Travel guide: Adana, Turkiye

Adana is Turkey's fifth-largest city and the commercial hub of the Çukurova plain — a hot, flat, agriculturally rich region along the Seyhan River, historically the cotton-growing heart of the country. Travellers come for the food first, the archaeology second, and the proximity to the eastern Mediterranean and Cappadocia third. Adana Şakirpaşa Airport (ADA) is inside the city limits, 10 minutes from the centre by taxi; a newer Çukurova Regional Airport (UAB) opened south of Mersin in 2024 as the long-haul replacement.

Adana kebabı — a long, hand-minced skewer of lamb and tail fat, grilled over charcoal and served with sumac onions, grilled tomato and pepper, flatbread, and turnip juice — has EU Protected Geographical Indication status and is the single most important reason to visit. Best eaten at one of the classic places on Kazancılar Çarşısı or around Güzelyalı. The Sabancı Merkez Camii (one of Turkey's largest mosques), the ruined Taşköprü stone bridge across the Seyhan (Roman-era and still in partial use), and the Archaeology Museum for Hittite and Roman finds round out the city-centre day.

Not far out of the city, Anavarza in Kozan has a Roman-era triumphal arch and mosaics; Yumurtalık's long, empty Mediterranean beaches are an hour south; and the Karatepe open-air Hittite site is 90 minutes east. The old Armenian/Arab/Assyrian layered city of Antakya (Hatay) is a two-hour drive east — worth a day trip if earthquake recovery allows.

The Çukurova climate is hot — summers hit 40°C with high humidity from June through September — and mild in winter. Visit March-May or late September-November for comfortable walking. Most Western passports (US, UK, EU, Canada, Australia) are visa-exempt for 90-day stays; verify the e-Visa portal if your nationality requires one. English is limited outside hotels and the university district; a translation app helps. Turkish lira (TRY) is heavily inflation-affected; dollars and euros are easy to exchange at döviz bureaus.