap of rice.
Meşhur Kadayıfçı Sıtkı Usta
Burma kadayif, crisp shredded pastry wound around pistachio and soaked in syrup, the city's signature dessert eaten warm.
Outdoor things to do in Diyarbakir
Keçi Burcu
The great southern bastion of the walls looking straight down over the Hevsel Gardens, the Tigris and the Ten Eyed Bridge.
On Gözlü Köprü
An 11th century ten arched basalt bridge over the Tigris, at its best at sunset with tea in the riverside gardens.
Eğil Barajı
Boat tours on the Tigris reservoir past an Assyrian castle and rock cut kings tombs, about 50 km north of the city.
Zerzevan Kalesi
A ruined Roman border garrison still being excavated, with an underground Mithras temple on a bare hilltop.
Hilar Mağaraları
Rock cut tombs and dwellings near Cayonu, one of the earliest farming settlements known anywhere in the world.
Dara Antik Kenti
A ruined Byzantine frontier city of vast cisterns and rock galleries, paired with old Mardin on a private driver day trip.
Karacadağ Kayak Merkezi
A small local ski centre on an extinct volcano, a winter only day out that almost no foreign visitor ever sees.
Best hotels in Diyarbakir
Turistik Palas Hotel
The budget classic near Dagkapi, good sized clean rooms, strong air conditioning and a short walk to every old town sight.
Demir Hotel
Five star facilities including a restaurant and health club at a mid range Diyarbakir price, a short drive from Sur.
Mitannia Regency Hotel
An established full service hotel with an indoor pool and spa, the best reviewed independent in Yenisehir.
Novotel Diyarbakır
A large modern Accor hotel with an indoor pool near Forum Diyarbakir, quiet rooms and a known international standard.
Radisson Blu Hotel, Diyarbakır
The city's flagship international five star in Kayapinar, with a spa, large modern rooms and its most polished service.
Mövenpick Hotel Diyarbakır
The other international five star at the top of the local premium listings, business grade rather than heritage luxury.
Is Diyarbakir expensive? What a day costs
| Budget | TRY 2,200 a person |
|---|---|
| Classic | TRY 4,000 a person |
| Splurge | TRY 8,500 a person |
A day of food, drink, sights and getting around, before the room
What to book ahead
- Zerzevan Kalesi: a few days ahead
- Hilar Mağaraları: a few days ahead
- Dara Antik Kenti: a few days ahead
- Book hotels weeks ahead only for the Sur Culture Road Festival in October and around Newroz in March, when central hotels fill.
- Arrange an English speaking guide or driver for Zerzevan, Egil or Mardin a few days ahead. The pool of good ones is small.
- Restaurants here are booked by timing, not reservations. Go to ciger houses at lunch and to Hasan Pasa Hani before 10am at weekends.
Is Diyarbakir safe?
- Conditions in the southeast can change quickly. Check the current position before booking and again before travelling.
- Walk away early from demonstrations and commemorations, and never photograph security forces, checkpoints or military sites.
- Carry your passport or a copy for routine police identity checks in the southeast and comply calmly.
- Never enter earthquake damaged or propped buildings, which still exist outside the tourist core.
- Dress modestly, keep alcohol low key, and use registered taxis at night, especially when travelling solo.
Diyarbakir travel tips: tourist traps to skip
- A tour showing only the new eastern Sur frontages and calling it the old town is selling the reconstruction, not the city.
- Hevsel Gardens at ground level at midday in summer means debris, heat and no shade. Take the Keci Burcu viewpoint first.
- Do not checklist all four wall gates by taxi. One slow stretch from Dagkapi to Mardin Kapi is the real experience.
- Diyarbakir watermelon is a summer and early autumn thing. Out of season you are eating a story.
- Generic kebab houses on the airport and mall roads charge more for food the Sur ocakbasis do better for less.
Getting around Diyarbakir: public transport and more
- Walk Sur on foot. Dagkapi to Mardin Kapi is about 2 km down Gazi Caddesi and the walled town is flat and compact.
- Dolmus and city buses ply the main avenues to the Ten Eyed Bridge, the station, Yenisehir and Kayapinar. Confirm the destination with the driver.
- Use metered taxis at night, for the airport and for day trip connections, and keep a known taxi number from your hotel.
- Diyarbakir Airport has frequent domestic flights from Istanbul and Ankara and is about 20 to 30 minutes from Sur.
- Hire a car and driver through your hotel for Zerzevan, Egil and the Mardin day rather than relying on rural connections.
Who Diyarbakir suits
| Solo travellers | Good |
|---|---|
| Groups of friends | Great |
| Couples | Good |
| Bachelor parties | Not ideal |
| Families | Good |
| Bachelorette parties | Not ideal |
Make Diyarbakir your trip
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