Of all the regions of Turkey, Western Anatolia probably suffers most from an identity crisis. The area inland from the coasts, due south of the Sea of Marmara, and west of Ankara is, for most visitors, somewhere to transit en route to other destinations, something encouraged anyway by transport links that have their eyes set on propelling people speedily towards İstanbul, Ankara and İzmir.
There are a few hotspots that attract the crowds, especially as places to break long journeys – Safranbolu, Pamukkale and Aphrodisias spring to mind – but only the Turkish Lake District around Eğirdir is really a staying destination in its own right.
For those in search of “the real Turkey” this is an area that offers rich pickings. Towns like Afyon and the ceramics centre of Kütahya attract far fewer foreign tourists than they deserve and yet offer a real insight into modern Anatolian life.
Once singularly dejected, Eskişehir is now an impressive city, a western Anatolian tiger to give its central Anatolian cousins a run for their money. And there are many forgotten mini Safranbolus such as Göynük, Taraklı and Mudurnu full of old Ottoman houses just waiting to be discovered.
A long-distance walking trail links sites associated with the Phrygians between Seyitgazi in the north and Afyon in the south. It’s at its most beautiful in late spring when the poppies are in bloom.
Aside from the well-known archaeological sites, Western Anatolia also offers some surprises. In the 2010s archaeologists woking at Laodikeia did a great job in uncovering huge areas of the ancient city; for my money it’s at least as well worth visiting as Aphrodisias or Pamukkale-Hierapolis. Almost unknown are the staggering remains of Kibyra at Gölhisar and of Tripolis, near Burdan.
In 2023 a group of mosques with spectacular wooden interiors became a world heritage site. Three of them are in Western Anatolia, at Afyon, Sivrihisar and Beysehir in the Lake District. Around Denizli a number of village and small-town mosques may look quite plain from the outside but turn out to have beautifully painter interiors.
Getting there
If you want to transit Western Anatolia to the big cities you’ll have no trouble since planes and plenty of big, comfortable buses link them all. Crossing from one Western Anatolian settlement to another can, however, be time-consuming, involving more changes of transport than you might anticipate. Comfortable high-speed trains link Ankara and İstanbul to Eskişehir while sensibly timed slower trains connect Selçuk (for Ephesus) to Denizli (for Pamukkale).
If there’s one place in Western Anatolia that does really well out of tourism it has to be Safranbolu, the small place whose Ottoman townscape survives so completely that it has been designated a world heritage site. It was here as much as in İstanbul that the trend for converting old Ottoman houses into boutique hotels took off. Treat yourself and eat breakfast beside the glorious indoor pool of the the Havuzlu Asmazlar Konağı hotel or stay at the lovely Gül Evi where hip hotel meets Ottomania to pleasing effect. Visit midweek to avoid the crowds.
Another world heritage site, Pamukkale-Hierapolis attracts mixed reviews, partly because tourist posters still suggest that people can frolic in the extraordinary water-filled travertines that cascade down the hillside facing the small village when in fact they’re now largely off-limits for their own protection. But few people come away from the extensive Roman ruins of Hierapolis disappointed and the small museum near the tourist office is one of Turkey’s best.
Were it in a country less blessed with attractions, Turkey’s Lake District around Isparta would be much more of a drawcard. As it is it mainly attracts trekkers walking the St Paul’s Trail and enthusiastic mountaineers. Less adventurous types put up at the pensions in Eğirdir and the small island connected to it by a causeway and then take a boat ride round a lake surprisingly lacking in facilities for water-sports enthusiasts. Come in May to see the pink roses in bloom around Isparta, or in the fall when russet apples piled up by the roadside inject more colour into a landscape already made glorious by the autumnal foliage. The Eşrefoğlu Cami in Beyşehir is one of the most beautiful in the country.
Turkey’s fifth largest town, Eskişehir is not initially inviting although the waterway running through its centre has been cleaned up and equipped with Amsterdam-style pleasure cruisers. The tourist action mainly focuses on the restored Odunpazarı (Wood Market) area which is full of colourful restored Ottoman houses and now boasts the splendid Odunpazarı Modern Museum art gallery. To take full advantage of the experience put up for the night in the swish new hotel built as part of the museum project.
When the famous tile-making town of İznik went into a decline in the 18th century the potters of Kütahya were on hand to take up the slack and the town became the main centre for the production of all things ceramic. Until recently people mainly came here to visit the large pottery workshops but recently the old Germiyan quarter with its fine Ottoman houses has been spruced up to attract tourists. The Ottoman-style Ispartılılar Konağı offers them a bed for the night too.
Ephesus too crowded for you? Then the extensive Roman ruins at Aphrodisias make a pleasing alternative because they’re just that little bit too far inland for most tour groups. The museum has been revamped to provide a home for the spectacular marble statues for which Aphrodisias was once famous, especially for those from the Sebasteion, the temple that promoted the Roman emperors as deities.
Lurking at the foot of a stupendous plug of rock crowned with a ruined castle, Afyon is a delightful small town full of graceful Ottoman houses and with one of a group of mosques whose roofs are held up with wooden columns that are now a world heritage site. But it’s a conservative town and there are few really good places to stay. Use Afyon as a base to explore the lovely but scattered ruins of the Frig Vadisi (Phrygian Valley).
Drop by to admire the splendid silver of the Karun Treasure excavated from Lydian tumuli in the local museum, then move hastily on again.
Keen to see where the Ottoman dynasty first took root? Then hop out of the Eskişehir-İstanbul bus in Bilecik and into a dolmuş to nearby Söğüt where Ertüğrul Gazi, father of Sultan Osman I, is buried beside an enormous arena where, every September, pilav (rice) is served to thousands of visitors in a tradition dating back more than 700 years. Bilecik itself is home to the tomb of Şeyh Edebali, the father-in-law of Osman Gazi, set in a lovely ravine that was much shelled during the Turkish War of Independence (1919-22).
Looking for somewhere other than Safranbolu to stop en route from İstanbul to Ankara? Then beautiful Lake Abant should fit the bill perfectly. You can stay right beside the lake or head into Mudurnu, a mini-Safranbolu, where several hotels play the Ottoman card to perfection. The lake is even worth visiting in winter when you can take a carriage ride on skis around its snow-covered fringes.
Why don’t more people visit Göynuk, a delightful small town whose Monday morning market features village women in tartan şalvar selling cheese and yoghurt? The answer is simple – without your own car getting here is a pain involving several changes of bus. On the other hand in the Akşemsettin Konağı it boasts a gem of an Ottoman place to stay. Just to the west, Taraklı is just as appealing and just as irritatingly awkward to get to.
Exit the bus from Ankara to Eskişehir and stroll one km into town to find perhaps the best of Western Anatolia’s mini Safranbolus set at the foot of an outcrop of dramatic jagged rocks. With a plethora of wooden columns supporting its roof, the Ulu Cami is now part of a world-heritage-site-designated group of mosques. The remains of a gigantic 19th-century Armenian church lurk at the back of town. Suitable accommodation is in short supply – head on to Eskişehir for the night.
If you want to visit the scant remains of Antioch-in-Psidia, one of the sites where St Paul is known to have preached, your best base is probably Akşehir, an appealing small town whose Ottoman core was renovated in the 2010s. Stay here, then take a dolmuş to Yalvaç where chunks of marble from the ruins are embedded in many of the older buildings and where you can sip tea in a lovely square shaded by one of the country’s largest plane trees.
Even Aphrodisias too busy for you? Then climb the mountain slope above Ağlasun to visit the dramatic ruins of Sagalassos, once a stronghold of the fearsome Psidians who, at Termessos, actually managed to hold Alexander the Great at bay but here had to accept defeat. Bring water and sturdy shoes.
Just a little way inland from Aydın, the Roman ruins of Nysa attract few visitors despite the fact that many of the fine carvings that once offered a backdrop to the theatre are still in situ (and have, unfortunately, been vandalised).
Until the 2010s the ruins of Kibyra, above Gölhisar, languished undisturbed. Now archaeologists have unearthed a splendid stadium and a matching theatre and odeon as well as a huge basilican church, an agora and other remnants of the Roman city. As yet hardly anyone comes here. Time your visit for summer to be able to see in situ a beautiful mosaic depicting the Gorgon Medusa that was found in the odeon.
Another relatively recently excavated site is Tripolis, near Buldan, where archaeologists have found stretches of a Roman road, a porticoed street, a huge nymphaeum and a temple. Buldan itself is a small weaving town where you may spot weavers working at their looms in the back streets.
