These are the best places to travel this summer

Ankara

Lonely Planet's Best in Travel 2025

Shop

Get even more with a Lonely Planet guide.

Shop Book
Turkey, Ankara, View of the city from Ankara citadel

Getty Images/Westend61

LONELY PLANET’S RECOMMENDED eSIM

Stay connected in Ankara

with

Saily is an affordable eSIM service that helps you stay connected and secure, anywhere in the world.

Get your eSIM

Overview

Turkey's 'other' city may not have showy Ottoman palaces or regal facades, but Ankara thrums to a vivacious, youthful beat unmarred by the tug of history. Drawing comparisons with İstanbul is pointless – the flat, modest surroundings are hardly the stuff of national poetry – but the civic success of this dynamic city is assured thanks to student panache and foreign-embassy intrigue.

Attractions

Must-see attractions

  • Anit Kabir, Ataturk mausoleum, Ankara, Turkey; Shutterstock ID 5992945; Your name (First / Last): Tom Stainer; GL account no.: 65050 ; Netsuite department name: Online Editorial ; Full Product or Project name including edition: Cities app

    Anıt Kabir

    Ankara

    The monumental mausoleum of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (1881–1938), the founder of modern Turkey, sits high above the city with its abundance of marble and air…

  • Museum of Anatolian Civilisations

    Museum of Anatolian Civilisations

    Ankara

    The best place in the country to get to grips with the complex weave of Turkey's history, the exhibits here house artefacts cherry-picked from just about…

  • Erimtan Archaeology & Arts Museum

    Erimtan Archaeology & Arts Museum

    Ankara

    Ankara's newest museum houses the astounding collection of mostly Roman (but also Bronze Age, Hittite and Byzantine) artefacts collected over the years by…

  • Citadel

    Citadel

    Ankara

    The imposing hisar (citadel) is the most interesting part of Ankara to poke about in. This well-preserved quarter of thick walls and winding streets took…

  • Ethnography Museum

    Ethnography Museum

    Ankara

    Housed inside the building (built 1927) that served as Atatürk's mausoleum until the Anıt Kabir was built, the Ethnography Museum has a small but well…

  • Anıt Kabir Museum

    Anıt Kabir Museum

    Ankara

    The buildings on one side of the Anıt Kabir plaza (to the right of the tomb) contain an extensive museum dedicated to both the life of Atatürk and Turkey…

  • Vakıf Eserleri Müzesi

    Vakıf Eserleri Müzesi

    Ankara

    The tradition of carpets being gifted to mosques has helped preserve many of Turkey's finest specimens. This extensive collection – which once graced the…

  • Hacı Bayram Cami

    Hacı Bayram Cami

    Ankara

    Ankara's most revered mosque is Hacı Bayram Cami. Hacı Bayram Veli was a Muslim 'saint' who founded the Bayramiye dervish order around 1400. Ankara was…

View more attractions
Advertisement

Plan with a local

in partnership with getyourguide

Book popular activities in Ankara

Advertisement