A harbour town on the Dardanelles that serves as the base for Troy, the Gallipoli battlefields, Assos and the island of Bozcaada.
Last reviewed on 27 September 2026.
Çanakkale is a mid-sized university and port town on the Asian shore of the Dardanelles, the narrow strait that joins the Sea of Marmara to the Aegean and divides Europe from Asia. Few places in Turkey pack so much history into so small an area. Troy lies a short drive to the south. The Gallipoli peninsula, where the 1915 campaign was fought, lies directly across the water. Further south are the Greek temple at Assos, and just offshore is the wine island of Bozcaada. This page is a practical guide to seeing them. For the military and political history of 1915, read the Gallipoli campaign, which this page deliberately does not repeat.
The town itself is relaxed and easy to handle. Most visitors stay near the waterfront, where the ferries dock and a long promenade (the Kordon) runs along the strait, lined with fish restaurants and cafés and busy with students in the evenings. Close to the ferry quay stands the late Ottoman clock tower. Behind it, the small Aynalı Çarşı (Mirrored Bazaar) is a 19th-century market passage now given over to souvenir shops.
Along the promenade stands the large wooden horse used in the 2004 film Troy, which the production donated to the town. It is a popular photo stop, but it has no connection with the archaeological site. A smaller replica horse stands at Troy itself.
At the southern end of the waterfront is the Çimenlik fortress. Mehmed II built it in the 1460s as a pair with Kilitbahir on the European shore, to control shipping in the strait. Its grounds hold a naval museum and a replica of the minelayer Nusret, whose mines sank or disabled several Allied battleships in the naval attack of 18 March 1915. That date is commemorated in Türkiye each year as a naval victory. Opposite, on the European shore, huge lettering on the hillside quotes a poem about the soldiers of 1915; it is clearly visible from the ferry.
The archaeological site of Troy lies on the mound of Hisarlık, roughly 30 km south of Çanakkale near the village of Tevfikiye, and has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1998. Heinrich Schliemann's excavations in the 1870s, which were crude and destructive even by the standards of his day, established the site in the public imagination. Later campaigns by German, American and Turkish teams have identified around nine main layers of settlement, labelled Troy I to IX, stretching from the early Bronze Age around 3000 BC to the Roman period.
Whether any layer corresponds to the Trojan War of Homer's Iliad is a question archaeology cannot settle. Scholars have most often pointed to the Late Bronze Age city (Troy VI and VIIa, the latter destroyed around 1200 BC), and Hittite records mention a place called Wilusa in this region, which many specialists equate with Ilios. But the epic was composed centuries later and is poetry, not a record. It is best to visit Troy as a real Bronze Age city whose story fed a great legend. (For the wider picture, see ancient Anatolia.)
Be prepared: Troy is not Ephesus. There are no great marble streets. What survives is a layered mound of fortification walls, gate passages, house foundations and ramps of different eras, often side by side and cut through by Schliemann's great trench. A marked path with good information panels leads through the layers. The most impressive features are the sloping, well-built walls and tower of Troy VI, the ramp of Troy II, and the Roman-period theatre-like council house and sanctuary. Allow around two hours, bring water and a hat in summer, and read a little beforehand. A good guide adds a great deal here.
The Troy Museum, opened in 2018 close to the site entrance, is the best thing to happen to a visit here in decades. It is a large, modern building, and its displays of pottery, weapons, sculpture and burial finds from Troy and the surrounding Troad give meaning to what you see on the mound. It also displays a group of gold jewellery returned to Türkiye in 2012 by the University of Pennsylvania Museum. The famous "Priam's Treasure" that Schliemann smuggled out is not here: most of it is in Moscow's Pushkin Museum, and its return remains a long-running issue. The site and museum have separate tickets. Check current fees and hours with the official museum pass authority, as they change often.
The battlefields lie across the strait on the Gelibolu (Gallipoli) peninsula, most of which is protected as a historical area. The cemeteries, memorials and preserved trenches are spread out along roughly 30 km of hills and coast, and you will need transport: an organised tour, a hired car or a private guide. Eceabat, the town at the peninsula's end of the main ferry crossing, is the closest base, while most tours set out from Çanakkale or Eceabat.
Anzac Cove and North Beach, the cemeteries along the ridges, the Lone Pine Australian memorial, and Chunuk Bair, where the New Zealand memorial stands near large statues of the Turkish commanders. The Turkish 57th Regiment memorial lies close to the trenches of the Nek.
The British Helles Memorial at the tip of the peninsula, the French cemetery at Morto Bay, and the large Turkish Çanakkale Martyrs' Memorial, which is a focus of national commemoration.
The peninsula has a Turkish visitor and promotion centre with multimedia displays near Kabatepe. It is popular with Turkish school and family groups and gives the Ottoman perspective that many foreign visitors know little about.
The two areas are far apart, so a single day usually covers the Anzac sector well and the southern memorials more briefly. Many Turkish visitors come to the peninsula in large organised groups, especially around 18 March and at weekends, and car parks at the main memorials can be crowded. The atmosphere at the cemeteries is quiet and reflective; behave as you would in any war cemetery.
Choose a guide carefully. The best tours cover the campaign from both sides and give the Ottoman experience its proper weight, rather than presenting a purely Allied narrative. It is worth asking what a tour covers before booking.
On 25 April, the anniversary of the 1915 landings, Australia and New Zealand hold a dawn service at the Anzac Commemorative Site at North Beach, followed later in the morning by an Australian service at Lone Pine and a New Zealand service at Chunuk Bair. Turkish ceremonies are also held. Several thousand people usually attend. In recent years, attendance has required advance registration through the Australian and New Zealand governments, and security screening means arriving the evening before and spending a cold night in the open with limited facilities. Rules change, so check the official Anzac Day guidance from the Australian Department of Veterans' Affairs or the New Zealand government well ahead of time. Accommodation in Çanakkale and Eceabat books up months in advance.
Car ferries run frequently between Çanakkale and Eceabat, and a smaller ferry crosses to Kilitbahir, where the triple-walled Ottoman fortress built by Mehmed II faces Çimenlik across the narrowest point of the strait. The crossings take around 20–30 minutes. Timetables are published by the operator and change by season, but in daytime you rarely wait long.
The alternative is the Çanakkale 1915 Bridge, which opened in 2022 between Lapseki on the Asian side and a point near the town of Gelibolu. Its main span, 2,023 metres long, was the longest of any suspension bridge in the world when it opened. It lies some way north-east of Çanakkale town, so it is most useful if you are driving between Istanbul and the Aegean coast rather than simply crossing to the battlefields; tolls are charged. The bridge has considerably shortened the road trip from Istanbul to Çanakkale.
About an hour and a half south of Çanakkale by road, the village of Behramkale sits on the ancient city of Assos. At the summit stand the remains of an archaic Doric Temple of Athena from the 6th century BC, with several columns re-erected, and the view south across the water to the Greek island of Lesbos is one of the finest on the Aegean coast. The philosopher Aristotle lived at Assos for a few years in the 4th century BC. Long stretches of the Hellenistic city walls survive on the slopes, and a steep road leads down to a tiny harbour lined with stone-built hotels and fish restaurants. Assos is at its best out of the peak summer weekends, and it makes a good overnight stop between Çanakkale and Ayvalık or Pergamon.
Bozcaada, the ancient Tenedos, is a small island off the coast south-west of Troy, reached by ferry from Geyikli port, about an hour's drive from Çanakkale. It has a large castle beside the harbour, a compact town of whitewashed and painted houses reflecting its Greek and Turkish past, vineyards and wineries across the interior, and small beaches along the south coast. It has become a fashionable summer destination for Istanbul residents, so July and August weekends mean full ferries, long queues for cars and high prices. Late spring and September are far more pleasant. Consider leaving the car on the mainland; the island is small, and local minibuses, bikes and scooters serve the beaches in season.
| Time available | Suggested plan |
|---|---|
| One full day | Gallipoli tour (Anzac sector), or Troy and the Troy Museum plus an evening on the Çanakkale waterfront. Trying to do both in one day is rushed. |
| Two nights | One day on the peninsula, one half-day at Troy and the museum, with time for Çimenlik and Kilitbahir. |
| Four to five nights | Add Assos for a night and Bozcaada for one or two, then continue south along the coast towards Ayvalık, Pergamon and İzmir. |
Getting there: Çanakkale has a small airport with limited domestic flights, mainly to Istanbul and Ankara. Most people arrive by long-distance bus from Istanbul, which takes around five to six hours depending on route and traffic, or from İzmir to the south. Driving gives the most flexibility for the peninsula, Troy and Assos. See getting around and driving in Türkiye.
Season: spring and early autumn are ideal for walking the battlefields and Troy. Summer is hot and dry, with little shade at either site, though a steady wind blows through the strait. Winters are mild but wet and grey. Mid-March and late April bring major commemorations, when accommodation is tight.
Troy lies roughly 30 km south of Çanakkale, about half an hour by car. Local minibuses run from the town to the site, and many tours combine the archaeological site with the Troy Museum close to the entrance.
Yes, if you go with the right expectations. The ruins are layered walls and foundations rather than grand marble streets, but they span thousands of years of settlement. The Troy Museum, opened in 2018, explains the site well and makes the visit far more rewarding.
Take the car ferry from Çanakkale to Eceabat or the smaller ferry to Kilitbahir, then continue by tour, hired car or private guide. The memorials and cemeteries are spread over a large area, so walking between them is not realistic.
In recent years, yes: attendance has required advance registration through the Australian and New Zealand government arrangements, with security screening and an overnight wait. Check the official guidance well ahead, because the rules can change from year to year.
Two nights are enough for one full day on the Gallipoli peninsula and a half-day at Troy and its museum. Add extra nights if you want to include Assos or the island of Bozcaada.
It crosses the Dardanelles between Lapseki on the Asian side and a point near Gelibolu on the European side, north-east of Çanakkale town. It opened in 2022, and its 2,023-metre main span is the longest of any suspension bridge. It is a toll bridge.