Konya: what to see, where to stay and how to get around
Rumi came to Konya as a young man, with a father fleeing the Mongols, and stayed until he died here in 1273. Seven and a half centuries later the town still turns around his tomb, and this walk follows his circle: the lodge, the friend who changed him, and the dance his followers made of his poetry. About two hours on flat streets, ending at the ceremony hall in the evening. Konya is conservative: shoulders and knees covered for everyone, and women need a headscarf in the tomb and the mosques; the steppe summer is hot and dry, the winter cold and often snowy.
A short history of Konya
Near Konya lies Çatalhöyük, where people lived in tightly packed houses as early as about 9,000 years ago. In antiquity the city was called Iconium, and Paul visited it several times. After 1097 it became the capital of the Seljuk Sultanate of Rum, and in the 13th century many mosques and madrasas were built here. In that period the poet and mystic Jalal al-Din Rumi lived in the city; he died here in 1273, and his followers founded the order of the whirling dervishes. In 1927 his tomb was opened as a museum, and it is the most visited site in the city.
The ten best sights in Konya
1Mevlana MuseumCome early on a weekday; by midday pilgrims and school groups fill the tomb room
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2Mevlana Cultural Center
The whirling ceremony is held here on Saturday evenings; confirm the hour in town
3Shams-i Tabrizi MosqueFive minutes from the museum and almost always empty — the quiet half of the story
4Alaeddin MosqueStep inside for the forest of old columns, reused from Roman and Byzantine buildings
5Karatay MadrasaNow a tile museum; the reason to come is the dome above the pool
6Ince Minareli MadrasaCross the street to see the whole carved portal at once
7Konya Archaeological MuseumSmall; go for the Heracles sarcophagus and the finds from Çatalhöyük
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8Koyunoğlu City Museum
A collector's lifetime under one roof, with an old Konya house next door
9SilleA Greek village 8 km out with a church open as a museum; an easy hour
10ÇatalhöyükLittle stands above ground; the replica houses at the site make it make sense
Scan with your phone camera to open the map there
What is an audio walk?
Tours in Konya →A guide in your headphones: open the walk on our site, walk from stop to stop, and at each one your phone tells its story. No guide, no group, and free. This is the first walk in Konya:
Free walking tours in Konya
Rumi's city
Rumi came to Konya as a young man, with a father fleeing the Mongols, and stayed until he died here in 1273. Seven and a half centuries later the town still turns around his tomb, and this walk follows his circle: the lodge, the friend who changed him, and the dance his followers made of his poetry. About two hours on flat streets, ending at the ceremony hall in the evening. Konya is conservative: shoulders and knees covered for everyone, and women need a headscarf in the tomb and the mosques; the steppe summer is hot and dry, the winter cold and often snowy.
- Shams-i Tabrizi Mosque · Shams of Tabriz was a wandering dervish who met Rumi in 1244 and turned a respected preacher into a poet. He vanished a few years later, possibly murdered by jealous disciples, and no one knows for certain whether he lies under this tomb.
- Aziziye Mosque · The mosque burned in 1867 and was rebuilt with money from Pertevniyal Sultan, mother of Sultan Abdülaziz, which is where the name comes from. Its baroque windows and twin minarets with little balconies look nothing like the Seljuk buildings around it.
- Selimiye Mosque · It was begun by the future Sultan Selim II while he was still a prince serving as governor of Konya. He built it right beside Rumi's lodge, so that the two buildings share the square to this day.
- Mevlana Museum · Rumi died on 17 December 1273, a night his followers call Şeb-i Arus, the wedding night — his union with God — and Konya marks it every December. The lodge has been a museum since 1927, after the Turkish Republic closed all dervish orders in 1925.
- Bedesten Bazaar · An early biographer of Rumi, Aflaki, wrote that Christians and Jews walked with the Muslims behind his coffin in 1273, each reading from their own scripture. The lanes of this market, between the tomb and the old town, were the road that crowd took.
- Mevlana Cultural Center · UNESCO proclaimed the Mevlevi sema ceremony a masterpiece of intangible heritage in 2005. Watch the hands: the right palm turns up to receive from heaven, the left turns down to pass it on to the earth.
Older than Rumi
Long before the dervishes, this plain held one of the first towns on earth, then the Roman city of Iconium, then the capital of the Seljuk sultans, who covered it in carved stone and turquoise tile. This route moves from the 9,000-year-old mound outside town to the Seljuk schools around Alaeddin Hill and out to a Greek village in the hills. Half a day by car with short walks; Çatalhöyük is 45 minutes away, so start there in the morning before the heat. There is almost no shade at the mound — hat and water.
- Çatalhöyük · Some 9,000 years ago thousands of people lived here in houses packed so tightly that there were no streets: they walked across the roofs and climbed down into their homes through a hole in the ceiling. UNESCO listed the site in 2012.
- Konya Archaeological Museum · Its star is a Roman marble sarcophagus from the 3rd century AD carved with the twelve labours of Heracles, one panel for each, running all the way round the box.
- Alaeddin Hill · The hill is the old mound of Iconium. According to the Book of Acts, Paul and Barnabas came here around the year 47 and spoke first in the synagogue of the Jews of the city, before trouble drove them on to Lystra.
- Karatay Madrasa · Built in 1251 by the vizier Celaleddin Karatay as a school. The dome is tiled in turquoise and black in a pattern of stars, and a pool beneath it once reflected that night sky back up.
- Ince Minareli Madrasa · The name means the madrasa of the slender minaret, but the minaret is half gone: lightning cut it down in 1901. What survived is the portal, carved with bands of calligraphy that knot around each other.
- Sille · Tradition says the church of Aya Eleni was founded in 327 by Empress Helena, mother of Constantine, on her way to Jerusalem. Sille's Greek Orthodox families lived beside their Muslim neighbours until the population exchange of 1923 sent them to Greece.
The Konya nobody photographs
Most travellers see the green dome, buy a box of sugar candy and drive on to Cappadocia. But Konya is a big, working city of well over a million people, the capital of Turkey's wheat country, and it has its own pleasures: markets, gardens, a dervish kitchen and some of the best family stops on the route. This is a loose afternoon by car, good for a second night or a day with children. Dress is relaxed outside the mosques; in winter the wind off the steppe is sharp, so bring a warm layer.
- Women's Bazaar · Konya is Turkey's largest province, close to 39,000 square kilometres, and much of it is the wheat plain you drive across to get here. What that land grows — cheese, chickpeas, dried peppers, tarhana soup mix — ends up on these stalls.
- Tomb of Ateşbaz Veli · Ateşbaz Veli was Rumi's cook, and the kitchen he ran became the school of the order: a Mevlevi novice served 1,001 days of kitchen and household work before he was accepted. Cooks still come to this tomb to ask for blessing, and some take a pinch of salt home.
- Koyunoğlu City Museum · The museum grew out of the collection that İzzet Koyunoğlu, a Konya collector, gave to his city: manuscripts, carpets, coins and stuffed birds, gathered over a lifetime. Next door is his family's wooden house, kept as a 19th-century Konya home.
- Konya Science Center · Opened in 2014, it was the first science centre in Turkey built with the support of TÜBİTAK, the national science council. The halls are built for touching, which is rare in a country of glass cases.
- Tropical Butterfly Garden · Opened in 2015 under a glass dome shaped like a beetle, it holds thousands of tropical butterflies flying free, and bills itself as the largest butterfly garden in Europe. Watch the hatchery window, where they emerge from the chrysalis.
- Lystra (Hatunsaray) · The mound near Hatunsaray is ancient Lystra, where, says the Book of Acts, the crowd first hailed Paul and Barnabas as Hermes and Zeus, and then stoned Paul and left him for dead outside the town.
Getting to Konya and getting around
- Konya Airport · Shares its runway with an air force base; flights are mostly domestic, via Istanbul
- Konya YHT Station · High-speed trains reach Ankara in about two hours — handy if someone leaves the route here
- Konya Bus Terminal · Far north of the centre; the tram runs from here to Alaeddin Hill
Cheap eats in Konya
Konya eats at the counter. Its signature is etli ekmek, a strip of thin dough nearly a metre long topped with minced lamb, baked in a wood oven and cut into pieces with a long knife, eaten with ayran. The other local dish is fırın kebabı, lamb roasted slowly in a stone oven and served on thin bread soaked in its fat. The town is conservative and most of these places serve no alcohol; prices in lira change fast, so treat the numbers as a guide.
- Ali Baba 2 Fırın Kebap · Fırın kebabı near Alaeddin Hill, about 500-700 lira a portion
- Hanedan Etli Ekmek · On the ring road south-east of the centre, easy by car; etli ekmek about 250-350 lira
- Celal Bey Yağ Somunu & Etli Ekmek · Yağ somunu about 60-100 lira, etli ekmek about 250-350 lira
- Tuba Fırın Kebap · Fırın kebabı on the north side, near the station; about 500-700 lira
- Sarnıç Etli Ekmek Salonu · A big etli ekmek hall in Meram; about 250-350 lira
- Women's Bazaar snacks · Village cheese, olives and simit for the road, about 100-200 lira
- Bedesten candy shops · A box of Mevlana sugar candy, about 150-300 lira
Museums in Konya
- Mevlana Museum · Free or cheap and busy; covered shoulders, headscarf for women
- Karatay Tile Museum · Seljuk palace tiles with figures of people and animals
- Museum of Stone and Wood Art · Inside the Ince Minareli madrasa; carved Seljuk reliefs, including two-headed eagles
- Konya Archaeological Museum · An hour is enough; good before the drive to Çatalhöyük
- Koyunoğlu City Museum · Carpets, coins and a furnished old Konya house next door
- Konya Panorama Museum · A 360-degree painting of Rumi's Konya, beside the Mevlana Museum
Nature and day trips near Konya
- Alaeddin Hill · Tea gardens and shade in the middle of town
- Japanese Park · Ponds, bridges and a pagoda; quiet in the late afternoon
- Kültürpark · Lawns and old trees at the foot of Alaeddin Hill; the quickest green break in town
- Sille · Twenty minutes from the centre; the church and a walk up the valley
Things to do in Konya with kids
- Konya Science Center · Plan half a day; the planetarium has set show times
- Tropical Butterfly Garden · About an hour; warm inside, so dress in layers
- Japanese Park · Fish in the ponds and bridges to run across
- Kültürpark · A big city park with playgrounds near the centre
- Çatalhöyük · Children can step into the rebuilt Stone Age house through the roof
Where to eat in Konya
- Mevlevi Sofrası · Konya dishes by the Mevlana Museum; no alcohol
- Somatçı · Old Seljuk and Ottoman recipes in a restored house near the museum
- Sarnıç Etli Ekmek Salonu · Family dinner in Meram; no alcohol
- Ali Baba 2 Fırın Kebap · Early dinner of fırın kebabı near Alaeddin Hill
Frequently asked questions about Konya
What is there to see in Konya?
The top sights in Konya are Mevlana Museum, Mevlana Cultural Center and Shams-i Tabrizi Mosque. The full list on this page has 10 sights, each with a photo and a short note.
How many days do you need in Konya?
Three to four days are enough to see the best of Konya without rushing, including at least one walking tour.
Is there a free walking tour in Konya?
Yes. sleepntrip has 3 free audio walks in Konya, with no guide and no group: your phone tells the story at every stop. The first one: Rumi's city.
How do you get to Konya and get around?
The main ways are Konya Airport, Konya YHT Station and Konya Bus Terminal. Full details are in the transport section on this page.
Where to stay in Konya, and for how much?
sleepntrip shows only rooms in Konya that meet nine conditions: a good location, high guest scores, cleanliness, and a price of up to $80 a night for two. Pick your dates and see what is free.
Looking for a hotel in Konya for your dates?
Only rooms that meet nine conditions, up to $80 a night.