The Ottoman capital before Constantinople, home to Sinan's finest mosque and the world's most famous oil-wrestling tournament, a few kilometres from Greece and Bulgaria.
Last reviewed on 27 September 2026.
Edirne lies in the far north-west corner of Türkiye, in Eastern Thrace, the small part of Turkey that lies in Europe, where the Tunca and Meriç rivers meet close to the Greek and Bulgarian frontiers. It is a provincial city of modest size, but for roughly ninety years in the late Middle Ages it was the capital of the Ottoman state, and it holds a concentration of early and classical Ottoman architecture that nowhere outside Istanbul and Bursa can match. The one building that justifies the journey on its own is the Selimiye Mosque, which the architect Sinan regarded as the summit of his career.
Most visitors come from Istanbul on a long day trip. It works, but Edirne is better with a night: the mosques are finest in early morning and at dusk.
The city takes its name from the Roman emperor Hadrian, who refounded an existing Thracian settlement in the 2nd century AD as Hadrianopolis; in English it was long known as Adrianople. It sat on the main land route between the Balkans and the Bosphorus. In 378 the Goths destroyed a Roman army and killed the emperor Valens near the city, a defeat many historians treat as a turning point in the late Roman Empire.
The Ottomans took Adrianople in the 1360s (sources differ on the exact year) and made it their capital in place of Bursa. From here they pushed into the Balkans, and here Mehmed II was born and grew up. When Mehmed took Constantinople in 1453 the capital moved to the Bosphorus, but Edirne remained a favoured second seat of the sultans for centuries: they hunted in its forests, held court in its palace on the Tunca and built lavishly. That royal attention explains why a city of this size has so many major monuments. For the wider story, see the Ottoman Empire and the fall of Constantinople.
The modern era was harder. Edirne was occupied by Russian forces in 1829 and 1878, besieged and taken by Bulgarian and Serbian forces in the First Balkan War in 1913, recovered by the Ottomans a few months later, and occupied by Greece after the First World War until the settlement that followed the War of Independence. The Treaty of Lausanne of 1923 fixed the border along the Meriç and, unusually, transferred the district of Karaağaç on the far bank to Türkiye.
The Selimiye was commissioned by Selim II and built by Mimar Sinan, the chief imperial architect, between about 1568 and 1575. Sinan was around eighty when it was finished. In the memoirs he dictated late in life he described his work in stages and presented the Selimiye as the masterpiece of his maturity, and most architectural historians agree. The building was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2011 together with its complex.
What makes it remarkable is the dome. It spans roughly 31 metres, comparable with the dome of Hagia Sophia, which Ottoman builders had spent a century trying to match. Sinan set it on eight massive piers, most of which merge into the outer walls, so that from inside the prayer hall reads as one single, unobstructed space under the dome. The walls are pierced by a great many windows, and the interior is unusually bright. The four slender minarets at the corners, each with three balconies, are among the tallest ever built for a mosque and make the building visible from far across the Thracian plain.
Details worth finding inside: the marble müezzin mahfili, a raised platform set directly beneath the centre of the dome with a small fountain under it; the Iznik tiles in the royal lodge and around the mihrab, from the best period of Iznik production; and the carved marble minbar. Guides also point out a small upside-down tulip carved on one of the platform's supports, explained by competing local legends.
The mosque stands in a külliye, a charitable complex. Its former medreses house museums (including a museum of Turkish and Islamic arts), and a long covered market, the Selimiye Arasta, runs along the lower side of the precinct, built to provide rent income for the foundation. The mosque went through a long structural and decorative restoration in the early 2020s during which parts of the interior were closed. Check the current situation before you travel if seeing the interior is the purpose of your trip.
Two older mosques a few minutes' walk from the Selimiye show where Ottoman architecture stood before Sinan.
Begun under Emir Süleyman and finished in 1414 under Mehmed I. A square hall divided into nine equal domed bays on four piers, the older multi-dome type. Famous for its huge calligraphic inscriptions painted on the walls.
Built for Murad II and completed in the 1440s. Its large central dome and arcaded courtyard point towards the classical Ottoman mosque. Named after the minaret with three balconies (şerefe), a novelty at the time.
Finished around 1575. The single dome now covers the whole prayer hall, with supports pushed to the edges. The end point of the line that runs through the other two.
Next to the Eski Cami stands the Rüstem Pasha Caravanserai, a Sinan building now used as a hotel, and the Bedesten, the old covered market for valuable goods, built at the same time as the Eski Cami to fund it.
Across the Tunca, north-west of the centre, stands the külliye of Sultan Bayezid II, built in the 1480s. It is a complete charitable complex on a large scale: a mosque, a soup kitchen, a medical school, storerooms and, most famously, a darüşşifa or hospital. The hospital is a hexagonal domed hall arranged around a fountain, and Ottoman sources and the museum both describe treatment that included music, the sound of running water and pleasant scents, notably for patients with mental illness. The 17th-century traveller Evliya Çelebi left a description of musicians playing there.
Trakya University now runs the hospital and medical school as a Museum of Health, with displays and mannequin scenes of Ottoman medical practice. It has received European museum recognition and is well laid out and worth an hour. The complex is a pleasant riverside walk from the centre.
Every summer Edirne hosts the Kırkpınar oil-wrestling championship, held on the Sarayiçi meadow beside the ruins of the old Ottoman palace. Wrestlers (pehlivan) wear heavy leather trousers called kıspet and coat themselves in olive oil, which makes gripping the opponent extremely difficult. Bouts are long, and the winner of the top category takes the title of başpehlivan and a golden belt. Drum and zurna music and pre-bout rituals accompany it. Oil wrestling (yağlı güreş) was added to UNESCO's intangible heritage list in 2010.
Organisers describe Kırkpınar as the world's oldest continuously held sporting competition, tracing it to the 14th century. That claim rests on tradition and has gaps (the event has been suspended in wartime, for instance), so treat the precise founding date as legend. It has traditionally been held in late June or early July, but the exact dates change from year to year. Confirm them with the municipality before booking, as hotels fill up during tournament week.
The Tunca loops around the northern and western sides of the old town, and several Ottoman stone bridges cross it and its branches, some of them from the 15th and 16th centuries. A walk over the bridges, past the Sarayiçi meadow and out to the Bayezid II complex makes a pleasant morning.
To the south, the long 19th-century Meriç Bridge leads out towards Karaağaç. Its cafés and terraces are a popular place to watch the sunset over the river. Beyond it, Karaağaç's old railway station, built in the Ottoman period on the line to Europe and later made redundant by the border, now belongs to Trakya University. In its grounds is a monument to the Treaty of Lausanne, marking the settlement that brought this district into Türkiye. The Greek border is only a short distance further on.
Edirne's signature dish is tava ciğer: calf's liver sliced very thin, dusted in flour and deep-fried until crisp, served with crunchy fried dried red chillies, sliced onion and sometimes tomato. Specialist restaurants near the main mosques serve little else, usually with ayran.
Other local specialities are badem ezmesi, a soft almond paste sold in blocks, and the city's traditional fruit-shaped scented soaps (meyve sabunu), which are a classic souvenir from the Arasta and the shops around it. For the broader context, see Turkish cuisine and Turkish desserts.
The road distance from central Istanbul is roughly 230–240 km. Intercity buses run frequently from Istanbul's main bus terminals and usually take around two and a half to three hours, depending on traffic getting out of the city. Edirne's bus station is on the edge of town, and local minibuses and taxis connect it to the centre. Driving is straightforward on the motorway, which is tolled.
Rail has been in transition. A new high-speed line between Istanbul (Halkalı) and the Bulgarian border at Kapıkule via Edirne has been under construction for years, and existing conventional services have been limited and slow. Check the state railway's current timetable rather than relying on older guides. See getting around Türkiye for how buses and trains work.
| Plan | What you can realistically see |
|---|---|
| Long day trip | Selimiye and its Arasta, Eski Cami, Üç Şerefeli, a liver lunch, and either the Bayezid II complex or the Meriç Bridge at sunset. Leave Istanbul early; expect five to six hours on the road in total. |
| One night | All of the above plus the river walk and bridges, Karaağaç and the museums of the Selimiye complex, with time to see the Selimiye in morning light. |
| Kırkpınar week | Book well ahead and plan at least one full day at Sarayiçi. The city is crowded and prices rise. |
Edirne is the gateway for overland travel to the European Union. The main road crossing into Bulgaria is at Kapıkule, a short drive west of the city, and it is one of the busiest land border crossings in Europe, with heavy summer traffic. The Pazarkule crossing into Greece lies just beyond Karaağaç, and a further crossing into Greece at İpsala is further south on the main road to Thessaloniki. Both Greece and Bulgaria are in the EU and the Schengen area, so non-EU travellers need to meet Schengen entry rules. Check crossing status before you go; rules for pedestrians change.
Edirne has a continental climate, hotter in summer and colder in winter than Istanbul, with occasional snow. Spring and autumn are the best seasons for walking. Early summer brings Kırkpınar and, with it, crowds. See the best time to visit Türkiye.
The Ottomans captured the city, then called Adrianople, in the 1360s and made it their capital before the conquest of Constantinople in 1453. Mehmed II was born here. Even after the capital moved to Istanbul, sultans kept a palace in Edirne and returned often, which is why it has so many major Ottoman buildings.
Architectural historians generally rank the Selimiye as the higher achievement. It was designed by Sinan, who considered it his masterpiece, and its roughly 31-metre dome covers a single open prayer hall. It is also far less crowded than the mosques of Istanbul's old city.
Yes. Buses from Istanbul take around two and a half to three hours each way, so a long day covers the Selimiye, the Eski Cami, the Üç Şerefeli and a liver lunch. With a night you can also see the Bayezid II complex, the bridges and Karaağaç at an easier pace.
Kırkpınar has traditionally taken place in late June or early July on the Sarayiçi meadow, but the dates change every year. Check the official announcement before planning, and book accommodation early because the city fills up during tournament week.
It is Edirne's best-known dish: calf's liver cut very thin, floured and deep-fried until crisp, served with fried dried red chillies and raw onion. Specialist restaurants in the centre serve it, usually with ayran.
Very close. The Kapıkule crossing into Bulgaria is a short drive west of the city, and the Pazarkule crossing into Greece is just past the Karaağaç district. Both countries are in the Schengen area, so check entry rules and crossing hours before you travel.