Çanakkale

Last update September 29, 2026

Çanakkale is located at the narrowest part of the Dardanelles Strait, situated on the boundary between Europe and Asia, and it has more importance than most small port cities because of this position. Ferries constantly cross the strait, and it costs almost nothing to take one just to stand on the other continent for an hour, something you can then tell stories about later. The Kordon promenade stretches along the waterfront, with seafood restaurants and tea houses along it, and is the natural place to finish a day of sightseeing when your legs finally give out.

Troy is only a short drive south of here, and no matter how much you already know about the Iliad, touring the real city walls alters the way you see the story. The site contains layers of settlement that date back thousands of years, and although the wooden horse that has been reconstructed near the entrance is not completely historically accurate, it is the one that everyone takes photographs of anyway. Allow yourself a minimum of half a day for this visit, and even more if you plan to read the information boards rather than just passing them by.

Gallipoli requests a different type of visit; it was there that the Ottoman and Allied forces carried out one of the deadliest campaigns of the First World War, and nowadays the peninsula features cemeteries, memorials, and preserved trenches rather than ruins. For Australian and New Zealander visitors, ANZAC Cove and the Lone Pine Memorial are especially significant since many of them plan their trip around ANZAC Day, but the site has a impact on anyone who is willing to take the time to read the names on the headstones. If you want to see it properly, then spend a full day there rather than simply going through it with a tour group on a tight schedule.

Stay in Çanakkale city for two or three nights and you will be able to see Troy, Gallipoli, and the town itself without feeling rushed. The Çimenlik Castle and its naval museum take up a whole afternoon, and the local specialty, a vegetable spread known as Çanakkale ezmesi, is worth ordering together with your seafood. Should you have any extra time, Bozcaada is a short ferry journey away further out, and Assos is roughly ninety minutes to the south, both places deserving the detour if both history and beaches are of interest to you. Although Çanakkale won’t impress you as much as Istanbul does, it is still worth making the stop because it serves as a base for two of Turkey’s most important historical sites.