Şanlıurfa & Göbekli Tepe
Turkey
The oldest temple in the world on a hill outside a pilgrimage city of carp pools, covered bazaars and the best kebab in Turkey
Photo by Frank Samol on Unsplash
Photos by Efe Kekikciler, Efe Kekikciler and Efe Kekikciler on Unsplash
Best time to visit all of Turkey
March to May, and October to November (high summer is 39°C and the city sleeps through the afternoon)
Climate month by month
The next sixteen daysOpen-Meteo
Average high and low · °C
Rainfall · mm per month
Best months to visit This month · wettest 75mm in Jan
Where it is
37.16°N, 38.80°E Open in Google Maps
Things to do
A week easily- See Göbekli Tepe early, before the heat
- Feed the carp at Balıklıgöl
- Drink mirra in the bazaar
- Stand in front of the Urfa Man in the museum
- Drive out to Harran
Şanlıurfa & Göbekli Tepe travel tipsthe general rules
Currency budget Turkey
Very cheapExchange offices (döviz) in the centre give a better rate than the banks and far better than the airport, take no commission and post the rate in the window. Change in small amounts; the lira moves. Cards are taken almost everywhere.
ATMs & cards
Garanti BBVA, İş Bankası, Akbank and Ziraat are the ones to use. Turkish machines charge substantial foreign-card fees, so take out more at a time — or change cash at an exchange office, which often beats the machine. Decline the conversion.
Avoid these
- Euronet
- the standalone machines in the bazaar
Use these instead
- Garanti BBVA
- İş Bankası
- Akbank
- Ziraat Bankası
Turkish machines charge high foreign-card fees now, so an exchange office with cash often beats the machine. Decline the conversion.
Wherever you are: if the machine offers to charge you in your home currency, decline. That is dynamic currency conversion and the rate is set by the ATM's operator, not your bank.
Safety all of Turkey
Reasonably safeComfortable in the city, and a conservative pilgrimage town: dress modestly, cover shoulders and knees, and women take a scarf for the mosque courtyards. The province borders Syria and there are checkpoints on the roads south; nothing a visitor to the city and Göbekli Tepe meets. Read your government’s advice, which names this province. The 2023 earthquake damaged buildings here and some are still shored up.
Where to walk, and where to pay attention (6 areas)
Comfortable, including after dark
Worth more attention
- the roads south towards the Syrian border — checkpoints, and a military zone beyond them
- dress at the pools and the mosques — a pilgrimage site; shoulders, knees, and a scarf for women
- the afternoon in summer — 39°C, and the city stops for it
Our own assessment, not a sourced index.
Entry & visa Turkey visa rules
No visa neededup to 90 days
90 days within any 180-day period.
Other passports
e-Visa requiredup to 90 days$43-$60
Applied for online in minutes. Buy it only from evisa.gov.tr — the lookalike sites charge several times the real fee.
Visa required in advance
How to get it: The e-visa is issued online at evisa.gov.tr, usually within an hour. Print it or keep it on your phone; airlines check it at the gate.
Entry rules change often and depend on your passport, not where you live — the official page above is the authority, and the airline checks before you board.
Health & emergencies all of Turkey
Good and affordableRequired to enter
No vaccinations are required for entry from Europe or North America.
Jabs worth having, and what happens if you need a doctor
Worth having
- Routine vaccinations up to date
- Hepatitis A
- Typhoid if you will eat widely outside restaurants
Getting treated
Private hospitals in Istanbul are genuinely excellent and a fraction of Western European prices, with English spoken in the international departments. State hospitals are free for emergencies but slow and rarely English-speaking. Insurance is strongly advised — you will be asked to pay up front at private hospitals.
Tap water is chlorinated but heavily mineralised; almost everyone drinks bottled.
Orientation, not medical advice — entry rules change and what you need depends on your own history. Check with a travel clinic four to six weeks before you go.
Food tip
OutstandingUrfa kebab, which is the mild one to Adıyaman’s hot; çiğ köfte, kneaded for an hour and eaten raw, which was invented here; and şıllik for pudding. Menengiç coffee and mirra, the bitter coffee poured in a thimble. No alcohol in most of the city.
Getting around
Limited- UberWorks here
- BiTaksiWorks here
- BoltNot here
BiTaksi the Istanbul taxi app · Uber which dispatches those same taxis
- Against a taxi
- The same metered taxis. The app matters because it records the ride and the driver cannot refuse a short fare quietly.
Private ride-hailing is illegal in Turkey; everything on the app is a licensed yellow taxi.
Time zone and your working day
Europe/Istanbul — 7 hours ahead of you
1 hour of overlap with a 09:00–17:00 day where you are — 09:00–10:00 your time, 16:00–17:00 theirs.
No overlap with a 09:00–17:00 day where you are. Working from here means one of you keeps odd hours — their day starts at 02:00 on your clock.
office hours both at once night
Their 09:00–17:00 is 02:00–10:00 on yours.
The difference from the UK, Europe, the US and ten more
Worked out against America/New York, which is where this request looks like it came from.
Internet speedall of Turkey
Why these are Turkey's numbers and not Şanlıurfa & Göbekli Tepe's
Home broadband — Fair. Video calls and streaming for one or two people — fine for a holiday, thin for a household working. Broadband here runs at 65% of the global median of 130 Mbps.
Mobile data — Good. Maps, calls and streaming, and enough to tether a laptop for an afternoon. Mobile runs at 1.2× the global median of 109 Mbps.
Ookla publishes no separate figure for Şanlıurfa & Göbekli Tepe, so these are medians for all of Turkey. Cities usually beat the national number and remote islands and national parks fall well below it — treat this as the country's shape, not as a measurement of the street you will be staying on.
A median is the middle of every connection tested there, old copper and new fibre together — so in a country part-way through laying fibre it sits well below what a fibre line actually delivers, and a rental on one can run several times this number. Half of the connections are slower; a fibre flat is rarely one of them. It says what a place can do, not what your rental does, so every listing on Holistay carries its own measured speed and the date it was tested.
Getting online: Airalo or Holafly — a data eSIM for Turkey, installed before you fly and working the moment you land.
Source: Ookla Speedtest Global Index · measured June 2026
Must-see
Nearby day trips
Say a few words
Turkish
- HelloMerhabaMER-ha-ba
- PleaseLütfenLOOT-fen
- Thank youTeşekkürlerte-shek-koor-LER
- Yes / NoEvet / HayırEH-vet / HA-yuhr
4 more phrases
- Excuse meAffedersinizaf-fe-DER-si-niz
- How much is it?Ne kadar?neh ka-DAR
- The bill, pleaseHesap, lütfenheh-SAP
- Cheers!Şerefe!sheh-reh-FEH
Religion
Sunni Muslim, secular state
Around 99% Muslim by heritage, but the state is constitutionally secular and Istanbul is cosmopolitan. Women cover their heads to enter mosques, everyone removes shoes, and mosques close to visitors during the five prayer times.
Do's and don'ts
Do
- Accept the offered tea — refusing it outright dismisses the gesture
- Take shoes off entering a home or mosque
- Cover shoulders and knees at mosques; women cover their hair, and scarves are lent at the door
- Haggle in the bazaars, politely and with humour
Don't
- Do not point the sole of your foot at anyone, or cross your legs so it shows
- Do not blow your nose at the table
- Do not make jokes about Atatürk; insulting him is a criminal offence
- Do not photograph people, especially women, without asking
Where to stay in Şanlıurfa & Göbekli Tepe
No Holistay rentals in Şanlıurfa & Göbekli Tepe yet — the platform is just opening up. Every listing here will have a video tour and the option to negotiate the nightly price directly with the host.
In the meantime, here is Şanlıurfa & Göbekli Tepe on the sites that do have the inventory — each search is already filled in:
- Booking.com hotels, guesthouses and apartments — the widest coverage almost everywhere
- Airbnb whole homes and apartments, and the better option for a week or more
How to get there
Fly into Şanlıurfa GAP GNY
45 minfrom the airport· 35 km as the crow flies
45 min by road.
Google Flights · Rome2Rio for the trains, buses and ferries as well as the flights
