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Portion of Turkey that is located in South-eastern Europe
Photo: Dreamer at Turkish Wikipedia, Public domain via Wikimedia Commons
Eastern Thrace (Doğu Trakya, usually simply called Trakya) is in the Marmara Region of northwest Turkey. Geographically it covers all of European Turkey from Istanbul and the Bosphorus to the borders with Greece and Bulgaria; however the metropolis of Istanbul is a distinct region spanning the Bosphorus and is described on other pages. The rest of Eastern Thrace, described here, is administered in four provinces (Çanakkale, Edirne, Kırklareli and Tekirdağ), but these have little relevance to travelers, and it's more convenient to consider three terrains.
Istanbul Airport (IST) is Turkey's main port of entry: it's northwest of the city so with a hired car you'll reach Thrace within an hour.
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The main highways run from Istanbul towards the Greek and Bulgarian borders, along the Marmara coast, and down the Gallipoli peninsula. The main routes are:
Choose an airport to see hotels, stations, taxi ranks and car rental desks around it.
Çorlu · Regional · TEQ
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Demirköy, literally "iron village", is a town in Kırklareli Province of Eastern Thrace in northwest Turkey, with a population of 3838 in 2012. It's set in the forests of the Istranca Mountains, but was industrial from the 15th century.
Kıyıköy is a small resort on the Black Sea coast in Eastern Thrace in Turkey. But since 2020 it's been the terminal of a gas pipeline from Russia, so many visitors nowadays are here on business.
Saray is a town in Eastern Thrace, in the foothills of the Istranca Mountains in the west of Turkey. In 2014 the town population was 24,960 while the whole district had 47,522.
Vize (pronounced vee-ZAY) is a town in Eastern Thrace in Turkey. It's in the foothills of the Istranca Mountains, 40 km from the Black Sea coast.
Edirne (pronounced eh-deer-neh) is the chief city of Eastern Thrace, in the Marmara Region of northwest Turkey. It lies on the gently rolling Thracian plains at the confluence of three rivers, close to the borders with Greece and Bulgaria.
Lüleburgaz is a city in Eastern Thrace, the European part of Turkey, 170 km (110 mi) west of Istanbul. It's industrial, with a population of 122,635 in 2020, and with another 30,000 living in the nearby villages.
Çerkezköy is a town in Eastern Thrace, the European part of Turkey - or rather, it's the nucleus of a sprawling conurbation, with a population of 174,529 in 2019. It's modern, industrial and devoid of tourist sights, but it does have accommodation and other amenities.
Çorlu (pronounced CHOR-loo) is a large industrial town in Eastern Thrace in Turkey, with a population in 2023 of 294,020. Administratively it's a township (ilçe) within Tekirdağ province, but it's outgrown its regional capital.
Kırklareli is a city in Eastern Thrace, the northwestern part of Turkey, near the border with Bulgaria. In 2021 the population was estimated as 58,223.
built in the 15th century, it's over 1 km long.
Marmara Ereğlisi (say mar-mah-rah eh-reh-lee-see) is on the Marmara coast in Eastern Thrace, the European part of Turkey. It's the first town west on the coastal highway after you leave the Istanbul metropolis, so it's a weekend resort for the city.
Tekirdağ (pronounced TEH-keer-daa) is a city in Eastern Thrace, the European part of Turkey, 132 km west of Istanbul. It is on the northern shoreline of the Sea of Marmara.
Keşan is a city in Eastern Thrace in the northwest of Turkey. It's at a major crossroads, with highways west to the border crossing with Greece at Ipsala, north to the city of Edirne, south down the Gallipoli peninsula, and east to Istanbul.
Enez (pronounced ay-nayz) is a small town in Eastern Thrace, the European part of Turkey. It's on the Aegean coast at the outflow of the river Meriç or Maritsa, which forms the border with Greece.
Şarköy is a coastal district in Tekirdağ Province in Turkish Thrace, with a population in 2012 of 29,991. It's also the name of the main town, population 17,411, at the west end of the district.
This page describes the town of Gelibolu. For the battlefields and monuments of the Gallipoli Campaign of World War I, see Eceabat town.
Gallipoli redirects here. For other places with the same name, see Gallipoli (disambiguation).
Gökçeada, formerly called Imvros, is an Aegean island in Eastern Thrace in Turkey, with a population in 2020 of 10,106. It's near the entrance to the Dardanelles, and is hilly and windswept.
Articles and travel topics about Eastern Thrace and Türkiye.
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