GET LOST IN ANATOLIA

• İstanbul is truly one of the world’s great cities, straddling Europe and Asia, İstanbul is blessed with fascinating Byzantine churches, curvaceous Ottoman mosques, and bustling bazaars. It even boasts a buzzing nightlife scene.

• Cappadocia is a unique landscape of weird rock pinnacles and deep valleys are enhanced by rock-cut, frescoed churches and entire underground cities. Two full days is an absolute minimum.

• Once home to the founder of the mystical “whirling dervish” order, the city of Konya captivates the spiritually inclined.

• A welcome respite from a surfeit of sightseeing; most visitors to lakeside Eğirdir stay on the tiny island and simply admire the mountains, swim, and eat.

• Pamukkale's glistening white travertine basins and hot springs form a geological wonder to match Cappadocia. The Greeks and Romans would agree; their ruined spa-city, Hierapolis, remains integral to the experience.

• The former Greek fishing town of Bodrum is now an all-white architectural treat of a resort. Famed in ancient times for the Mausoleum of Halikarnassos, today it’s better known for its club of (nearly) the same name, Halikarnas.

• The charming little town of Selçuk offers welcoming places to stay, a good museum, the Basilica of St John, and the remnants of the Temple of Artemis. It’s also handy for both iconic Ephesus and İzmir international airport.

RELAX ALONG THE TURQUOISE COAST

• The small resort of Dalyan (well served by Dalaman international airport), is unusually but beautifully situated on a reed-fringed river, opposite a superb ancient site and handy for the turtle-nesting beach at İztuzu.

• Patara makes for a superb coastal retreat, with low-key accommodation in the village of Gelemiş, a Roman site peeking from the dunes, and Turkey’s longest beach.

• Turkey’s self-styled adventure capital of Kaş is located at the feet of towering mountains and makes for an excellent base to try scuba diving, sea kayaking, paragliding, canyoning, or hiking the Lycian Way – or just chill.

• Çıralı is a relaxed resort hidden in citrus groves, backed by mountains and home to the romantic Roman ruins at adjoining Olympos, the eternal flames of the Chimaera, and a great sweep of shingle beach.

• Antalya is a bustling city and home to a superb archaeological museum as well as the old walled quarter of Kaleiçi, which offers characterful accommodation, great nightlife, and a tiny but pretty beach.

ADVENTURE INTO THE WILD EAST

• For a perfect gateway to Turkey’s east, explore Gaziantep’s Arab-like bazaars, taste some of the country’s finest cuisine, and admire the fantastic Roman mosaics at the state-of-the-art Zeugma Mosaic Museum.

• The colossal Hellenistic statues that dominate the remote mountaintop of Nemrut Dağı fully reward the effort it takes to reach them.

• Famed for its pool of sacred carp, the traditional bazaar city of Şanlıurfa makes the perfect base to visit the unique Neolithic temple sanctuary of Göbeklitepe and the beehive houses at Harran.

• For a real understanding of what makes eastern Turkey tick head to the impoverished but fascinating village of Yuvacalı to “homestay” with a local Kurdish family, and sleep beneath a star-washed sky on the flat roof of their simple abode.

• In Mardin you will find honey-colored medieval houses clustered beneath an ancient citadel, looking out over the checkerboard fields of the impossibly flat Mesopotamian plain.

• Going but not yet gone, the incredible medieval ruined city of Hasankeyf, perched above the Tigris, will soon disappear beneath the waters of a controversial dam.

• Explore the vivid blue-soda Lake Van and its high-mountain hinterland, studded with unique Urartian sites and atmospheric Armenian churches – notably on Akdamar island.

• Doğubeyazıt is the base for assaults on nearby Mt Ararat, and more sedate visits to the fairy-tale palace of a Kurdish chieftain, İshak Paşa Sarayı.

• Set in vast, rolling tablelands, Kars was brought to life in Orhan Pamuk’s Snow. Take a day-trip to the long-abandoned Armenian city of Ani.

• Erzurum is an upland city that holds fascinating Islamic monuments and is the gateway to Turkey’s best ski resort, Palandöken.

• The beautiful, green alpine mountain ranges range, dominated by Mt Kaçkar, spangled with yaylas (alpine pastures), glacier lakes, and flowers, is perfect for trekking.

• Ancient Trebizond, a fiercely proud Black Sea port, has a superbly frescoed Byzantine church, the Aya Sofya, and is the base for day trips to the spectacular cliff-hanging monastery of Sumela.