best time to visit

Gobekli Tepe has become one of Turkey’s most talked-about archaeological sites, and with fame comes crowds.

The Zeugma Mosaic Museum is an indoor museum, and that changes the rules of crowd avoidance entirely.

Ani is one of those rare great sites where the question of crowds almost answers itself. It sits far from the main tourist routes of Turkey, and even in high season the ruins rarely feel busy.

Mount Nemrut is one of the few ancient sites where the crowds gather at a specific hour, and that makes timing everything.

The underground cities of Cappadocia are among the most popular attractions in one of Turkey’s busiest regions, and their narrow tunnels make crowds a real problem.

Aspendos is one of the most visited sites on the Turkish coast, and its theatre can feel like a busy public square on a summer afternoon. Yet the crowds are predictable, and predictable crowds are avoidable.

Perge is one of the quieter great sites in Turkey, but quiet is relative, and there are clearly better and worse times to walk its colonnaded street.

Termessos is one of the least crowded ancient sites in Turkey, but the crowds that do come follow a pattern, and the mountain weather adds a second layer of timing.

Priene is one of the quietest of the great ancient sites of Turkey, but it is not always empty.

Miletus is a quieter site than the great Aegean showpieces, but it still has its crowded hours.

Sardis is one of the quieter ancient sites of western Turkey, but quiet is a relative word.

Pamukkale is one of Turkey’s most visited attractions, and its terraces can feel crowded on summer days. But the crowds follow patterns that are easy to understand and easy to exploit.