Things to do in Erzurum
And where to stay, the best time to visit, what a day costs, and the traps to skip.
Best time to visit Erzurum
• a note or something on ✦ an occasion worth the trip
Ski season, roughly early December to mid April, with the fullest programme and best snow in January and February.
Tortum Waterfall peaks with snowmelt in late May and June, and the northern valleys turn green.
Summer in the city is mild at altitude, and the Ispir Seven Lakes are reachable only after mid June.
Shoulder months are the sightseeing sweet spot for the monuments: mild, empty and cheap.
November is the dead month, too late for the valleys at their best and too early for reliable snow.
What's on
- Palandöken Winter Games season January to February, dates move yearly
National and international snow events on Palandoken, overlapping the busy Turkish semester break.
- New Year on Palandöken 31 December to 1 January
Ski hotels run gala programmes and the city centre hosts traditional music dinners. Book early.
- Erzurum Culture Route Festival Mid to late August
The national Culture Route festival stops in Erzurum with concerts and exhibitions across the historic core.
- Erzurum Congress anniversary 23 July
Commemorations at the Congress Building mark the 1919 congress that launched the national resistance.
Best things to do in Erzurum
Çifte Minareli Medrese
Erzurum's symbol, a Seljuk madrasa with twin tiled minarets and a carved portal, best in late afternoon light.
Yakutiye Medresesi
A 1310 madrasa with a superb carved portal, now holding a small museum of Turkish and Islamic arts.
Erzurum Kalesi
The citadel hill and clock tower give the panorama that orients you: madrasas below, Palandoken filling the south.
Üç Kümbetler
Three conical Seljuk tomb towers with fine animal carving, in a quiet plot that is almost always empty.
Erzurum Ulu Cami
A vast, austere Saltuklu mosque from 1179, a stone forest of piers and vaults unlike domed Ottoman Istanbul.
Lala Mustafa Paşa Camii
Erzurum's first Ottoman mosque, from 1562, a domed hall of great calm facing Yakutiye across the square.
Erzurum Müzesi
The modern city museum sets the context for the monuments, and is the warm indoor heart of a winter day.
Erzurum Kongre Binası
The hall of the 1919 Erzurum Congress, where the Turkish national resistance was launched, preserved as a museum.
Where to stay in Erzurum
Palandöken mountain
ski trips
Ski in ski out hotels with half board, saunas and rental on site, ten minutes above the city and quiet out of season.
City centre, Yakutiye and Cumhuriyet Caddesi
sightseeing, food and mixed trips
Walk to the monuments and kebab houses, pay less than on the mountain, and shuttle up to ski.
Think twice about
- Otogar and Sanayi industrial edge
Charmless, poorly served at night and far from every sight. Pass through, do not base there. A convenience warning, not a safety one.
- Palandöken mountain out of ski season, without a car
The resort strip is near empty with shuttered services outside winter, which strands visitors who expected a town.
Best restaurants in Erzurum
Güzelyurt Restaurant
Erzurum's best all round restaurant, serving the full regional repertoire properly, with capable service.
Tarihi Erzurum Evleri
Dinner inside restored historic stone houses by the castle, with samovar tea and sometimes live traditional music.
Gel-Gör Cağ Kebabı
The famous name in cag kebabi, a big brisk house where skewers land in quick succession all day.
Şenyurt Cağ Kebap
The locals' cag kebab pick on the Kongre Caddesi row, a plain shop with superb meat and per skewer prices.
Koç Cağ Kebabı
A large, clean and cosy cag kebab dining room that suits families and groups better than its busier rivals.
Dönerci Hacı Baba
Erzurum's best known doner house does essentially one thing, leaf doner over a proper fire, to a daily queue.
Emirşeyh Köftecisi
The kofte institution, grilling seasoned meatballs the Anatolian way at prices locals pay every day.
Kadayıfçı Muammer Usta
The name attached to kadayif dolmasi, turning out the walnut stuffed fried rolls warm through the day.
Outdoor things to do in Erzurum
Ejder 3200 World Ski Center
About 43 km of high, dry powder pistes ten minutes from the city, with a season among the longest in Turkey.
Palandöken Kayak Merkezi
Night skiing on floodlit pistes above the city lights is the best use of a short midwinter evening in Erzurum.
Palandöken Ice Park
A man made ice climbing wall at the ski area where instructors kit out complete beginners for a first climb.
Konaklı Kayak Merkezi
Palandoken's quieter second ski area, where local skiers go on peak weekends to queue less and ski wide pistes.
Tortum Şelalesi
A 48 metre waterfall at the end of fjord like Tortum Lake, at full thunder in late May and early June.
Narman Peri Bacaları
Red fairy chimneys and empty gullies, Cappadocia's raw cousin with no cave hotels, no ticket hall and few people.
Öşvank Kilisesi
A stupendous ruined 10th century Georgian cathedral in a remote valley, reached by one of the region's finest drives.
Çoruh Nehri
Seasonal day rafting on the upper Coruh from Ispir in spring high water, on a river changed by the new dams.
Best hotels in Erzurum
Sway Hotels
The mountain flagship ski hotel, with lift access, ski school, spa and food reviewers single out as excellent.
Polat Palandöken
A large five star ski hotel with its own chairlift to the pistes, pool and spa, good for groups and events.
Dedeman Palandöken Ski Lodge
Ski in ski out value by the lower gondola, with big breakfasts and afternoon tea, in rooms some call dated.
Hilton Garden Inn Erzurum
The most international city stay, with a pool, spa and a ski shuttle that makes it the best mixed trip base.
Ramada by Wyndham Erzurum
A newer city hotel with breakfast included and predictable brand standards, often better priced than its rival.
Saka Life Hotel
A small, spotless, family run city hotel where the breakfast and the warmth run well above the price.
Is Erzurum expensive? What a day costs
| Budget | TRY 2,000 a person |
|---|---|
| Classic | TRY 4,500 a person |
| Splurge | TRY 11,000 a person |
A day of food, drink, sights and getting around, before the room
What to book ahead
- Palandöken Ice Park: a few days ahead
- Çoruh Nehri: a few days ahead
- Güzelyurt Restaurant: a few days ahead
- Tarihi Erzurum Evleri: a few days ahead
- Sway Hotels: weeks ahead
- Polat Palandöken: weeks ahead
- Dedeman Palandöken Ski Lodge: weeks ahead
- Book Palandoken ski hotels weeks ahead for New Year, the semester break and competition weekends.
- Touristic Eastern Express sleepers are the hardest ticket in Turkish winter travel.
- Restaurants rarely need booking, except Guzelyurt and Erzurum Evleri on weekend evenings.
- Arrange Tortum and Narman day trip cars through your hotel the day before.
Is Erzurum safe?
- Avoid demonstrations, never photograph military sites, and note that insulting state symbols is a criminal offence.
- Realistic local risks are icy pavements, winter driving, altitude on day one and extreme cold on the mountain.
- Emergency number in Turkey is 112.
Erzurum travel tips: tourist traps to skip
- Cag kebabi skewers are charged one by one and keep arriving until you say stop, so decide your number first.
- Oltu stone prices vary sharply between Tashan stalls, so compare at least three shops before buying.
- The castle interior is thin, so go for the view and keep the visit to about 30 to 45 minutes.
- Rent ski gear on the mountain or through hotels, where fitting and prices are reported better.
Getting around Erzurum: public transport and more
- Walk the historic centre, where the main sights span about a kilometre.
- Taxis are plentiful, metered and cheap, and city hotels run ski shuttles to Palandoken.
- The airport is about 15 to 20 minutes from both the centre and the ski hotels.
- The Touristic Eastern Express from Ankara stops at Erzurum, and sleeper berths for winter sell out fast.
Who Erzurum suits
| Solo travellers | Good |
|---|---|
| Groups of friends | Great |
| Couples | Good |
| Bachelor parties | Not ideal |
| Families | Good |
| Bachelorette parties | Not ideal |
Make Erzurum your trip
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