Adana

Straddling the wide, emerald ribbon of the Seyhan River (ancient Sarus) thirty-five kilometres inland from the Mediterranean Sea, Adana is the capital of the vast alluvial Çukurova Plain (Classical Cilicia Pedias), one of the richest agricultural basins in the Mediterranean and the literary homeland of novelist Yaşar Kemal and filmmaker Yılmaz Güney. At the exact river crossing that has linked Anatolia to Syria and Egypt since the Hittite Bronze Age spans the fourteen surviving arches of Roman Taşköprü (the Stone Bridge), framing the six soaring minarets of the Sabancı Central Mosque and the 33-hectare gardens of Merkez Park.

On the western bank of the river, the oldest settlement mound of Tepebağ drops down into the striped Mamluk-Ottoman marble of the 1541 Ulu Cami, the 1882 Great Clock Tower (Büyük Saat) and the copper-smithing lanes of Kazancılar Çarşısı. Within an hour of downtown stand the 99-metre stone arches of the 1912 German Varda Viaduct and Kapıkaya Canyon in the Taurus Mountains, alongside the colossal Roman triumphal arch and double walls of UNESCO-tentative Anavarza and Crusader Yılankale. Start with our before-you-go briefing and top things to do in Adana.

Air travellers now land at the modern regional hub of Çukurova International Airport (COV), located between Adana and Tarsus and connected to downtown Adana (Seyhan/Otogar) in 35 to 45 minutes by 24/7 Havamaş shuttle coaches, while classic Adana Train Station sits right in the middle of the city for frequent regional trains to Tarsus, Mersin, İskenderun and the Taurus gorge of Hacıkırı (Varda Bridge). Inside Adana, municipal buses and the Metro accept contactless Visa and Mastercard cards. See getting to Adana and how local transport works.

Almost every visitor stays in central Seyhan on the western bank of the river, either along the historic riverfront (between Taşköprü and Merkez Park) to wake up to views of the Sabancı Mosque and walk to Kazancılar Bazaar in five minutes, or 1.5 kilometres north in the leafy boutique café and shopping district of Ziyapaşa Bulvarı and Gazipaşa. Five-star resort properties with large riverside gardens also line both banks of the Seyhan near Taşköprü. Compare all areas in where to stay in Adana.

Walk across the pedestrianised 4th-century Roman Taşköprü at sunset to the six-minaret Sabancı Central Mosque, admire the 16th-century Iznik tiles of Ramazanoğlu Ulu Cami and climb past the 1882 Great Clock Tower into Kazancılar Bazaar, spend two hours at the New Adana Archaeology Museum Complex, ride the morning train to the 1912 Varda Viaduct and hike Kapıkaya Canyon, and drive east to Anavarza and Yılankale. Full list in things to do in Adana.

Adana's kitchen is governed by strict geographical-indication rules: authentic Adana kebabı is made solely from free-range male lamb meat and tail fat hand-minced with a heavy crescent knife (zırh) and seasoned only with red pepper and salt, accompanied by ten complimentary table salads, purple fermented black-carrot juice (şalgam suyu), Sunday morning liver skewers in Kazancılar, crispy taş kadayıf pancakes and rose-scented shaved ice bici bici. Read more in our Adana kebab guide and street food and sweets.

Ruled from the 14th to the 17th centuries by the Turkmen Ramazanoğlu Principality, which blended Syrian Mamluk black-and-white striped stonework with Ottoman ceramic tiles, and transformed in the 19th century into one of the Mediterranean's great cotton capitals, Adana celebrates life outdoors every April with Turkey's first street carnival, the International Orange Blossom Carnival.