City: Kocaeli Province
Top Things to do in Kocaeli Province
Top 10 Things to do in Kocaeli Province, Turkey
Kocaeli Province (Turkish: Kocaeli ili, pronounced [kodʒaˈeli]) is a province of Turkey and one of only two to not have the same official name as its capital, İzmit, which is thus also sometimes called Kocaeli. The province is the successor of the Ottoman-era Sanjak of Kocaeli. The largest towns in the province are İzmit and Gebze. The traffic code is 41. The province is located at the easternmost end of the Marmara Sea around the Gulf of İzmit. Kocaeli is bordered by the province of Istanbul and the Marmara Sea to the west, the Black Sea to the north, the province of Sakarya to the east, the province of Bursa to the south and the province of Yalova to the southwest. The metropolitan area of Istanbul extends to the Kocaeli-Istanbul provincial border. The size and natural conditions of the Bay of İzmit allow for extensive port facilities, including the Gölcük Naval Base. The province is called the industrial capital of Turkey. Kocaeli has an airport named Cengiz Topel Naval Air Station which is used for military and civilian transport. Kocaeli has two universities: Kocaeli University and Gebze Technical University.
Restaurants in Kocaeli Province
1. Seka Park
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 109 reviews
Reviewed By Sa S - Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
If you are going to izmit, and have plenty of time this place is nice to visit and enjoy your time. As our visit to izmit was 6 hours so we had 2 hiurs to go there and enjoy it.
2. Izmit Saat Kulesi
Overall Ratings
4 based on 115 reviews
Reviewed By joelarias - Dubai, United Arab Emirates
We just came from eating, while on a business trip, and we decided to try and see a bit of the sights while here. I read a little about the tower and it was great to come and see it. Definitely worth a visit if in the area and why not site at the cafe next door.
3. Gayret Gemi Museum
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 56 reviews
Reviewed By gabcsi_11 - Budapest
In the area of Izmit and Golcuk you can find a lot of naval military bases. As I spent here one month in summer I had enough time to discover a lot of them. Actually this is mainly a military zone so you wont see too many historic sights except for some. One of the biggest museums of this type is the Gayret Naval Museum. Here you can find a submarine the TCG Hizirreis and a war destroyer, the TCG Gayret. Both worked some years ago so you can have a real insight in military destroyers and submarines. I can state it is really shocking to stand onboard of them and feel as if you were in real war. You can go along both can see how the people lived and worked on them. There were really amazing things from contemporary history. You can see real torpedos, meet real mariners as well as exhibition from Ottoman objects. An unforgettable experience. Everyone must see this in Izmit. Great. Thanks to our guide who showed us everything.
4. Faruk Yalcin Zoo
Overall Ratings
4 based on 87 reviews
Reviewed By Sarisoy - Istanbul, Turkey
I was twice at this place. on time during the tour I participated last year and I was there again recently by IRO Guides Event. They have different sizes of cages for different animals. Monkeyes were impressive and lions have a family now. We also had a chance to feed the bear, Siberian tiger and a speacial horned tropical bird. Overall great experience.
5. Outlet Center Izmit
Overall Ratings
4 based on 75 reviews
Reviewed By bofris - Bahrain
The place is so nice, very convenient for shopping and has more to offer..
- Supermarket
- Coffee Shop (the one with the white and green logo, everybody loves)
- Playground
- and a band
The band plays from time to time, but I'm not so sure if they perform live shows on daily basis.
There are public toilets, of course, food kiosks, free Seating and outlets of every kind (mostly clothing, though, but good price.
The only thing I didn't like was the fact that the place was not air conditioned.
6. Kocaeli Bilim Merkezi
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 23 reviews
7. Yeni Cuma Camii
Overall Ratings
5 based on 20 reviews
Reviewed By janiceTananta - Lima, Peru
I have being around the area many times and explore this beautiful place with my parents and husband. I need to say it is a great place to take some pictures and explore a little bit, I mean the whole area is a great piece of architecture as turkish culture can offer. Specially if You are coming from a different country, You will be surprise of how different this culture could be, being in Turkey four times and brought my parents to Izmit for friends recommendations and they really enjoyed its peaceful areas, with a little exception of the gypsies all around this areas asking for money again and again, little girls or ladies around the area, one day they didn't let us enjoy our juices while sitting on a nice square! But everything else it is pleasant to see and to take pictures! If you are looking for a quiet place to relax and walk around and see turkish culture without the pressure of feeling so foreigner or paying excessive prices for really touristical cities, I would totally recommend this specific place.
8. Osman Hamdi Bey Museum
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 28 reviews
Reviewed By elsie31 - Gebze, Turkey
Osman Hamdi Bey (1842-1910) was Turkey's premier painter, first on a notably short list. He was a late Ottoman, and a Renaissance man of the first water. While relatively unknown in the west, his work is a rich reflection of life and architecture during the last century of Ottoman rule in Turkey. He studied in Paris during the time of Ingres, the great Orientalist painter, loved by many and hated by the anti-Orientalists. He returned to Turkey and created a very nice oeuvre of paintings depicting the doings of every-day people in the Empire, largely Istanbul, Bursa, and the area around Gebze, in Kocaeli.
His day job was being a pioneer archaeologist, and he and his team discovered the mis-named "Alexander's Tomb", actually the sarcophagus of a rich Syrian merchant, which is housed now in the Istanbul Archaeological Museum, which Hamdi designed and constructed in his position of museum director. The museum is world-class, and known to archaeology students world-wide.
Hamdi was married twice, both times to French women named Marie. While he wasn't designing and building museums or discovering ancient artifacts, he painted in a little wooden house in the village of Eskihisar, near Gebze. His home and Gardens still exist, although the house could use a good coat of paint. His paintings are all owned by private parties, but good reproductions hang in the little white house. On the first floor the rooms, with contemporary furniture and adornments, include manikins of Hamdi and one of the Maries busy at their work of painting and posing. In Hamdi's day, there wasn't the painting culture that existed in France, so he used his wife, children and, mostly, himself as models for his paintings. Original doors with flower paintings on them are still on display. Upstairs is a charming little bathroom with a flowered porcelain sink (for display only) and a gallery of his work.
Admission is still free as of the writing of this review; if there is no one to let you in, look around for a security guard and he will accommodate. There are plenty of tea Gardens nearby the museum, and maybe even on site by now - the wheels of Turkish historical site improvement turn slowly. The bamboo he planted (not native to Turkey but beloved of Osman Bey - is still visible in the lovely if wild-ish garden. A few hours spent in this quiet time-machine are a few hours well-spent, but it helps to Google the man to get an idea of what you're looking at. If nothing else, go see what late-Ottoman Turkey looked like; his archaeological representations of tombs, mosques and other buildings are flawless, and the doings of the carpet sellers and Ottoman ladies, rich and poor, is priceless.
9. Pembe Kayalar
Overall Ratings
4 based on 50 reviews
10. Kerpe Kayaliklari
Overall Ratings
4 based on 19 reviews
Reviewed By Inspector G - Istanbul, Turkey
Kayalıkların ismi pembe ancak artık sanırım kirlilik veya doğası gereği biz gittiğimizde pembe değildi ancak manzara ve yapısı çok güzel duruyor. Çok keyifli zaman geçirebilirsiniz. Her hangi bir büfe veya tesis yok. Yanınızda yiyecek-içecek götürmenizi tavsiye ederim. Tabi daha önce yapanlar gibi lütfen çöplerinizi oraya bırakmayın. Güneşin batışını izlemek için kesinlikle bekleyin ve üstünüze kalın kıyafetler alın. Şansınız varsa kıyıya yakın geçen yunusları bile görebilirsiniz.
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