Canakkale

Sitting at the narrowest bottleneck of the Dardanelles Strait (Çanakkale Boğazı), where the waters of the Sea of Marmara rush into the Aegean through a channel barely 1,200 metres wide separating Europe from Asia, Çanakkale has guarded the maritime crossroads of two continents and two seas for five thousand years. Along its lively waterfront promenade, the Kordon, white passenger ferries crisscross the blue strait between the Asian clock-tower plaza and the green cliffs of the European shore.

Few provinces on earth hold two chapters of world history so close together: thirty minutes south on the Asian plain stands UNESCO-listed Ancient Troy (Troia) and the weathered Corten-steel cube of the Troy Museum, while ten minutes across the water on the European peninsula lie the solemn trenches, cemeteries and memorials of the 1915 Gallipoli Campaign (Gelibolu). Beyond the strait open the Aegean vineyards of Bozcaada, the organic olive hills of Gökçeada, and the Doric columns of Assos. Start with our before-you-go briefing and top things to do in Çanakkale.

Thanks to the 1915 Çanakkale Bridge, the longest suspension bridge in the world by main span, direct coaches and cars from Istanbul reach Çanakkale in four hours, while flights land at central Çanakkale Airport (CKZ, 10 minutes from the harbour) or nearby Balıkesir Edremit Airport (EDO). At the heart of the city, GESTAŞ ferries depart directly from the downtown pier to Eceabat and Kilitbahir on the Gallipoli Peninsula every 15 to 30 minutes, while regional minibuses connect the city with Troy, Geyikli (for Bozcaada) and Assos. See getting to Çanakkale and how Dardanelles ferries work.

For a first visit covering both Gallipoli and Troy, stay right in central Çanakkale along the Kordon or around the Clock Tower (İskele Meydanı): you can walk onto the morning ferry to Gallipoli in three minutes, catch the minibus to Troy without needing a car, and dine at waterfront fish taverns every night. For a summer beach and wine holiday, split your nights between Çanakkale and a stone boutique hotel on Bozcaada island or in the hilltop citadel of Assos (Behramkale). We compare all bases in where to stay in Çanakkale.

Walk the nine archaeological layers of Ancient Troy and spend two hours inside the award-winning Troy Museum, cross the strait by ferry to tour the Gallipoli Battlefields, Anzac Cove and the Martyrs' Memorial, step inside 1462 Çimenlik Castle and Kilitbahir Fortress, sail to Bozcaada, and watch sunset from the Temple of Athena at Assos. Full list in things to do in Çanakkale.

Sitting where the cold currents of the Marmara meet the warm Aegean, Çanakkale is famous for plump grilled sardines wrapped in vine leaves (asideli / yaprakta sardalya), sweet-and-savoury oven-baked cheese halva (peynir helvası), whole-roasted lamb oğlak çevirme in the foothills of Mount Ida, aged sheep-and-goat Ezine white cheese, tomato jam and Bozcaada's indigenous Çavuş, Vasilaki and Kuntra wines. Read more in our Çanakkale food and wine guide.

Named after the famous glazed ceramic dishes and jugs (çanak) produced along its waterfront from the 17th to the 19th centuries alongside Sultan Mehmed II's 1462 fortress (kale), Çanakkale bridges Homeric myth, Ottoman naval history and the shared memory of 1915.