A honey-coloured stone town stacked on a ridge above the Mesopotamian plain, with Artuqid colleges, living Syriac monasteries and the villages of Tur Abdin on its doorstep.
Last reviewed on 27 September 2026.
Mardin old town clings to the southern face of a limestone ridge in southeastern Türkiye, looking straight out over the flat Mesopotamian plain that runs south towards the Syrian border. From the terraces the land drops away so abruptly that on a clear day the plain looks like a sea. The houses are built from a pale local limestone that turns gold in late afternoon light, and they step down the slope in tiers, so that one family's roof is often the next family's terrace. The setting, the architecture and a long history of Muslim, Syriac Christian, Armenian, Kurdish and Arab communities living side by side make Mardin one of the most rewarding places in the southeast to spend a few days — and the base for the monasteries of Tur Abdin and the market town of Midyat.
Mardin is both a city and a province. The historic quarter is in the Artuklu district, strung along the ridge; the modern city (often called Yenişehir, "new town") spreads across the lower ground to the west and is where most everyday business, the bus station and larger hotels are. Visitors come for the old town, and that is where it makes sense to stay.
The ridge has been fortified since antiquity because it commands the routes between upper Mesopotamia and the Anatolian plateau. Its golden age came under the Artuqids, a Turkmen dynasty that ruled parts of the upper Tigris region from the late 11th century, with a branch based in Mardin into the early 15th century. Most of the old town's great monuments — the Great Mosque and the major medreses — date from that period or from the Karakoyunlu and Akkoyunlu Turkmen dynasties that followed. The Ottomans took the city in the early 16th century, and it became a provincial centre on the trade routes of the region.
Throughout, Mardin kept a large Christian population, above all Syriac Orthodox (Süryani), whose liturgical language is a form of Aramaic, alongside Syriac Catholic, Chaldean and Armenian communities. The late Ottoman period and the First World War brought violence and large-scale loss and flight among these communities, and later emigration to Istanbul and Europe reduced them further. Today the Syriac community in the province is small but active, with working churches, monasteries and a noticeable return of families to some villages in recent decades.
The old town is essentially one long main street running along the slope, with steep stepped lanes (the covered passages are called abbaras) dropping and climbing off it. Cars squeeze along the main street; everything else is on foot, and the lanes are often too steep and narrow for anything but people and, in places, donkeys, which are still used by the municipality for rubbish collection in the tightest alleys. Comfortable shoes with grip matter more here than in almost any other Turkish town.
The houses are the attraction as much as any single monument. Look for the carved stone window frames and doorways, the arched eyvan recesses opening onto courtyards, and the flat roofs where families traditionally slept in summer. Many mansions are now hotels and cafés, and their terraces are the best sunset viewpoints.
An Artuqid congregational mosque generally dated to the 12th century, below the main street. Its fluted, ribbed dome and single minaret are the defining feature of the old-town skyline.
Also called the Sultan İsa Medrese, completed in the late 14th century under the Artuqid ruler İsa. Known for its monumental carved portal, domed tomb chamber and roof terraces with sweeping views over the plain.
Just below the town to the south-west, begun under the Artuqids and completed in the 15th century under the Akkoyunlu. A two-storey arcaded courtyard around a pool and a water channel that is often read as a symbol of the course of life.
In the town itself, the Mardin Museum occupies a handsome late-19th-century building that formerly served the Syriac Catholic patriarchate, and holds archaeological finds from the region. The Sakıp Sabancı Mardin City Museum, in a restored former barracks, is the best single introduction to how the town lived — trades, dress, domestic life and the mix of communities. The Syriac Orthodox Kırklar Kilisesi (Church of the Forty Martyrs) is a working church in the old town; visitors are usually welcome outside service times if they are quiet and dressed modestly. The citadel on the summit of the ridge, sometimes called the "Eagle's Nest", has long been a restricted military area; check locally whether any part is open before planning around it.
Tur Abdin — Syriac for "mountain of the servants (of God)" — is the limestone upland east of Mardin around Midyat. It has been a heartland of Syriac Christianity since late antiquity and is dotted with churches and monasteries, some still inhabited by monks and nuns. Two are the usual starting points for visitors.
A few kilometres east of Mardin, the monastery of Mor Hananyo is better known by its Turkish name, Deyrulzafaran — the "saffron monastery", after the yellowish tint of its stone. The site has a long pre-Christian and early Christian history, and for centuries, until 1932, it was the seat of the Syriac Orthodox patriarchate, which then moved to Syria. It remains an active monastery and the seat of the local metropolitan. Visits are normally guided, taking in the old church, the underground chamber traditionally described as a pre-Christian sun temple, and the thrones and tombs of former patriarchs. It is close enough to combine with a morning in the old town.
Further east, beyond Midyat, Mor Gabriel is generally held to have been founded in the late 4th century, which makes it one of the oldest functioning Christian monasteries in the world. It is the seat of the metropolitan of Tur Abdin and runs a school for Syriac boys. Parts of the complex, including mosaics and early vaults, are shown to visitors at set times; this is a working religious community first, so hours are limited and it closes for services and meals. The monastery's land has been the subject of long-running legal disputes over the past two decades, which drew international attention; staff generally prefer visitors to focus on the place itself.
Midyat, roughly an hour east of Mardin by road, is the market town of Tur Abdin. It has two parts: Estel, the modern commercial centre, and the old town, where carved stone mansions and church towers line narrow streets. The old town is quieter and less restored than Mardin's, which some visitors prefer. Several mansions (konaks) are open as guesthouses or small museums, and Midyat has been a popular location for Turkish television dramas. Local crafts include telkari, fine silver filigree work, and Syriac families in the area make wine, which you will see sold in shops in both Midyat and Mardin. Midyat is also the natural base for Mor Gabriel and the smaller village churches of Tur Abdin, which are best visited with a local driver or guide who knows which are open.
About half an hour's drive south-east of Mardin, towards Nusaybin, lies Dara (Anastasiopolis), a Byzantine garrison city founded around the start of the 6th century under Emperor Anastasius I as a fortress on the frontier with Sasanian Persia. It changed hands in the wars between the two empires. The present village sits among the ruins, and the most striking remains are underground: large vaulted cisterns, a partly excavated necropolis with rock-cut tombs, and stretches of walls and water engineering that show how seriously the city was built to withstand siege. Excavation is ongoing, so the extent of what you can see shifts from year to year. Allow a couple of hours and bring water — there is little shade.
Some visitors also combine Mardin with Hasankeyf on the Tigris, in neighbouring Batman province. Be aware that the historic town was largely flooded by the Ilısu Dam reservoir around 2020; a number of monuments were moved to a new site, and the experience is now very different from older photographs and guidebooks.
Mardin's cooking sits between Anatolian, Arab and Syriac traditions, with plenty of lamb, bulgur, pomegranate molasses and nuts. Dishes to look for:
Mardin's summers are very hot and dry, and the stone lanes radiate heat well into the evening; July and August are workable only if you sightsee early and late. Spring (roughly April to early June), when the plain below is green, and autumn (September to November) are the most comfortable seasons. Winters are cool rather than harsh, with occasional rain and, now and then, a dusting of snow on the ridge, and the town is quiet. Domestic tourism is heavy on public holidays and long weekends, when the old-town hotels fill up — see public holidays and the best time to visit.
Mardin has an airport on the plain south of the city with domestic flights, mainly to Istanbul and Ankara. Long-distance buses arrive at the main bus station in the new town, from where minibuses (dolmuş) and taxis run up to the old town. Diyarbakır, with more flight connections, is roughly a couple of hours north by road, and Şanlıurfa is a few hours to the west, which makes a loop of Şanlıurfa, Mardin and Diyarbakır a natural itinerary.
Within the old town you walk. For Deyrulzafaran, Dara, Midyat and Mor Gabriel, the practical choices are a hired car, a taxi for the day, or a local tour; public minibuses serve Midyat, but reaching the monasteries and Dara on public transport alone is slow. If you drive, note that parking in the old town is very limited — many hotels arrange parking on the main road and porters for bags. See getting around Türkiye for the general picture.
Mardin province borders Syria. The old town, Midyat and the monasteries are routinely visited, but some foreign governments carry specific advice for areas close to the border; check your own government's current travel advice and your insurance terms before you go.
Yes, if you are interested in architecture, religious history or simply a very beautiful setting. The stone old town on its ridge, the Artuqid medreses, the Syriac monasteries and the views over the Mesopotamian plain make it one of the highlights of southeastern Turkey. Two or three nights lets you see the town and make trips to Midyat, Dara and the monasteries.
Two nights is a sensible minimum: one day for the old town, the medreses and Deyrulzafaran, and one for Dara, Midyat and Mor Gabriel. A third night gives time for the smaller churches of Tur Abdin or simply for the slower evenings that make the town special.
Tur Abdin is the limestone upland east of Mardin, centred on Midyat, which has been a heartland of Syriac Christianity since late antiquity. The name means mountain of the servants of God in Syriac. It contains many churches and monasteries, including Mor Gabriel, one of the oldest functioning monasteries in the world.
Yes. Both are active Syriac Orthodox monasteries that receive visitors at set times, usually with a guided walk through the older parts. Dress modestly, keep quiet, and check current visiting hours beforehand, because they close for services and meals.
The old town, Midyat and the monasteries are visited by large numbers of Turkish and foreign tourists. Mardin province does border Syria, and some governments issue specific advice for areas near the border, so check your own government's current travel advice and your insurance conditions before travelling.
Try kaburga dolması, lamb ribs stuffed with spiced rice, and sembusek, a folded meat flatbread. İçli köfte, almond sweets and the very strong bitter coffee called mırra are also local specialities, and Syriac families in the area produce wine sold in Mardin and Midyat.