Top Things to do in Aydin
Top 10 Things to do in Aydin, Turkey
Discover the best top things to do in Aydin, Turkey including Guzelcamli National Park, Nysa Ruins, Aydin Museum, Tralles Ruins, Forum Aydin, Yoruk Ali Efe Museum, Herakleia Latmos Antik Kent, Alinda Ruins, Alabanda Ruins, KocarlI Cihanoglu Kulliyesi.
Restaurants in Aydin
1. Guzelcamli National Park
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 93 reviews
2. Nysa Ruins
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 43 reviews
3. Aydin Museum
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 21 reviews
Reviewed By herbg22 - Chicago, Illinois
We sort of stumbled on the museum while the rest of our group was busy with lunch and shopping across the street. It is an excellent little museum, especially after the disappointment of finding a large portion of Ankara's Museum of Anatolian Civilization to be closed. The interpretation was top notch and the majority of the excellent artifacts seem to have been sourced locally. I would definitely recccomend this excellent museum.
4. Tralles Ruins
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 17 reviews
Reviewed By kuletgin - Kusadasi, Turkey
Tralleis, one of the antique settlements in Aydın province, is located about 1 km far way from Aydın city-center and is still being excavated by the archeologists. As the sources indicate that Tralleis was established after the fall of Troy by the greek immigrants in 12 th BC on the footsteps of chesnuts Mountains. Trailleis was a small settlement till 5th century BC and it began developed later and became one of the three cities in population in 4th century BC as well. When the Alexander the great came, Tralleis was surrendered without any resistance with Magnesia and Nysa to him. After the death of Alexander, it was ruled by Selecuids for a long time and it was added to Rome 133 BC. In the first period of Roman time, Tralleis had to pay heavy taxes to Roman empire because of its help Mihridates troops but in the second period was the peak time with development and most of the buildings were made in Roman period. Pompey, Mark Anthony and Juius ceasar have made a great contribution to enlarge the city of Tralles. Trailles was badly destroyed by the earthquake happened in the 1st century AD and it was rebuilt during the reign of emperor Caligula. The city lost its main monuments which were built by Romans during the time of Byzantine, Seljuk and Ottomans. The main buildings in Tralleis today are ; The gymnasium built in 2nd century AD as the center of sport & training & culture center known as “ Uc gözler “ by local inhabitants, a Roman bath with clay pipes & seats, agora as shopping center of the city, a theatre and a stadium with stores around. Tralleis antique settlement was noted for its leather, earthernware pots and two famous ancient sculptors named Apollonios and Tauriskos. Another famous scholar was Anthemius of Tralleis who was one of the architects of St. Sophia built in 6th AD in Byzantine period. The antique site is still being excavated by Turkish government and the findings from excavations are on display in Aydın archeological museum which has been built as one the largest museums recently.
5. Forum Aydin
Overall Ratings
3.5 based on 114 reviews
Reviewed By G8773ALJanet - Deal, United Kingdom
Firstly ..very surprised Judith chalmers endorses this !obviously I doubt if she has been on any of the trips .
We did the North Cyprus and Turkey trip. To include Antalya and a last week in 5 star hotel !!
It seems a great deal....beware hard sell once on coaches to pay for all inclusive ......you have to take these "offers" as there is no alternative . So hidden extras allow £200 plus p.p. For the two weeks ....plus extra for a Turkish night out plus drinks, plus water on the coach. You are only booked for bed and breakfast ,no deals just for evening meal ..all hard sell for lunch ..drinks and evening meal. Beware on trips no facilities for a separate lunch ,you are out in the sticks .
Would be much better if R.D.S explained this ,would stop the moans and poor reports they are getting.
We had a marvollous guide Emrah.
To many excursions to diamond factory.carpet.and leather factory obviously to help the economy . Most tourists are Russians these days . Sadly not so much time spent at the sights. Good tour for.a taster. Lot of time travelling on coach and one night stops felt at times we could have stayed at one hotel for two nights...again helping the hotel business out of season . Usually good hotels ..food always the same .
North Cyprus was good defiantly stuck to said itinary,but very early starts and not for people with mobility problems.
Check at gatwick was chaos ...two attendants for a plane load ..one just dealing with wheelchairs ...waited one hour at checkin....ercan n.cyprus also diabolical .
Our check I at hotels were helped by the fact that Emrah went ahead and collected keys and handed them out our coach ,others not so lucky .
Our final desination in Turkey for 6 days was a good hotel if not enormous . Reps on site not really nice , every trip ended with a visit to handbag outlet.....they did not mention the green canyon trip required climbing a lot of steps which some could not do for lunch. Sadly they were unhelpful.....we had been spoilt by Emrah.
Turned out to be much more money than initial deal.....we would not do it again with this company feel we were taken in.would have preferred more honesty. Would return to Turkey but would shop around for a more specialist company and really know what meals are included and extras.
All hotels were clean,well appointed though in some in some cases very out of season,and out of areas,so no in house shops hair salons available , some had spa facilities but usually not sufficient time to enjoy them . Dining rooms always clean .plenty of food available although always the same at each hotel. Always friendly helpful staff.
Wifi always available ......tho not always in the room ,at no time did we have to pay for it .
6. Yoruk Ali Efe Museum
Overall Ratings
4 based on 16 reviews
Reviewed By OsmanUnlu - Denizli, Denizli, Turkey
Aydın ili Yenipazar ilçesinde bulunur. Müze Yörük Ali Efe Caddesindedir. Eskiden Yörük Ali Efeye ait olan ev 19. yüzyıl sonunda yapıldığı tahmin ediliyor. 1980 yılında yanan ev yangından sonra alakasız kalmıştır. Bina ve bahçesi kaderine terk edilmiştir.
Daha sonra tamir edildikten sonra müzeye çevrilmiştir. İçinde Yörük Ali Efeye ve çevreye ait eşyalar sergilenmektedir.
7. Herakleia Latmos Antik Kent
Overall Ratings
4 based on 17 reviews
Reviewed By gavilan8 - Lafayette, California
There is quite an time investment in getting to and seeing Herakleia, so plan accordingly. Why to go: castle/monastery and necropolis on a peninsula in the lake with some crypts underwater. Some interesting photo opportunities along the lake's edge. Downside: long drive off main road on a fairly rough road, once at the main ruins, village women try to "guide" you and sell you stuff all along the way. Ruins themselves are not that intact. Bring interpretive materials.
If you go, try to go early, heat and high sun of midday makes walking ruins less comfortable and photos less interesting.
You can rent someone to take you to the island with monastery. Didn't do that. Would be interested in hearing from someone who has.
8. Alinda Ruins
Overall Ratings
4 based on 6 reviews
Reviewed By Rod F - Royal Wootton Bassett, United Kingdom
AlInda is not the easiest ancient city to visit. The upper city and Acropolis are best reached by road from Karpuzlu - incidentally, you can travel on to Amyzonas along this road. The reason is that there is a very steep, overgrown slope separating the upper from the lower city. There is little of great interest in the Acropolis apart from some deep cisterns which are not fenced off. There is a fine aqueduct near the car park, and a path takes you past several sarcophagi to the upper city. The major features there are a fine watchtower and theatre. Drive back down to Karpuzlu and park behind the market. Find the road called Allinda Cadessi, and follow it to the end. It comes out at one of the best-preserved Hellenic market-halls in Anatolia. There is little else to see in the lower city, but the views of the Cay vall-y are pretty good.
9. Alabanda Ruins
Overall Ratings
4 based on 5 reviews
10. KocarlI Cihanoglu Kulliyesi
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 3 reviews
Reviewed By kuletgin - Kusadasi, Turkey
Cihanoğlu family is one of the leading families who ruled the Koçarlı & Aydın region for about 400 hundred years since 16th century and they have made agreat contribution both for its development as complexes, mosques, charity kitckens, health centers and sending the great taxes to the Ottoman empire. According to the written sources, the Cihanoglu family joined to the Ottoman army with 250 soldiers under the commander of Mehmet during the conquest of Rhodes island with Suleiman the magnificent in 1522 AD and after the conquest Mehmet bey was appointed as the governor for ruling Koçarlı & Aydın province on behalf of the empire. The Cihanoglu family has ruled the area till 1900 AD from Koçarlı to Aydın regions. They have built a lot of monuments in the region as the seals of their sovereignty and they made two towers first in 16th century AD and they built some complexes known as Kulliye with mosques & charity kitchens. In 1753 They had Dedekoy village mosques built, in 1756 Aydın Cihanoglu Mosque with madrasah as a big complex in downtown and in 1764 Kocarlı Ibrahim Aga mosques with complex are the leading ones. A lot of monuments, mosques and shops also have built in 400 years.
The Cihanoğlu Kulliye-complex was built in Koçarlı including a great mosque and madrasah in 1753-1756 years in Koçarlı town by the family and has been restored several times up to now. The mosque hasa square plan and is about 2m high from ground having 11 steps up in both sides. A big Fountain with beautiful decorations was added in the courtyard with 24 taps for ablution. The mosque reflects the barocca architectural style with nice paintings describing Kaaba in Mecca above the altar, as wall paintings in upper part with Bosphorus panaroma and woodwork of Ottoman art on the ceiling. Interior part of the mosque decoration is an attarctive mixture of Turkish and European arts reflecting late 18th century styles. The verses from holy Koran are surrounded around the altar and the dome as the warnings & advice for muslim believers. It is one of the most important cultural heritage centers in Koçarlı which must be preserved in better conditions. The mosque also has a small graveyard at the backside with unique gravestones. The teachers of madrasah, the muslims priests of mosque, the leaders of Cihanoglu family and their family members were buried here. The gravestones are really worth visiting and taking the shot especially female and childrens’ with beautiful symbols such as wheel fortune & cypress tree describing hard life & submissive.
