Doğubayazıt

Last update October 1, 2026

Doğubayazıt is situated on a desolate, tree-free plain close to Turkey’s border with Iran, 35 kilometres from the border crossing and at an altitude of 1,950 metres above sea level; it is the last town of any significance before you enter the country in an easterly direction and has that frontier atmosphere with mountains surrounding it on all sides, military check-points on the roads, and a feeling that you have arrived at a place which is truly remote even when compared with the rest of eastern Turkey.

The main reason most visitors come is the Ishak Pasha Palace, which is located five kilometres east of town on a hillside with Mount Ararat in the background. The palace combines Ottoman, Persian and Armenian architectural styles in a way that is not to be found anywhere else, and you can stroll through the elaborate chambers while local guides tell you about centuries of history. It’s best to go in the late afternoon so that the light falls on the stone and the snow-capped peak of Ararat shines behind the ruins; it’s a view that makes the long journey out here worthwhile all by itself.

Mount Ararat is in fact the highest point in Turkey, standing at nearly 5,200 metres, it is always covered with snow and is associated in Christian tradition with the place where Noah’s Ark came to rest. There is no need to climb it, since most people don’t do so because climbing requires permits and guides. The visit acquires its full significance just by having the mountain as a background when you are eating Kurdish food at a locally run restaurant in the town or when you are touring Little Ararat nearby. The Durupınar Site, which some people claim looks like a ship-shaped formation, and Eski Beyazıt, whose foundations go back to the Urartian period around 800 BC, complete the area for those who have an extra day.

To get here you can take a bus or drive, as the closest airports are located in Erzurum or Van, both of which are several hours’ distance away. Allow two days—one day for the palace and the town and another for the journey to the meteor crater or Eski Beyazıt if you are interested in ancient history. Doğubayazıt won’t be comfortable in the way that a resort town is comfortable, but few places in Turkey offer you such close proximity to a mountain of this significance and at the same time lie so far from any other location.