Turkey · Southeastern Anatolia · Travel guide
What a trip to the city behind the black walls really costs, how safe it is today and which experiences make the journey to the Tigris worthwhile.
Photo: Cengiz Kudat / Pexels
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Estimates for orientation, not booking prices. Flights and hotels vary strongly by season: current prices are behind the links below.
Money & payment: You pay in Turkish lira (TRY). The exchange rate moves a lot, which is why all prices here are given in francs and euros. Cards are accepted almost everywhere; you need cash for the dolmuş, markets and tips. Flight time: 3 to 4 hours.
Nine options in three price ranges, each among the best-rated on Booking.com.
Budget
Four-star house with a pool on the arterial road towards the airport, around ten minutes by taxi from the city walls. Cheap for the category, solid rooms, decent breakfast. If you prefer peace to old-town noise in the evening and commute by taxi, you are well placed here.
Small, newer hotel right on Gazi Caddesi, the main axis through the old town inside the walls. The rooms are plain but clean and air-conditioned, the breakfast simple. The argument is the location: the bazaar, the Ulu Camii and the liver joints are a few minutes' walk away. It can be noisy on the street side in the evening, so ask for a room at the back.
Solid city hotel in the new town with functional, clean rooms, reliable Wi-Fi and a decent breakfast. Popular with Turkish business travellers, so calm and well organised. Ten minutes by taxi to the old town or half an hour on foot. An uncomplicated choice for solo travellers, with no surprises but no charm either.
Mid-range
Small boutique hotel with modern rooms, a good breakfast and a team that takes care of tips and transfers. One of the best-rated houses in the city on Booking, without a historic setting but with a level of comfort that is not a given in the southeast in this price range. The walls and the bazaar are a few minutes away by taxi.
Large hotel on Gazi Caddesi right in Sur, with pool, spa, hammam and restaurant. The location is the trump card: you reach the walls, the Ulu Cami and the bazaars on foot. Reviews vary, however, especially on service, so check the latest reviews before booking.
Four-star business hotel in the centre of the new town, with modern rooms, gym, restaurant and a very good breakfast. The main-road location is practical; the old town is 20 minutes on foot or five by taxi. The breakfast is often mentioned as the highlight.
Luxury
The largest five-star house in the city, with pool, spa, hammam, several restaurants and rooms overlooking the city. International standard, reliable service, often at prices far below what you would pay in Istanbul. For comfort after a hot day.
Modern chain standard in the new town: big beds, good breakfast, gym, bar. No charm but no surprises, and the house is very well run for the southeast. Ten minutes by taxi to the old town. A safe choice for the first night. Own car park available.
Well-run Accor hotel with pool, spa, gym and a restaurant that interprets regional cuisine decently. Large, modern rooms, family-friendly, quiet location in the new town. Ten minutes by taxi to the walls. The pool is a real plus in summer.
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With a guide along the basalt wall, through the gates, to the Ulu Camii and into the caravanserais. You understand where the city's past and present collide. Around three to four hours. From CHF 25 (about EUR 27) per person.
Through the UNESCO gardens down to the Tigris and the 11th-century basalt bridge. At sunset the best view of the entire wall. Two to three hours, on foot or with a guide.
The citadel in the northeast of the old town with restored walls, a church and the archaeology museum in old administrative buildings. A good starting point with views over city and river. Entry is cheap. Plan around two hours, quietest in the morning.
The big breakfast spread with dozens of little dishes in the courtyard of a 16th-century caravanserai. No ticket needed, but part of every good food tour. Go early at weekends. Around CHF 10 (about EUR 11) per person.
The restored Armenian church, once the largest in the Middle East, and the minaret on four columns, both in Sur. Witnesses to the diversity the city once had. On foot as part of the old town walk.
In the afternoons older men sing epic Kurdish stories in the courtyard of the Dengbêj Evi, no entry fee, no stage. One of the most honest experiences in the city. Be quiet and listen. Afternoons from around 2 pm.
The golden stone city is 90 minutes away, with the Deyrulzafaran monastery on the way. Doable as a day tour with a driver, better with an overnight stay. From CHF 50 (about EUR 55) per person. With driver and guide, Midyat included on request.
The Seljuk Malabadi Bridge with its enormous arch and the remains of Hasankeyf on the Tigris reservoir, two hours to the east. For anyone who wants to combine history and landscape. Full-day tour. With a driver from CHF 60 (about EUR 65) per person.
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Diyarbakır eats liver for breakfast, watermelons the size of pumpkins and lamb in every form; the Kurdish cuisine of the city is spicier than Antep's and simpler. The best places are often the plainest ones in the alleys of Sur.
Lamb liver in small cubes on skewers, between pieces of tail fat, over charcoal; with onions, sumac, parsley, hot pepper and flatbread. CHF 3 to 5 (about EUR 3.20 to 5.40).
Tip:For breakfast from 6 am, with a queue at weekends; order by number of skewers.
Breast of lamb stuffed with rice, almonds, pine nuts and spices, boiled first and then browned in the oven; crisp outside, spiced inside. CHF 12 to 18 (about EUR 13 to 19) per person.
Tip:For two to four people, worth ordering ahead.
Stew of lamb, aubergines and garlic, soured with sumac, over bulgur pilaf. CHF 5 to 8 (about EUR 5.40 to 8.60).
Tip:A lunch dish; ask for the menu of the day.
Watermelons from the banks of the Tigris, 20 to 40 kilos each, sweet and firm; in summer sold by the slice on every corner. A slice costs CHF 0.50 to 1 (about EUR 0.50 to 1.10).
Tip:Season July to September; in September there is a watermelon festival with a weigh-in contest.
Shredded pastry rolled around walnuts, baked in butter and dipped in syrup; the sweet of the city. CHF 2 to 3 (about EUR 2.20 to 3.20) apiece.
Tip:After the meal, with tea; it travels well in boxes.
Braided cheese from Diyarbakır, salty and fibrous, for breakfast or grilled; vacuum-packed it makes a good souvenir. CHF 6 to 9 (about EUR 6.50 to 9.70) per kilo.
Tip:Soak it briefly before eating, then it is less salty.
Cold liquorice sherbet, bitter-sweet, poured by street vendors with copper urns on their backs. CHF 0.30 to 0.50 (about EUR 0.30 to 0.50) a glass.
Tip:One glass, no more: liquorice pushes up your blood pressure.
Diyarbakır sits on a basalt plateau above the Tigris and has been inhabited for at least 5,000 years. Hurrians, Assyrians, Romans and Byzantines built fortresses here, and the Roman city wall of black basalt, almost six kilometres long with 82 towers, is among the longest surviving city walls in the world. Only the Great Wall of China is longer. Between the walls and the river lie the Hevsel Gardens, orchards and vegetable fields cultivated for thousands of years that fed the city; together they have been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2015. After the Arab conquest in the 7th century the city was named Diyar Bakr, land of the Bakr, after the tribe of that name. The Ulu Camii, one of the oldest mosques in Anatolia, was built with columns from Roman buildings. Diyarbakır is the cultural centre of the Kurds in Turkey, with everything that means politically. The old town of Sur was badly damaged in the fighting of 2015 and 2016; parts were demolished and rebuilt. Today the city is calm again, the walls and gardens are open, and whoever comes experiences a city of two million people, plenty of pride, plenty of music and one of the most honest cuisines in Turkey.
Diyarbakır has a reputation that dates from 2015 and 2016, when there was fighting in the old town of Sur. Since then the city has been calm. Most foreign ministries advise caution in the provinces of the southeast and against travel to the border areas with Syria and Iraq; Diyarbakır city is one of the places you can visit with common sense. What that means in practice: read the travel advice before departure, avoid demonstrations and large crowds, do not start political discussions yourself, and take police checks calmly with your passport at hand. The police presence is visible, especially in Sur, and it is not aimed at you. As a tourist you are received here with a mixture of surprise and delight, because so few come. Travellers, including women on their own, report positive experiences. In the evening stay in the lit main streets of Sur, as you would in any city of this size.
The basalt wall encloses the entire old town, and you can climb up at several points. The best stretch for views of the Tigris and the Hevsel Gardens is at the Keçi Burcu, the Goat Tower, in the south, and at the Mardin Gate. In the west at the Urfa Gate and at the İçkale, the citadel in the northeast, the walls are restored and easy to walk. The İçkale now houses the archaeology museum in old prison and administrative buildings; entry is cheap. The top of the wall is not secured everywhere; there are sections without railings and a ten-metre drop beside you. Take care with children, and do not go up after dark. The walk around the outside of the wall takes around two hours; a lovely part is the park between the Mardin Gate and the Tigris, where families picnic in the evening.
Below the wall, between city and river, lie the Hevsel Gardens: poplar groves, vegetable fields, mulberry trees and narrow paths that have been farmed this way since antiquity. You walk down from the Mardin Gate and within ten minutes you are in another world, green, quiet, with the Tigris at the end. There the 11th-century Ten-Eyed Bridge (On Gözlü Köprü) spans the river, built from the same black basalt as the wall. In the late afternoon families sit on the bank, there are tea gardens and, in summer, places serving fish from the Tigris. At sunset from the opposite bank you see the entire city wall above the gardens, the best photo of Diyarbakır. A taxi to the bridge costs a few francs; on the way back take the path through the gardens. Bring water, there are only a few stalls in the gardens, and in summer the paths have no shade from midday.
Sur is the old town inside the walls, and it has two faces. The western part with the Ulu Camii, the Hasan Paşa Hanı and the bazaar is intact, lively and full of tea houses. The eastern part was demolished over a wide area after the fighting and rebuilt with new houses in the old style, which you can see and which locals judge differently. Worth seeing are the Ulu Camii with its huge courtyard, the Armenian Surp Giragos Church, restored and reopened, the Syriac Christian Meryem Ana Church and the Dört Ayaklı Minare, the minaret on four columns. The Hasan Paşa Hanı, a 16th-century caravanserai, is the place for breakfast: in the courtyard you get the famous serpme kahvaltı, breakfast spreads with dozens of little dishes, for CHF 8 to 12 (about EUR 9 to 13) per person. The Cemil Paşa Konağı is a fine city museum.
Diyarbakır breakfasts on ciğer, liver skewers from the charcoal grill, with onions, sumac, parsley and flatbread, in the liver joints around the bazaar from six in the morning. A portion costs CHF 3 to 5 (about EUR 3 to 5), with ayran or tea. If you cannot face it, the Hasan Paşa Hanı serves the big breakfast spread. Other specialities: meftune, a stew of lamb and aubergine with sumac, kaburga dolması, stuffed lamb ribs, and lahmacun with lots of onion. Diyarbakır is famous for its watermelons, which grow up to 40 kilos on the fertile soils along the Tigris. In summer they are on every corner, and in autumn there is a watermelon festival. For sweets: burma kadayıf with walnuts and kadayıf with pistachios. Alcohol is available in some restaurants and in the new town, rarely in Sur.
Diyarbakır is the most important Kurdish city in Turkey, and you notice it in the language on the street, in the music from the tea houses and in a self-confidence that is different from elsewhere. The dengbêj, the traditional singers who perform epic stories, have their own house in Sur, the Dengbêj Evi, where older men sing in the afternoons and you can listen, free of charge. It is one of the most honest experiences in the city. A few words of Kurdish, «Spas» for thank you and «Roj baş» for good day, are received with great delight. Everyone speaks Turkish. Politics is everywhere, but as a guest you do better to listen than to judge. People are happy to talk once they notice you are interested in their city, and then they invite you for tea, often for a meal, sometimes to their home.
Two full days: one for the walls, İçkale and Sur, one for the Hevsel Gardens, the Tigris and the Ten-Eyed Bridge with plenty of time in tea houses. Diyarbakır combines well with Mardin (90 minutes); three to four days for both cities together is realistic.
April, May, September and October. In summer it climbs above 40 degrees, and the black basalt stores the heat. In winter it can get cold, with occasional snow. Spring is the most beautiful time, when the Hevsel Gardens are green.
Via Istanbul to Diyarbakır (DIY) with Turkish Airlines or Pegasus; the airport is only 15 minutes from the old town. Return flights from Zurich CHF 350 to 480 (about EUR 375 to 515). Diyarbakır is well connected and a good start or end point for a road trip with Mardin and Şanlıurfa.
The city has been calm for years, and visitors report very positive experiences. Most foreign ministries advise caution in the southeast and against travel to the border areas with Syria and Iraq; the city itself is not covered by that. Read your foreign ministry's current travel advice before you go, avoid demonstrations and take police checks calmly. More on this in the insider section above.
Both: on the street often Kurdish (Kurmanji), in hotels, offices and shops Turkish. English is spoken mostly by younger people and hotel staff. A few words of Kurdish are received with particular delight; everyone understands Turkish.
Yes, in the busy main streets around the Ulu Camii, the Hasan Paşa Hanı and the bazaar, where the tea houses stay open late. The side alleys in the eastern, rebuilt part are empty and poorly lit in the evening, so you are better off avoiding them, as anywhere. Taxis are cheap and reliable.
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