Things to do in Malatya
And where to stay, the best time to visit, what a day costs, and the traps to skip.
Best time to visit Malatya
• a note or something on ✦ an occasion worth the trip
Best months, with green valleys in May, harvest light in September and Nemrut open.
Apricot harvest and festival season, but the plain is fiercely hot at midday, so sightsee early and late.
Worst for sightseeing, cold with snow risk and the Nemrut summit road closed in winter.
The Nemrut visiting window runs roughly May to October, best June to September.
What's on
- Malatya Fair and Apricot Festival July, dates vary by year
Held since 1978, with concerts, sports and best apricot contests at harvest time.
- Yesilyurt Cherry Festival June
A small local cherry festival in the city's western cherry growing district.
- Arapgir Grape Festival September
Harvest festivities for the Kohnu grape in the province's prettiest vineyard town.
Best things to do in Malatya
Arslantepe Ruins
A UNESCO listed palace mound where one of the earliest state societies and earliest swords emerged.
Battalgazi Grand Mosque
A 13th century Seljuk courtyard mosque in cut stone, the finest historic building in old Malatya.
Silahtar Mustafa Paşa Kervansarayı
A vast 1637 Ottoman caravanserai with a huge arcaded courtyard, a short walk from the Grand Mosque.
Malatya Museum
The companion to Arslantepe, holding its early swords and Neolithic sculpture from Caferhoyuk.
Şire Bazaar (Dried Apricot Bazaar)
The apricot trade in one bazaar, with tastings of dried fruit, kernels, leather and chocolate apricots.
Bakırcılar Çarşısı
A working coppersmiths market of hammering workshops selling pans, trays and coffee pots.
Malatya Baskonaklar Ethnography Museum
Five early 1900s Malatya mansions holding local dress, tools, jewellery and household objects.
Fotoğraf Makinası Müzesi
Turkey's largest camera museum, with over 2000 cameras from 1876 to today including spy cameras.
Where to stay in Malatya
Inonu Caddesi and west centre
first trip, all round base
The flagship hotel, mall, banks and functioning evening city, with sights 10 to 15 minutes away.
Yesilyurt, Kanalboyu and Fahri Kayahan
calm, cafes and longer stays
Leafy residential west with canal side cafes and apartment options, a short ride from the centre.
Ankara road corridor
drivers, Nemrut departures and spa hotels
Big hotels with pools and parking 6 km out, ideal with a car and poor for walking at night.
Darende
canyon country overnight
A small town base for Somuncu Baba, Tohma Canyon and Gunpinar, with evenings by the river.
Think twice about
- Container settlements and Ikizce construction zone
Homes of displaced residents and a vast building site, with no visitor infrastructure. Do not base, visit or photograph.
- Damaged blocks of the old commercial centre
Cleared plots, works traffic and thin evening services after the 2023 earthquakes. Visit by day, sleep in the west centre.
- Old Battalgazi as a sleep base
Wonderful by day but minimal accommodation and very quiet evenings with few services. Visit it, sleep in modern Malatya.
Best restaurants in Malatya
Hacıbaba Sinan Et Lokantası
The city's best known meat house, famous for tandir lamb and special occasion family dinners.
Meliddu Grill
The grill restaurant of the city's flagship hotel, with international dishes and full hotel service.
Çamlıca Restaurant
A long running mid range house whose slow cooked kuzu tandir is the order regulars return for.
Ali Dayının Yeri
The city's best known fish restaurant, the variety pick in a kebab city for a second night.
Öz Çakı Kebap Salonu
A classic kebab salon for Adana, beyti, sis, lahmacun and pide at the top of the salon class.
Ahmet Bey Yöresel Ev Yemekleri
A small family room serving Malatya home cooking, bulgur koftes in yoghurt and daily stews.
Öz Güngör Kebap Salonu
A no frills kebab salon near the bazaar with a big local following for kebabs and doner.
YAPRAK DÖNER
Real stacked leaf doner in wraps and portions, the correct cheap lunch near the bazaar.
Outdoor things to do in Malatya
Nemrut Dağı
Colossal Commagene statues around a royal tumulus at 2150 metres, best seen at sunrise and sunset.
Levent Vadisi Seyir Terası
A glass terrace over a 28 km canyon of cliffs, caves and fossil beds west of the city.
Tohma Kanyonu
A river canyon of footbridges and tea gardens behind Somuncu Baba, with a short rafting course.
Günpınar Şelalesi
A tall tiered waterfall in a green picnic valley, the family favourite of the Darende day.
Orduzu Pınarbaşı Mesire Alanı
Spring fed pools and plane tree shade where Malatya families picnic, ten minutes from Arslantepe.
Sultansuyu At Çiftliği
A historic state stud farm breeding Arabian horses, on the same road as Levent Valley.
Kozluk Çayı
A deep green canyon below vineyard town Arapgir, with riverside trout restaurants.
Best hotels in Malatya
Mövenpick Malatya Hotel
The city's flagship international five star, with pool, spa and three restaurants in the centre west.
Ramada Plaza by Wyndham Malatya Altın Kayısı
A large spa hotel on the western corridor, best for pool, sauna and easy parking by car.
Anemon Malatya
A big, warm staffed chain hotel with pools and a gym on the Ankara road west of the centre.
Hanem Hotel
A well regarded independent in the centre, walkable to the bazaar, museums and apricot market.
Yze Pırlanta Hotel
A smaller central boutique style option for the museum and bazaar walk when centre hotels fill.
Tiryandafil Otel
Darende's established small riverside hotel, the base for Somuncu Baba, Tohma and Gunpinar.
Is Malatya expensive? What a day costs
| Budget | TRY 1,800 a person |
|---|---|
| Classic | TRY 3,500 a person |
| Splurge | TRY 8,000 a person |
A day of food, drink, sights and getting around, before the room
What to book ahead
- Nemrut Dağı: weeks ahead
- Book Nemrut mountain hotels and a proven driver days to weeks ahead in June to September.
- Book centre hotels early for the July apricot festival and big home football weekends.
- Reconfirm museum and site opening patterns in the same week, as reconstruction schedules shift.
Is Malatya safe?
- Stay only in inspected, operating hotels and note the fire exit, in a seismic region.
- Never enter damaged, fenced or marked buildings or cleared plots with standing fragments.
- Do not photograph container settlements or residents there, without exception.
- Emergency number throughout Turkey is 112.
Malatya travel tips: tourist traps to skip
- Rushing Arslantepe in twenty minutes instead of pairing it slowly with the Malatya Museum.
- The 2am Nemrut day trip sold to save a hotel night, when the overnight sunset and sunrise pattern is far better.
- Buying apricots at the first bazaar stall without tasting at three and comparing prices.
- Planning an evening around the shopping mall instead of Kanalboyu and Kernek.
Getting around Malatya: public transport and more
- Fly into Malatya Erhac Airport, about 35 km west, with daily Istanbul and Ankara flights.
- Use the trambus and buses on the centre to Yesilyurt axis, and dolmus minibuses for Battalgazi.
- Rent a car or hire a hotel arranged driver for Darende, Levent Valley, Arapgir and Nemrut.
- There is no scheduled transport to the Nemrut summit from either side of the mountain.
Who Malatya suits
| Solo travellers | Good |
|---|---|
| Groups of friends | Good |
| Couples | Good |
| Bachelor parties | Not ideal |
| Families | Good |
| Bachelorette parties | Not ideal |
Make Malatya your trip
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