Turkey · Eastern Anatolia · Travel guide
What a trip to the foot of Ararat really costs, how to see İshak Pasha Palace without the coaches and what the climb actually involves.
Photo: DMN Atölye / 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
One of the oldest hotels in town, simple and a little dated, but with rooms from which you see Ararat in the morning. Central, cheap, with restaurant and roof terrace. For decades an address for mountaineers spending their last night in the valley before the climb.
A simple city hotel with small, clean rooms and friendly staff who organise taxis to the palace and the Ark site and know the going rates. Located in the centre, a few steps from tea houses, grill restaurants and the bus station. No extras, but an honest price for one or two nights.
A simple hotel on the main road in the centre that has been around for decades, well known among mountaineers and travellers on their way to Iran. Rooms are plain and partly dated, but clean and heated. Restaurant in the building, and the staff organise taxis to the palace and know the going rates. Cheap, central, no extras, and perfectly adequate for one or two nights.
Mid-range
A newer city hotel in the centre that ranks among the best-rated hotels in Doğubayazıt on Tripadvisor. Clean, modern rooms with a decent bathroom, breakfast included, parking available. Not large and without extras like a spa, but friendly run and, for the region, a clear step above the basic standard. A dependable choice for the night before the Ararat tour.
A larger hotel on the edge of town on the road towards Iran, with garden, restaurant and rooms with views of Ararat. For decades the base for expeditions and tour groups, and well practised at early departures. Not central, but quiet, with parking and a reliable kitchen in the evening, when much of the town has already closed.
A central hotel with spacious, clean rooms and a roof terrace looking out at the mountain that gives the hotel its name. The staff know the mountain guiding offices personally and help with permits, taxis and equipment hire. Good breakfast, fair price; book early in August because of the mountaineers.
Luxury
The best hotel in town: a boutique hotel with stylishly furnished rooms, good heating, a restaurant and views of Ararat from the terrace. Consistently the highest ratings on Booking in Doğubayazıt. A real gain in comfort for eastern Turkey, still moderately priced.
A large, modern city hotel with comparatively generous rooms, lift, restaurant and parking, with mountain views from the upper floors. A reliable standard for groups and families, staff with some English, a breakfast buffet rather than a plate. One of the few hotels in town that consistently holds a four-star level, and at a very fair price.
A small boutique hotel with lovingly furnished rooms, good breakfast and personal attention that takes care of taxis, tours and mountain guides. Quietly located on the ring road, yet the centre is still a few minutes away on foot. If you are looking for comfort and warmth in Doğubayazıt and do not need a chain, this is the place. Few rooms, so book early.
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An 18th-century Ottoman-Persian palace on a rocky spur 6 km above the town, with harem, throne room, mosque and underfloor heating. The most photographed building in Eastern Anatolia. Come early in the morning or at sunset; at midday the coach groups are there.
Four to five guided days up to 5,137 metres with camps at 3,200 and 4,200 metres and crampons on summit day. Permit through a licensed office with weeks of lead time, season July to September, cost CHF 550 to 800 including guide, tent and food.
A ship-shaped rock formation 25 km east on the road to the border, which some believe to be the petrified Ark; geologically natural, but with a magnificent view of Ararat and the Iranian mountains. Bring your passport, you are in a military border zone.
A hole around 35 metres wide and 60 metres deep almost on the Iranian border, marketed as a meteor crater but interpreted by geologists as more likely a collapse sinkhole. A short stop that is only worth it combined with the Ark site by taxi; checkpoint on the way.
Above the palace lie the remains of the old town of Bayazıt with castle, mosque and an Urartian rock relief. A 30-minute climb along a path, then the view of the palace from above and of Ararat opposite. Free and almost always empty.
On the road to Kars via Iğdır the mountain shows its most immense side, because the plain lies lower there. Roadside stops, apricot and melon stalls in summer, views as far as Armenia. Ideal as a leg of a road trip.
If you do not want a night in Doğubayazıt, do the palace and Ararat as a long day trip from Van by rental car or through a travel agency, around three hours each way via Muradiye. With the waterfall as a stopover, a full but rewarding day.
The weekly market and the tea houses in the centre are the best place to get talking with locals. Iranian goods, cheese, honey, kilims and plenty of curiosity about guests from Europe. Accept invitations to tea; those are the moments that stay with you.
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Doğubayazıt is a Kurdish border town, not a gourmet address, but it has its own köfte, a generous breakfast and restaurants where a guest quickly ends up at the family table. Expect simple grills, soups and a great deal of tea.
Lamb is pounded with onions until it becomes a smooth paste, then shaped into köfte and simmered in broth; springy, mild, with no bread or bulgur at all. CHF 5 to 8 (about EUR 5.40 to 8.60) a portion.
Tip:Not every place has it daily, ask the day before or order ahead.
Village cheese, honey, clotted cream, eggs from the pan, olives, tomatoes and tandır bread; a little smaller than in Van but just as rich. CHF 5 to 8 (about EUR 5.40 to 8.60) per person.
Tip:The hotels serve versions of it, but in a restaurant it is fresher and twice the size.
Lamb cooked for hours in a tandır oven until it falls off the bone, with rice and flatbread. CHF 7 to 10 (about EUR 7.50 to 11).
Tip:Where the Iranian drivers eat, the price and the portion are right.
Cheap and everywhere: thin lahmacun with onions and lemon, pide with cheese or minced meat from the stone oven. CHF 1.50 to 2.50 (about EUR 1.60 to 2.70).
Tip:Take some with you before driving up to İshak Pasha Palace, up there is only tea.
Tea from the samovar, CHF 0.30 (about EUR 0.30) a glass, and the best way to get talking to people; the tea houses are the living room of the town.
Tip:Accept invitations, you will rarely be allowed to pay.
The shops selling Iranian goods have gaz (pistachio nougat), saffron, dates and sohan; a box of gaz costs CHF 3 to 5 (about EUR 3.20 to 5.40).
Tip:Souvenirs you will not find anywhere else in Turkey.
Sheep cheese from the brine and honey from the slopes of Ararat, straight from the farmers; cheese costs CHF 5 to 8 (about EUR 5.40 to 8.60) per kilo.
Tip:Buy honey with the comb, cheese vacuum-packed.
Doğubayazıt lies at 1,600 metres on a wide plain, 35 km from the Iranian border, and above everything stands Ararat: 5,137 metres high, an almost perfect volcanic cone that, together with its smaller brother to the east, defines the skyline of the town. The Bible names the mountain as the landing place of Noah's Ark, and Ararat is the national symbol of Armenia, even though it has stood on Turkish soil since 1921. The area has been settled since Urartian times; the old town of Bayazıt lay higher up the mountain, where İshak Pasha Palace stands today. This palace, built by Kurdish princes at the end of the 18th century, blends Ottoman, Persian, Armenian and Seljuk forms into a building that is unique in Turkey; it was one of the first palaces in the empire to have central heating. In the 19th century and the First World War Russian troops passed through several times, the old town fell into decay and the population moved down to the plain. Today's Doğubayazıt is an almost entirely Kurdish small town that lives from border trade with Iran, from agriculture and from mountain tourism. The lorry traffic towards Tehran and the mountaineers from all over the world shape its character.
The palace sits 6 km above the town on a rocky spur, with a view over the plain and, when you turn around, of Ararat. From outside it is the most photographed building in Eastern Anatolia: honey-coloured stone, domes, a minaret, decorated portals. Inside you find the harem, the throne room, the mosque and the heating ducts in the floor. Entry is covered by the museum pass or costs a few francs. Between 11 am and 3 pm the coach groups from Van and the Iranian tour groups arrive; come at opening time at 8 am or in the last two hours before closing, when the light makes the stone glow. A taxi from town including waiting time costs CHF 8 to 12 (about EUR 9 to 13); dolmuş run irregularly. Above the palace lie the remains of the old town of Bayazıt with castle, mosque and an Urartian relief in the rock. The walk up takes 30 minutes and is worth it for the view of the palace from above.
Ararat is not a technically difficult mountain, but it is a high one: 5,137 metres, glacier from around 4,800 metres, crampons and ice axe required. The climb is only allowed with a permit, which is applied for through a licensed Turkish mountain guiding office; allow four to six weeks of lead time and a copy of your passport. You may not go up alone; guided groups are compulsory. The standard tour takes four to five days from Doğubayazıt with camps at 3,200 and 4,200 metres and costs CHF 550 to 800 (about EUR 590 to 855) per person including guide, tent, food, mules and permit; crampons and ice axe are hired on top. The season is July to September, and the weather is most stable in August. You need no climbing experience, but good fitness and acclimatisation; if you are coming straight from a lowland city, plan two days in the valley. The local offices in Doğubayazıt are reputable, but compare prices and ask about group size. Honestly: the summit view over three countries is one of the great moments this mountain can offer.
About 25 km east of town, on the road to the border, lies the so-called Noah's Ark site: a ship-shaped rock formation on the hillside that some have interpreted as the petrified Ark since the 1970s. Geologically it is a natural formation, and the small visitor centre does not say so loudly. Still, the place is worth a stop, because the view from there of Ararat and the Iranian mountains is magnificent and because the story is part of the area. A few kilometres further, almost at the border, lies a crater around 35 metres wide and 60 metres deep that is marketed as a meteor crater; geologists consider it more likely a collapse sinkhole. Both places lie in a military border zone; you will see watchtowers and be checked, so bring your passport. A taxi for both stops with the return journey costs around CHF 25 to 35 (about EUR 27 to 37). What impresses is less what you see than where you stand: at the end of Turkey, with Persia before your eyes.
Doğubayazıt is a transit town. The E80 runs straight through it to the Gürbulak border crossing, and hundreds of lorries bound for Tehran queue up every day. The population is Kurdish, the language on the street Kurmanji; everyone speaks Turkish, very few speak English. The centre consists of a few streets with tea houses, bureaux de change, shops selling Iranian goods and restaurants that close early in the evening. Alcohol is not sold openly, and women are a rarer sight on the streets than in the west of the country. As a traveller you will be approached, invited and questioned, almost always out of genuine curiosity. Accept invitations to tea; they are the best moments of the trip. If you want to continue into Iran: the crossing is open to most Western travellers with a visa, minibuses run to the border, and on the other side you continue to Tabriz. For the return to Van a bus leaves every one to two hours, around three hours' drive, CHF 6 to 8 (about EUR 6 to 9).
The nearest airport is Ağrı (AJI), 95 km to the west, with one or two flights a day from Istanbul; taxis from there cost around CHF 40 to 50 (about EUR 43 to 54), buses via Ağrı centre considerably less. Van (VAN) is often more practical, with more flights and rental cars, 170 km and around three hours' drive away. From Kars you reach Doğubayazıt via Iğdır in just under four hours by bus or car, with a stop on the northern slope of Ararat, from where the mountain looks most immense. In town itself you walk. For the palace, the Ark and the crater you need a taxi or rental car; taxi drivers at the bus station offer half-day tours for around CHF 30 to 40, with the price agreed in advance. Food costs little: a grill platter with bread and salad CHF 5 to 8, tea practically nothing. Hotels are simple and cheap, but in August, when the mountaineers arrive, a reservation pays off. Bring cash, as not every shop takes cards.
One full day is enough for the palace, the Ark site and the crater; two nights are more relaxed, because arriving and leaving take time. If you want to climb Ararat, plan five to seven days including acclimatisation. Most people combine Doğubayazıt with Van or Kars.
June to September: dry days with 25 to 30 degrees, and Ararat is usually cloud-free in the morning. For the climb, July to early September. In winter the town lies under snow; the roads are open, but at minus 15 degrees the palace is only briefly a pleasure, though the mountain is white all the way down to the valley.
Fly via Istanbul to Ağrı (AJI) or Van (VAN), both with Turkish Airlines or Pegasus, total travel time from Zurich around nine to eleven hours including the transfer. From Ağrı it is 95 km, from Van 170 km; with a rental car from Van, Doğubayazıt fits easily into a road trip through the east.
For visitors the town is quiet and the people exceptionally hospitable. The region is a border area with a visible military and police presence and checkpoints on the roads; that is everyday life, so have your passport ready and stay friendly. Foreign ministries advise increased caution for the border provinces with Iran and against entering the immediate border zone; the places described here lie on the regular roads. Check the current travel advice before you go.
Yes. The climb is only allowed in guided groups with a permit that a licensed Turkish mountain guiding office applies for with a copy of your passport. Allow four to six weeks of lead time. The permit is included in the tour price; you cannot apply for it yourself. Hiking on the lower slopes without aiming for the summit is simpler, but even there you should go with a local guide.
Yes, the Gürbulak border crossing lies 35 km to the east and is the most important land crossing between Turkey and Iran. Most Western nationals need an Iranian visa, applied for in advance. Minibuses run to the border, and on the Iranian side you continue to Tabriz. Be sure to check your foreign ministry's travel advice for Iran beforehand.
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