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Metropolitan center in Eastern Anatolia Region, Turkey
Photo: Son kahraman, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons
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.
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The mansion where Kemal Atatürk stayed during his visits to the city.
Exhibiting city history and pre-history.
Partially excavated village and palace complex going back 6000 years. In 2025 it is closed for renovations. Before the earthquake there was a regular summer dig by Italian archaeologists, who were happy to chat about their progress. The best findings from the site have been taken to the Museum of Anatolian Civilisations in Ankara, leaving replicas on site, for example the statue of Hittite King Mutallu.
Serving trad fare in a two-floor historic building.
Efficient central hotel, part of Accor chain, has parking
Clean place 400 m from railway station.
Smart modern hotel 500 m east of the bus station.
Run-down place west edge of the city, but convenient for motorists.
By train
High-speed YHT trains run as far as Sivas, where the train from Istanbul at 09:00 via Ankara at 13:20 connects with a regional train.
By road
Malatya is on D-300, the 2000-km highway stretching from near Izmir on the Aegean coast to Van and the border with Iran. It's toll-free and mostly dual carriageway.
By bus
Buses from Istanbul take 16 hours via Bolu, Ankara and Sivas. From Ankara there's a dozen a day taking 9 hours. From Gaziantep ten a day take 4 hours.
City sights are in a compact walkable area, but Malatya sprawls, and you need a bus or dolmuş to reach the bus and railway stations and for outlying sights. City buses are jaunty yellow.
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Malatya · Regional · MLX
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