Gaziantep

Standing at the historic crossroads between the Mediterranean, Anatolia and the Mesopotamian plain along the ancient Silk Road, Gaziantep (known locally simply as Antep) is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities on earth and Turkey's first member of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network for Gastronomy. At its heart rises the circular stone drum of Gaziantep Castle, surrounded by a dense, ringing labyrinth of 16th-century vaulted bazaars where craftsmen still hammer red copper by hand in Bakırcılar Çarşısı and stitch red leather shoes in Yemeniciler Arastası.

Two kilometres north-west of the castle stands the Zeugma Mosaic Museum, housing the haunting eyes of the "Gypsy Girl" and entire two-storey Roman villas rescued from the waters of the Euphrates River. Between museum hours and boat trips through the sunken minarets of Halfeti and Rumkale, every day in Gaziantep revolves around the table: crispy morning pistachio katmer and fiery beyran soup, wild-pistachio menengiç coffee inside 1639 Tahmis Kahvesi, and 40-layer Gaziantep baklava. Start with our before-you-go briefing and top things to do in Gaziantep.

Gaziantep Oğuzeli International Airport (GZT) lies 20 kilometres south-east of the city centre and connects to downtown hotels and the Demokrasi Meydanı / Otogar hubs via Havaş airport shuttles (timed to all arriving flights in 30 to 40 minutes), municipal Bus B01 and metered taxis. Inside the city, the Nostalgic and modern Gaziantep Tram, the Gaziray suburban train and city buses accept contactless Visa and Mastercard cards alongside the Gaziantep Kart. See getting to Gaziantep and how local transport works.

Most visitors choose between two distinct areas: the historic core around Şahinbey, Bey Mahallesi and Kalealtı, where 19th-century Armenian and Ottoman stone courtyard mansions (konaklar) have been converted into atmospheric boutique hotels within a ten-minute walk of the Copper Bazaar and Tahmis Kahvesi, and the modern avenue district of Şehitkamil around İncilipınar and Mücahitler, right near the Zeugma Mosaic Museum and Archaeology Museum. Compare both areas in where to stay in Gaziantep.

Spend a full morning inside the Zeugma Mosaic Museum, follow the rhythmic hammering of mallets through Bakırcılar Çarşısı and Almacı Pazarı, sip menengiç coffee under the timber beams of Tahmis Kahvesi, walk the black-basalt lanes of Bey Mahallesi, see the Neo-Hittite statues at the Gaziantep Archaeology Museum, and cruise the Euphrates canyon at Rumkale and Halfeti. Full list in things to do in Gaziantep.

With over 290 geographically indicated dishes, Gaziantep treats cooking as high art. Begin at dawn with slow-simmered lamb neck beyran or clotted-cream and pistachio katmer, lunch on smoky aubergine ali nazik, seasonal loquat or sour-cherry kebabs (yenidünya and vişne kebabı) and yuvalama festive yogurt soup, and finish with PGI-protected Antep baklavası made with early-harvest boz emerald pistachios and clarified sheep's butter. Read our baklava guide and kebab masters.

Awarded the title Gazi ("Veteran/Hero") by the Turkish Parliament in 1921 for its ten-month popular resistance during the War of Independence, the city preserves a 600-year guild tradition of copper-smiths, mother-of-pearl inlayers (sedefkâr), kutnu silk weavers and underground rock-cut water channels called livas and kasteller.