Things to do in Uşak
And where to stay, the best time to visit, what a day costs, and the traps to skip.
Best time to visit Uşak
• a note or something on ✦ an occasion worth the trip
Best months, with warm days, cool evenings and canyon and valley walking at its best.
Hot and busy with domestic visitors, so sightsee at dawn and expect weekend crowds at Clandras.
Worst window for the countryside, cold with short days, though tarhana, museums and thermal bathing compensate.
Shoulder months, changeable and quiet, workable for a stopover with flexible outdoor plans.
What's on
- Liberation Day of Uşak 1 September
Ceremonies and concerts for the 1922 liberation, and the week city hotels fill first.
- Sivaslı Strawberry Festival Late spring, dates vary
Growers in Sivaslı district compete for best strawberry grower, with local food and festivities.
Best things to do in Uşak
Uşak Arkeoloji Müzesi
Home of the Karun Treasure, 363 Lydian pieces returned after a long legal fight, and the single reason to stop in Uşak.
Uşak Kent Tarihi Müzesi
A free, small city museum in the old electricity plant that makes modern Uşak and its city of firsts story click.
Halı-Kilim Müzesi
A small museum in an old wooden house that teaches Uşak carpet motifs and methods before you enter any shop.
Atatürk ve Etnografya Müzesi
A traditional Uşak house with period rooms and ethnography, most meaningful once the 1922 liberation story is known.
Blaundus Antik Kenti
A Hellenistic city on a spur surrounded by canyon gorges, with a stadium, walls and digs still emerging.
Ulu Camii
The Germiyan period Grand Mosque at the heart of the old bazaar streets, the natural start of a centre walk.
Tiritoğlu Parkı
A small green breathing space near the bazaar that finishes a slow walk through the working historic centre.
Uşak Tarihi Evleri
Scattered Ottoman and early Republican houses best seen on a free morning wander, not a preserved old town.
Where to stay in Uşak
City centre (İslice, Kurtuluş, İsmet Paşa)
first stopover, walking to museums and restaurants
Walk to both main museums, the bazaar and most restaurants, with easy buses and taxis.
Atapark / Kemalöz
quieter stay with a car, longer stays
Greener and more residential around Atapark, with easier parking and a quieter night.
Dikilitaş / Atatürk Boulevard
thermal spa in the building
A boulevard corridor south of the centre chosen for the hotel and its pools, not for strolling.
Think twice about
- Organised industrial zones and highway-edge motels
Isolated and car dependent beside truck traffic, with nothing to walk to in the evening.
- Ulubey town and canyon villages as a base
Lovely by day but with no reliable hotel stock, so a base there strands you at night.
Best restaurants in Uşak
Asırlık İlyas Usta Lokantası
The consensus first table in Uşak, a century old lokanta of daily trays, grills and desserts at lunch.
Tarhana Baba
The address for Uşak tarhana soup in its home city, with dried tarhana on sale to take home.
ŞİŞKO Restoran
A local favourite for a proper sit down meat dinner of kebabs and grills after a canyon day.
Uşak Konağı
Dinner in a restored historic house with a courtyard garden, the closest Uşak comes to a special occasion table.
Ezogelin Kebap Salonu
A big relaxed kebab hall where the region itself eats, ideal for groups ordering widely to share.
Çamdibi Köfte Uşak
Grilled köfte with piyaz, bread and ayran, a fast and excellent cheap lunch between museums.
CİĞERCİ BAHATTİN UŞAK
Liver Anatolian style with onions and lavaş, plus grills, from a local institution with a loyal base.
Kokoreççi Sarı
A kokoreç specialist doing essentially one thing well, and one of the few late casual bites in the centre.
Outdoor things to do in Uşak
Ulubey Kanyonu Tabiat Parkı
A vast canyon system cut by two streams, with rim trails, descents, rock tombs and tent camping.
Park Kanyon Cam Teras
A glass floored deck shaped like a ship bow jutting over Ulubey Canyon, a short and high impact stop.
Taşyaran Vadisi Tabiat Parkı
The Gediz River has sculpted smooth gneiss channels and pools, seen on an easy walkway walk.
Clandras Köprüsü
An ancient stone aqueduct over the Banaz stream above a waterfall and a wooded picnic valley.
Pepuza Antik Kenti
A raw ruin field that was a major Montanist pilgrimage city, a visit about landscape and church history.
Sebaste Antik Kenti
Fragmentary remains of a city founded under Augustus, in open countryside near Sivaslı.
Aizanoi Antik Kenti
A superb Roman city with a Temple of Zeus and a combined theatre and stadium, the best ancient day trip from Uşak.
Hamamboğazı Kaplıcaları
Established thermal pools and hamam in wooded country near Banaz, a local bathing day out.
Best hotels in Uşak
Ramada by Wyndham Uşak
The closest Uşak has to full service upscale, an international brand hotel with modern chain consistency.
Sheraton Uşak Hotel & Thermal Spa
A thermal spa hotel with indoor and outdoor pools, so the hotel itself becomes the evening activity.
Anemon Uşak Hotel
The textbook central mid range choice, clean and well kept with free parking and a praised restaurant.
Hotel Akdağ
A long established central three star with a generous breakfast, a sound comparison to the Anemon on price.
Yucell Hotel
A plain, friendly budget hotel minutes from the museums, clean and central at a low price.
Otel Dülgeroğlu
A budget hotel inside part of the historic Paşa Hanı, with the bazaar at the door and a restaurant on site.
Kremon Hotel
A budget option praised for spotless rooms and staff who give honest local advice on eating and sightseeing.
Is Uşak expensive? What a day costs
| Budget | TRY 1,800 a person |
|---|---|
| Classic | TRY 3,500 a person |
| Splurge | TRY 7,000 a person |
A day of food, drink, sights and getting around, before the room
What to book ahead
- Ramada by Wyndham Uşak: a few days ahead
- Sheraton Uşak Hotel & Thermal Spa: a few days ahead
- ŞİŞKO Restoran: a few days ahead
- Uşak Konağı: a few days ahead
- Book hotels earlier for 1 September, public holidays, wedding weekends and winter thermal weekends.
- Reserve a table at Usak Konagi or Sisko on weekend evenings and a driver the day before.
- State museums close on Mondays and the Carpet Museum was reported closed on a Saturday, so check days first.
Is Uşak safe?
- Take care crossing wide boulevards, where traffic is fast and crossings are treated loosely.
- Canyon rim paths are exposed and unfenced in places, and dangerous in wind or after rain.
- Swim only where locals do at Clandras and Tasyaran, as currents after rain are deceptive.
- Emergency number in Turkey is 112.
Uşak travel tips: tourist traps to skip
- The second longest canyon claim is promotion for a connected canyon system, not a surveyed ranking.
- Take tea not lunch at the glass terrace cafes and eat in Ulubey town or back in Usak.
- Learn carpets at the museum first, never buy on day one, and get fibre, size and price on the receipt.
- No established balloon, luxury tour or VIP museum product in Usak has a review base to trust.
Getting around Uşak: public transport and more
- Walk the centre and use dolmus or taxis for city hops like Atapark.
- Rent a car or hire a driver day for Ulubey, Blaundos, Clandras, Tasyaran and Banaz, as buses are infrequent.
- Zafer Airport is about 79 km away and Izmir airport about 210 km, with far more flights.
- Download offline maps, as canyon and valley roads lose signal and Tasyaran is easy to miss.
Who Uşak suits
| Solo travellers | Good |
|---|---|
| Groups of friends | Good |
| Couples | Good |
| Bachelor parties | Not ideal |
| Families | Good |
| Bachelorette parties | Not ideal |
Make Uşak your trip
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