Top Cities
The Blue Mosque (Sultanahmet Mosque), Istanbul. Photo via Wikimedia Commons.
Turkey's cities each run on their own logic: Istanbul is two continents and sixteen centuries of empire, Ankara is the republic's capital, İzmir is the Aegean's great port, and Antalya is the Mediterranean's resort capital. Beyond them, the smaller cities (Konya, Bursa, Trabzon, Gaziantep's neighbours) hold the deepest traditions.
Locals' own favourite escapes are the towns: Alaçatı and Ayvalık on the Aegean, Kaş and Kalkan on the Mediterranean, Şirince above Ephesus, Ürgüp and Ortahisar in Cappadocia, and Safranbolu's Ottoman streets. The towns are listed under each region; these are the cities worth basing a trip around.
