Mardin walking tour & city guide

The old city

Mardin's old city is best explored on foot, along the main street, Birinci Cadde, and the steep stairways and covered passages, called abbara, that lead off it. Elegant stone mansions with carved facades, many now hotels and museums, line the slopes.

The Zinciriye Medrese, built in the 14th century, offers views over the rooftops toward the plain, and the Kasımiye Medrese, below the city, has a beautiful courtyard with a symbolic water channel. The Grand Mosque's fluted minaret is a city landmark, and the bustling bazaar sells spices, soap, copper and local sweets.

Monasteries and Midyat

Just outside the city, Deyrulzafaran Monastery is one of the most important Syriac Orthodox monasteries, a vast complex of golden stone that was the seat of the Syriac patriarchate for centuries. Further east, the town of Midyat is known for its grand stone houses and Syriac churches, and Mor Gabriel Monastery, founded in 397, is among the oldest functioning monasteries in the world.

The ruins of the ancient city of Dara, with its underground cisterns and rock tombs, lie about 30 kilometers away.

Visiting tips

Summers in Mardin are very hot, so spring and autumn are the best seasons. Sunset over the Mesopotamian plain, watched from a terrace café, is unforgettable. Mardin Airport has connections to Istanbul and Ankara.