Best Day Trips from Eskişehir 2026

Phrygian Valley (Frig Vadisi)

This is a scattered landscape of rock-cut Phrygian monuments carved into volcanic tuff outcrops, most famous for the Midas Monument (Midas Anıtı) at Yazılıkaya village, a large stepped rock façade with an inscription referring to King Midas. The valley also holds rock-cut chambers, staircases and dovecote-like niches spread across several villages, so a visit is really a countryside walk between monuments rather than a single site. It suits travelers who want Phrygian history without the crowds of a museum, seen on foot or by car along dirt and paved village roads.

Highlights: Midas Monument (Yazılıkaya) - the largest and best-preserved rock façade in the valley, with a Phrygian inscription naming Midas · Yazılıkaya village - the base for exploring the monument and surrounding rock formations · Rock-cut chambers and stairways around the valley - carved tombs and cult niches that show how the Phrygians worked the soft volcanic rock · Aslankaya (Lion Rock) - a separate rock monument nearby carved with lion reliefs flanking a niche

Kütahya — Tiles, Pottery and Ottoman History

Kütahya has been a center of Turkish tile and ceramic production for centuries, and its old town still has workshops and shops selling hand-painted pottery in the blue, turquoise and red palette the city is known for. The Kütahya Tiles Museum and the hillside Kütahya Castle give the city an Ottoman and earlier layer beyond ceramics, with narrow lanes of restored Ottoman houses in between. It works well as a day trip for anyone who wants to buy or see tilework directly from the source rather than in a museum in Istanbul.

Highlights: Kütahya Tiles Museum - a former Ottoman building housing tile and ceramic pieces spanning centuries of local production · Kütahya Castle (Kütahya Kalesi) - a hilltop fortress with views over the old town, dating back to earlier periods and rebuilt under later rulers · Old town tile workshops - working ceramic studios where you can watch painting and buy directly from producers · Ottoman-era house district - restored wooden and stone houses in the streets below the castle

Afyonkarahisar — Thermal Spas and Poppy Fields

Afyonkarahisar sits below a dramatic volcanic rock crowned by a ruined castle, and the region is known for both its thermal spring hotels and the poppy fields grown legally for pharmaceutical opium production. A day trip here mixes a soak at a thermal facility with a look at the old town and the black rock silhouette of Afyon Kalesi above it, plus the chance to try local Afyon sucuk and kaymak. It's a slower-paced trip than the archaeological sites nearby, built around relaxation rather than sightseeing density.

Highlights: Afyon Kalesi (Afyonkarahisar Castle) - the fortress ruins on the volcanic rock that gives the city its name and skyline · Ömer/Gazlıgöl-area thermal spas - hotel-run hot spring pools outside the city center that are the main draw for a day of soaking · Poppy fields around the province - visible from the road in season, tied to Afyon's identity as Turkey's licensed opium poppy region · Local food shops for Afyon sucuk and kaymak - the city's well-known cured sausage and clotted cream

Sarıcakaya Hot Springs

Ankara Day Trip

Turkey's capital is close enough by high-speed train for a genuine day trip, and it offers a different kind of sightseeing than Eskişehir's Phrygian and Ottoman sites - Anıtkabir's monumental scale, the layered history at Ankara Castle, and one of the country's best archaeology museums. Because the YHT train is fast and frequent, this trip trades a rural, slower day for a dense, museum-and-monument-heavy urban one. It suits travelers who want republican-era history and a serious archaeology collection in the same afternoon.

Highlights: Anıtkabir - the mausoleum of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, a large ceremonial complex on a hill overlooking the city · Museum of Anatolian Civilizations - a museum inside a restored Ottoman bedesten holding Hittite, Phrygian and other Anatolian artifacts · Ankara Castle (Ankara Kalesi) - the old citadel with narrow streets and views over the modern city below · Kızılay district - the central commercial and dining area for a lunch or evening stop before the train back

Sivrihisar — Medieval Town and Nasreddin Hoca

Sivrihisar is a small district town best known as the birthplace of Nasreddin Hoca, the folk figure behind Turkey's best-known collection of humorous and wise short tales, and for its Seljuk-era Ulu Cami, a wooden-columned mosque of the kind that survives in only a handful of Anatolian towns. The town itself is modest and unhurried, with an old quarter of narrow streets below a hilltop citadel ruin. It makes for a short, low-key day trip focused on one distinctive mosque and a figure whose stories most Turkish visitors grew up with.

Highlights: Ulu Cami (Sivrihisar) - a 13th-century Seljuk mosque with a forest of carved wooden columns, one of the few surviving examples of this style · Nasreddin Hoca connections - the town claims Nasreddin Hoca's birthplace in the nearby village of Hortu, tying Sivrihisar to Turkey's most famous folk storyteller · Sivrihisar Castle ruins - the remains of a hilltop fortress overlooking the old town · Old town streets - a small district of older houses below the citadel, walkable in an hour or two

Bursa — Ottoman Capital and Uludağ

Bursa was the first major capital of the Ottoman Empire before Edirne and Istanbul, and it carries that history in the Green Tomb (Yeşil Türbe), the Ulu Cami, and covered market halls like Koza Han that still trade in silk. It also sits at the base of Uludağ, a mountain reachable by cable car that is Turkey's main ski destination in winter and a cooler retreat in summer. A day trip here combines dense Ottoman-era sightseeing in the city center with the option of a mountain excursion if time allows, though doing both fully in one day is tight given the distance from Eskişehir.

Highlights: Green Tomb (Yeşil Türbe) - the turquoise-tiled mausoleum of Sultan Mehmed I, one of the most recognizable Ottoman monuments in the city · Ulu Cami (Bursa) - the Grand Mosque with its distinctive twenty-domed roof and central ablution fountain inside the prayer hall · Koza Han - a historic Ottoman silk trading hall still in use as a market, built around a central courtyard · Uludağ cable car (teleferik) - the ropeway up the mountain above the city, used for views or a cooler break from the city heat · Cumalıkızık - an Ottoman-era village near Bursa with preserved timber houses, often visited alongside the city

Gordion Archaeological Site

Gordion was the capital of the ancient Phrygian kingdom and is where the legend of the Gordian Knot - later cut by Alexander the Great - is traditionally set. The site centers on the Midas Tumulus, a massive burial mound excavated to reveal a wooden tomb chamber, alongside the Gordion Museum which displays finds from the city mound and surrounding tumuli. It's a quieter, more academic stop than Ankara, appealing to visitors who want to see where Phrygian history actually happened rather than just its artifacts in a city museum.

Highlights: Midas Tumulus - the large burial mound associated with a Phrygian king, with an excavated wooden tomb chamber that can be entered · Gordion Museum - the on-site museum in Yassıhöyük displaying pottery, metalwork and other finds from the city mound · City Mound (Citadel Mound) - the excavated remains of the Phrygian capital's fortifications and buildings · Gordian Knot legend site - the association with the story of Alexander the Great cutting the knot, tied to Gordion's identity as the Phrygian capital

İnönü Town and Battlefield

İnönü is the small district town where two decisive battles of the Turkish War of Independence were fought in January and March-April 1921, when Turkish forces under İsmet Pasha stopped the advancing Greek army. İsmet Pasha later took the surname 'İnönü' in honor of this victory and went on to become Turkey's second president. The town itself is modest and largely agricultural; the reason to come is the historical weight of the ground and the memorial sites built around it, not urban sightseeing.

Highlights: İnönü Martyrs' Cemetery (Şehitlik) - the burial ground for Turkish soldiers who died in the two battles, and the focal point of remembrance visits · İnönü Victory Monument - commemorates the First and Second Battles of İnönü and explains their role in halting the Greek advance toward Ankara · The surrounding battlefield terrain - the hills and open ground where the defensive lines were held, giving a sense of the actual scale of the fighting