Adana is Turkey's fourth-largest city and the culinary capital of the south — the birthplace of the Adana kebab, a spiced minced lamb on a flat skewer that is one of the finest things you can eat in the world. The city sits on the Seyhan River at the edge of the Çukurova plain (Turkey's cotton-growing heartland) and has 2,000 years of history from the Romans through the Crusaders to the Ottomans. The old Stone Bridge (Taşköprü) over the Seyhan is one of the finest Roman bridges still standing.
The Taşköprü (Stone Bridge) over the Seyhan River was built in the 2nd century AD by the Roman emperor Hadrian (or Septimius Severus) — 310 metres long with 21 arches, it is one of the best-preserved Roman bridges in the world. The early morning light on the limestone and the Seyhan current below is one of the finest sights in southern Turkey.
The 1507 Ulu Cami (Great Mosque) was built by the Ramazanoğulları dynasty in the Mamluk architectural style — black and white alternating stone courses, a distinctive minaret and interior courtyard. One of the most distinctive mosque interiors in Turkey.
The Adana kebab (kıyma kebabı) is minced lamb mixed with red pepper paste, tail fat and spices, moulded onto a wide flat skewer and grilled over charcoal. At Kebapçı İmamoğlu or Yüzevler Ocakbaşı in the old city — the original, with roasted tomatoes, peppers, lavash bread and ayran. Not the tourist version: the real city institution.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideThe Adana Ethnography Museum in a 1924 Greek Orthodox church building documents the history, crafts and textiles of the Çukurova plain — kilim weaving, traditional tools, the archaeological finds from ancient Adana (Antiochia ad Sarum). The building itself is beautiful.
The riverside park along the Seyhan (both banks accessible from the Taşköprü) is where Adana locals take their evening walk — çay (tea) at a riverside kiosk, watching the bridge lit at sunset.
Şalgam suyu (turnip water — a fermented purple drink made from black carrot and shalgam turnips) is Adana's most distinctive drink, served ice-cold alongside kebabs. At any ocakbaşı (grill house) in the centre — a second kebab is mandatory on night one in Adana.
The 1998 Sabancı Mosque (Sabancı Merkez Camii) on the Seyhan riverbank is Turkey's largest mosque — financed by the Sabancı industrial family, it can hold 28,500 worshippers and the domes (54m) and minarets (99m) are among the largest in the Islamic world. The interior marble work and calligraphy is exceptional.
One of Turkey's best regional archaeology museums — Hittite, Assyrian, Roman and Byzantine finds from the Çukurova plain. The Hittite inscription stones and the Roman-era mosaic floors from the region's villa excavations are the highlights.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideAdana's covered bazaar (Kapalı Çarşı) is one of the finest in southern Turkey — the spice merchants (baharat), the copper beaters hammering trays and jugs, the textile dealers selling Çukurova cotton. The şalgam sellers with their purple wooden barrels are unmissable.
Tepebağ (the hill above the bazaar) is Adana's historic residential district — 19th century Ottoman and Armenian mansion houses, many derelict but the scale and ornament visible. The cotton merchant families of Çukurova built their town houses here.
Ciğer kebabı (lamb liver pieces on skewer, very quickly grilled, always with parsley and onion) is Adana's second kebab — lighter than the minced Adana but equally essential. Bici bici (shaved ice with rosewater syrup, chickpea starch and coconut) is the Adana summer dessert — the stands appear in the bazaar area from noon onwards.
The tea gardens (çay bahçesi) around the Seyhan riverbank stay open late — nargileh (hookah) with apple tobacco, çay in tulip glasses, and the city night life of Adana's university student population.
Tarsus is 30 km west of Adana (bus from Adana bus terminal MXN 30, or taxi TRY 200) — the birthplace of Saint Paul the Apostle, the site of Cleopatra's first meeting with Mark Antony, and 8,000 years of continuous habitation. It has a surprisingly preserved old town.
The Well of Saint Paul (Şen Pavlus Kuyusu) on the traditional site of the Apostle's birth is the most visited Christian pilgrimage site in southern Turkey. The adjacent mosque (14th c.) and old Roman city walls are also visible.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideThe 1st century BC Roman gate (misnamed "Cleopatra's Gate" since the 17th century — Cleopatra sailed into Tarsus harbour not through this gate) is one of the finest Roman arches in Turkey. The road between the gate columns was the main road of Roman Tarsus (Via Sebaste).
The Tarsus Waterfall (Şelale Parkı) is a small but beautiful cascade on the Tarsus River (Cydnus — the river on which Cleopatra supposedly sailed) in a park with tea houses and riverside restaurants. Coolest spot in Tarsus in summer.
Return to Adana by bus or dolmuş. The approach to Adana on the Çukurova plain, flat and agricultural with the Taurus Mountains on the horizon, is beautiful in late afternoon light.
One final Adana kebab at the best ocakbaşı in the city. The Adana kebab with şalgam suyu on the last night is the only way to properly conclude three days in Adana.
Final evening walk on the Taşköprü and riverside — the Roman bridge lit at night over the Seyhan River. The finest view in Adana.