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Eastern Anatolia (Turkish: Doğu Anadolu) is a region in Turkey. It occupies the mountainous east of the country and has the harshest winters.
This region has borders with Georgia, Armenia, the Azerbaijan exclave of Nakhchivan, Iran and Iraq.
Read in the guideThe towns are connected by buses and dolmuşes. But many sights are away from a bus route, so you need a vehicle to reach these: the distances and gradients are daunting for cyclists.
Read in the guideChoose an airport to see hotels, stations, taxi ranks and car rental desks around it.
Erzurum · Regional · ERZ
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Malatya is a city of half a million people in Eastern Anatolia. It has limited sights for a city of its size, but here you might break a journey to Mount Nemrut and the eastern fringes of Turkey.
Darende is a town in the mountains of Eastern Anatolia in Turkey, with a population of 26,000 in 2023. You might break a journey between Sivas and Malatya here.
Mount Nemrut - the one with giant heads - is described here. The one with a crater lake is near Tatvan.
Elazığ (pronounced ay-LAH-zuh) is a city in the mountains of Eastern Anatolia, at an altitude of 1067 m and with a population of 387,072 in 2022. Although the railway and main eastern highway pass through, it's almost an island, as huge modern reservoir lakes surround it.
Kemaliye is a town in Eastern Anatolia, perched in a canyon above the Karasu or Western Euphrates River. It used to be known as Eğin, and that name is still used locally.
Tunceli is a city in the mountains of Eastern Anatolia, with industries based on wheat. Its population was 36,000 in 2022, mostly Kurdish Alevis, whose religion is akin to the Sufi tradition of Islam.
Erzincan is a city in Eastern Anatolia. It's modern, on a grid pattern, as its predecessor was destroyed by an earthquake in 1939.
Erzurum is one of the largest cities in Eastern Anatolia, with a population of about 363,000 in 2023, half that of Erzurum Province. It's at high altitude and has a ski resort.
Kars is a city in Eastern Anatolia with a population of 91,500 in 2022. The main reason to visit is the Armenian ruined city of Ani, and Kars town itself has several attractions.
Ardahan is a city in Eastern Anatolia, some 100 km west of the tri-point of Turkey, Georgia and Armenia. It had a population of 42,000 in 2023 but limited sights, so you'd probably only visit in transit to Georgia.
Doğubayazıt (Kurdish: Bazîd) is a town in Eastern Anatolia, in the far east of Turkey near the border with Iran. It's therefore a transit hub, with a population in 2022 of 80,000.
Muş is a city in the Eastern Anatolia mountains of Turkey, with a population of 117,000 in 2022. It's the seat of the province of Muş, with a total population of 400,000.
Tatvan is a town in Eastern Anatolia, on the western shore of Lake Van. It had a population of 82,000 in 2022, with another 17,000 in its associated villages.
Van (pronounced vahn in Turkish or wahn in Kurdish) is a city in Eastern Anatolia in Turkey. It's on the eastern shore of Lake Van near the border with Iran, so for Iranians it's an unlikely Reno, a holiday break from their restrictive theocracy.
Hakkâri, known in Kurdish as Colemêrg, is a city of about 60,000 in Eastern Anatolia. It's in the far southeastern corner of Turkey, and the main reason to visit is to hike the surrounding mountains.
Mount Nemrut - the one with giant heads - is described here. The one with a crater lake is near Tatvan.
Van (pronounced vahn in Turkish or wahn in Kurdish) is a city in Eastern Anatolia in Turkey. It's on the eastern shore of Lake Van near the border with Iran, so for Iranians it's an unlikely Reno, a holiday break from their restrictive theocracy.
Ani is an abandoned city in Eastern Anatolia, 44 km east of Kars and right on the border with Armenia. It was the chief city of Armenia in the 11th century, but dwindled thereafter, and was abandoned in the 13th century.
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