Van

Van

Popular places to visit in Van;

First day

You can start the day with the famous Van breakfast in one of the traditional Van breakfast rooms.

After breakfast, you can visit the Van Museum, which is 10 minutes away from the city center, which houses many valuable archaeological and ethnographic artifacts, especially Urartians, as well as Ottoman and Seljuk artifacts. Then you can visit Van Castle and move on to the old city of Van. Hüsrevpaşa Complex, Kayaçelebi Mosque, Horhor Mosque, Red Minaret Mosque ruins can be visited.

You can go to the Foreigners (Russian) Bazaar in the city center and shop at souvenir and niello silver jewelry shops. From here, you can stop by the kilim shops where the world-famous Van Kilim is sold, and taste Van Herbed Cheese at the Historical Cheese Shop, which is five minutes away from the rug makers. To see the Old Van Houses, you can go to Kalecik Mahallesi, which is 20 minutes away.

For lunch, you can eat Keledoş, Ayran Vaccine, Sengeser, Kurdish Meatballs, Persian Meatballs, Van Fish, which are local dishes of Van.

After lunch, you can go to Yüzüncü Yıl University Main Campus, which is 10 minutes away, to visit the Van Cat Villa, where hundreds of Van Cats with two eyes of different colors (one amber and the other blue) are located.

Afterwards, you can visit Muradiye Waterfall, which is 40 minutes away, and Deliçay in Erciş district, where you can see pearl mullets leaping up the rivers during breeding season.

After a 45-minute cruise, you can see flamingos and hundreds of bird species that stay in Erçek Lake from June to October, feeding and breeding.

The day can be completed by listening to local music performed by the Van Sitting Night team at dinner.

The second day

After breakfast in Van, you can go to Çavuştepe Castle, located on the Gürpınar district road and 45 minutes away. Here you can see the jars used as a granary three thousand years ago.

After a 30-minute journey, you can visit Hoşap Castle with its magnificent castle gate and fascinating high walls. It is possible to cross the Evliyabey Bridge, which is located just below and carries the weight of centuries.

Then you can move to Başkale district, which is 60 minutes away, and explore the unique nature of the travertines in Vanadokya and Dereici village in Yavuzlar Village.

You can visit the Halime Hatun Vault and the historical Seljuk Cemetery in the Gevaş district with a 50-minute journey from here. Then, the 500-year-old İzzettin Şir Mosque and Tomb in the town center can be visited.

You can move to Akdamar Island, which takes its name from this legend, where a great love story took place at the time. After reaching the island with a 20-minute boat ride, you can see the reliefs on the outer walls of the Akdamar Church with scenes from the holy books, the wishing well in the museum and the frescoes on the inner walls.

At the end of the day, you can take a walk along the Edremit coastline and eat the famous Edremit Meatballs, Van Tandır Fish and Ayran Vaccine. In the evening, you can watch the sunset from Edremit Seyir Tepesi or Van Castle.