Mardin travel guide

Mardin is a city in Southeastern Anatolia, with a population of 194,000 in 2023, and industries based on agriculture. It has an attractive old town, with decorated stone buildings cascading down the sides of a valley, and views over the Mesopotamian plains below.

Understand

Castle and Old Town (Photo: Senol Demir from Turkey, CC BY 2.0)

Mardin lies at the heart of the homeland of the Assyrian Arabs, who speak Syriac, closely related to Aramaic the native tongue of Jesus Christ. They adopted the Syriac Orthodox branch of Christianity in the 5th century, when Mardin’s Deyrulzafarân Monastery was founded. The town was captured by the Muslims in 640 and ruled by several dynasties – those who most left their mark are the Artuqids from the 12th to 15th centuries, who built fine mosques and madrasahs. Mardin fell to the Ottomans in 1517.

Early modern Mardin had a mixed population of Turks, Kurds, Assyrians and Armenians, but there were many conflicts, atrocities and massacres. The latest episode is the conflict between the Turkish government and the Kurdish militia PKK: in the 1990s the area was off-limits to tourism. It’s now peaceful but the government has tired of the Kurdish people electing Kurdish mayors, and now rules through its own place-men.

Get in

By plane

Mardin Airport (MQM IATA) has flights daily from Istanbul (both IST and SAW), Ankara and Izmir. In full it’s Mardin Prof Dr Aziz Sancar Airport, named for the local lad who won the 2015 Nobel Prize for Chemistry for his work on DNA repair. It has the usual facilities including car hire. Next to the terminal are Mardin Airport Hotel, Anemon Hotel and a shopping centre.

The airport is 21 km southeast of Mardin, in the industrial village of Eroğlu. Havaş bus runs to town 7 times a day, connecting with flights.

The airport is 7 km northwest of the large town of Kızıltepe, take a taxi or dolmuş.

You could also fly into Diyarbakır (DIY IATA) 95 km northwest. This is also the closest railway station, with an overnight train from Ankara five days a week, which continues to Batman and Kurtalan.

By road

From Istanbul and Ankara take O-21 (toll) to Adana then O-52 east past Gaziantep and Urfa, to join E90 / D-400. At Kızıltepe branch north on D-950 past the airport, to come into Yenişehir the new part of the city. Kızıltepe is a large town, so hitch-hiking you might change rides there.

From Diyarbakır follow D-950 southeast.

By bus

Direct buses from Istanbul take 22 hr via Ankara, Kayseri, Gaziantep and Urfa.

Buses from Diyarbakır take 90 min. From Urfa takes 4 hours.

Bus lines include Metro Turizm, Van Golu and Kamil Koc (now part of Flixbus).

• Mardin bus terminal is 4 km northeast of Old Town at the junction of Highway D-380 and D-955. Dolmuş M12 takes you to Old Town; the former bus station at its east edge has closed.

There’s a cluster of hotels a short walk from the bus terminal, see below.

Get around

Eski Mardin the old town stretches about 2 km east-west along 1st Cd, First Street, compact enough to explore on foot. No vehicles venture up the twisty staired side alleys off it — even garbage is collected with the assistance of diligent donkeys there.

Vali Ozan Bulvarı is the main street of Yenişehir, the new city to the west. Dolmuşes M6, M7A, and M8 run between Yenişehir and Eski Mardin: the steep road between might take 40 minutes on foot, ratty and tedious in the summer heat.

Small yellow municipal buses ply frequently between the State Hospital (Şehir Hastanesi) and the old town. These can be paid for by contactless card or cash.

There’s no public transport to Deyrulzafarân Monastery 8 km east of town. Negotiate with a taxi to take you there, wait an hour and fetch you back.

See

Sultan Isa Madrasah (Photo: Misa.stefanovic.07, CC BY-SA 4.0)

Mardin Castle is on an outcrop towering over the old town. It’s from the 10th century but is nowadays a military radar base and off-limits. It’s still worth ascending the alleys towards it as far as permitted for views over the Mesopotamian plains.

• Sakıp Sabancı Mardin Kent Müzesi, Hükümet Cd 10, ☏ +90 482 212 9396. Tu-Su 09:00-17:00. The city’s main museum, housed in a former barracks and funded by the Sabancı foundation.
• Grand Mosque (Ulu Cami), 100th Sk. The city’s main mosque was built circa 1180 AD but destroyed in the battles of 1833/35. It was rebuilt on the original pattern.
• Latifiye Camii, 2nd Cd (facing Grand Mosque). Also called Erkulu Mosque, this was built in 1314 AD, with the minaret added in the 19th century.
• Forty Martyrs’ Church (Kırklar Kilisesi or Mor Behnam) is in an alley between 1st Cd and 239th Sk. It’s a Syriac Orthodox church from the 6th century, with additions through to the 20th.
• Sultan Isa Madrasah (Zinciriye Medresesi), off 248th Sk. Daily 08:00-18:00. The most attractive building in town, every couple comes here for their wedding photos. The madrasah (Islamic school) was completed in 1385 as part of a kulliye, a religious complex. You enter through a grand recessed portal. Rooms surrounding the central courtyard have beautiful wall and ceiling decorations. There’s a mosque, a mausoleum (intended for the Sultan, but unused), and an upper deck with great views. Adult 200 TL.
• Cumhuriyet Meydan is the main plaza in the old town, with the obligatory statue of Ataturk.
• Archaeology and Ethnography Museum, Cumhuriyet Meydan (north side of plaza), ☏ +90 482 212 1664. Tu-Su 09:00-17:00. Small museum in the former Syriac Catholic Patriarchate building of 1895.
• Meryem Ana or Virgin Mary Church is north side of the museum. It’s closed to visitors.
• Yaşayanlar Museum west side of the plaza demonstrates local handicrafts.

Elephant clock, Kasımiye Madrasah (Photo: Nedim Ardoğa, CC BY-SA 3.0)

• Kasımiye Madrasah (Kasim Pasha Medrese), 1711th Sk. Daily 08:30-18:30. Grand building completed in 1445 by Kasım ibn Cihangir. The elephant clock on its front is a repro of a 12th century mechanism. The marks on the courtyard wall are said to be the blood of Kasım when he was deposed and disassembled. The madrasah is on the slopes southwest edge of the city. Adult 100 TL.
• Deyrulzafarân Monastery, Eskikale (8 km east of town), ☏ +90 535 300 4446. Daily 09:00-17:00. An ancient monastery still in use, variously called the Monastery of Saint Ananias, Dayro d-Mor Hananyo, or Deyrulzafarân ("the monastery of saffron") from the colour of its walls. From around 2000 BC this was a pagan temple to the sun god Šamaš. The original rock vaults with no mortar are still visible on the lower floors, and one window is aligned to sunrise. The site became a Roman / Byzantine citadel, then a Christian monastery in 493 AD. Over the centuries it suffered multiple attacks, massacres and periods abandoned but remained the senior church of Syriac Christendom until 1924. Highlights include the underground sun-temple, Sayyida or Virgin Mary Church from 5th / 6th century, Domed Church from circa 800 AD, Mausoleum of the Fathers, Church of the Patriarchal Throne from the 1690s, and The Paradise (Dayr al-Firdaws) a burial vault for especially holy individuals. You visit by guided tour, with respectful dress and behaviour. Adult 100 TL.

Do

• Hamams are traditional Turkish baths. About a dozen in the city, the oldest is on the main plaza, open daily 07:30-22:00.
• Football: sorry, not at pro level. Mardinspor were financially mismanaged, plummeted down the Turkish soccer leagues and folded in 2015.
• Mardin City Stadium at the west end of old town hosts junior matches. Nothing wrong with it that couldn’t be fixed by total demolition and relocation to a proper new site.

Buy

• Arasta AVM is the main shopping centre, east end of Yenişehir just as the highway starts its ascent to the old town. Migros supermarket is open daily 10:00-22:00.
• Banks with ATMs are found along 1st Cd in Old Town.
• Poşi are colourful keffiyehs, in the red, yellow and green of the PKK / Kurdish faction. So these will win you friends among the majority Kurds, but the next jandarma you encounter has been deployed to the region specifically to not win friends among Kurds.

Eat

• Leyli Muse Mutfak, 239th Sk (block north of main plaza), ☏ +90 552 438 0412. Daily 12:00-00:00. Splendid restaurant with trad food and music.
• Lummi on the main plaza is open daily 13:30-00:00.
• Cercis Murat Konağı west end of the plaza is open daily noon-midnight.
• Revan Restoran, 152nd Sk 2 (block south of main plaza), ☏ +90 542 548 8192. Daily 07:30-00:00. Welcoming place in trad surroundings.
• Al Hayaal, 1st Cd 242 (block north of Grand Mosque), ☏ +90 546 618 4313. Daily 09:00-21:00. Great reviews for cuisine and Old Town setting.

Drink

Town tap water is not safe to drink, even if you could stomach the chalky taste. Stick to bottled water.

Most restaurants serve alcohol. Süryani şarabı is the local red wine.

Sleep

Deyrulzafaran (Photo: Herbert Frank from Wien (Vienna), AT, CC BY 2.0)

Lots of small hotels in old town, but booking is advised on summer weekends, as they fill up.

• Mardia Konağı, 1st Cd, Pinarcik Sk 7, ☏ +90 482 213 1020. Pleasant central hotel. B&B double 5000 TL.
• Tatlidede Otel (Stone Butik Otel), 1st Cd, 152nd Sk 34, ☏ +90 482 213 0696. Trad stone building, cleaning and state of repair variable. B&B double 7000 TL.
• History Palace Otel, 241st Sk 12, ☏ +90 546 787 1703. Charming hotel in a renovated mansion. B&B double 5000 TL.
• Ana Talia House, 239th Sk (block south of History Palace Otel), ☏ +90 533 594 1787. Welcoming hotel in an old mansion, great views from the terrace. B&B double 7000 TL.
• Hilton Garden Inn, Barış Cd, 29th Sk 34, Yenişehir, ☏ +90 482 213 9600. Clean modern hotel above new town. B&B double 5000 TL.
• Bilen Otel is a grubby broken-down place 200 m east of the bus terminal at Yalım Cd 30.
• Green Park Otel east of Bilen Otel is the pits.
• Park Dedeman is a chain hotel 200 m west of the bus terminal at Ömerli Cd 29.
• Ramada Plaza, Beldesi Omerli Cd 31 (500 m west of bus terminal), ☏ +90 482 212 1500. Mostly clean and efficient. B&B double 5000 TL.

Connect

As of Sep 2026, Mardin and its approach highways have 4G from Turkcell and Vodafone, and 5G from Turk Telekom.

Go next

• Diyarbakır 95 km northwest is the biggest city in the area, with an old town and citadel behind stout basalt walls.
• Midyat 68 km east has architecture and stonework similar to Mardin’s, though it lacks the valley setting.
• Hasankeyf 112 km northeast was submerged by the Ilısu Dam lake. Some of its ancient buildings were moved to a new village on higher ground.
• Dara is a ruined Roman citadel halfway along the road to Nusaybin.
• Nusaybin 62 km southeast is on the border with Syria, but there’s no crossing. It has an ancient Syriac Orthodox church and a 12th century mosque.

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