OUR MOST POPULAR ROUTES AND THEIR IMPORTANCE
There are many touristic places in Turkey that reflect the history and culture of the country, and there are also touristic activities on the shores of the Mediterranean and Aegean Seas. Being the largest city of Turkey, Istanbul, being the capital of the Byzantine and Ottoman Empires, has many ancient structures. Sultan Ahmet Mosque, Hagia Sophia and Topkapi Palace are some of them. Beach areas are an important tourist area, usually for people living in various cities of Turkey and tourists from Western Europe. The most important beaches start from the Aegean coast and end near Antalya in the Mediterranean. Bodrum, Cesme, Fethiye, Marmaris, Kusadasi, Alanya are important holiday destinations. There are 18 heritage sites in Turkey included in the World Heritage list by UNESCO:
Historical Sites of Istanbul, Cappadocia and Göreme National Park, Divriği Great Mosque and Hospital, Hattusa, Mount Nemrut, Xanthos and Letoon, Hierapolis and Pamukkale, Safranbolu, Troy, Selimiye Mosque, Çatalhöyük, Bursa and Cumalıkızık, Pergamon, Diyarbakır Castle and Hevsel Gardens, Ephesus, Ani, Aphrodisias, Göbeklitepe.
There are 83 properties, 77 cultural, 3 natural and 3 mixed, on the World Heritage Tentative List.
It is an intense tourism area with fairy chimneys, rock-carved churches and underground cities formed around Ürgüp and Göreme in the Cappadocia region. Ürgüp, Göreme, Derinkuyu, Uçhisar, Ihlara, Avanos and Kaymaklı are touristic settlements in the region. About 3 million tourists visit the region annually.
Pamukkale, which is on the UNESCO World Heritage List, is located in the province of Denizli. They are formed by the precipitation of lime carried by the hot waters coming from the fault line. Travertines, travertine pools, running hot water offer a visual feast. In order to benefit from its waters, the city of Hierapolis was established on the upper side of the travertines in ancient times.
