Places to Visit in Doğubayazıt - Anatolia Tour

Lake Van Express: while planning our Van trip on it and thinking "why not go to İshak Paşa Palace?", we suddenly found ourselves renting a car. Having come that far, we wanted to visit Doğubayazıt too and see these lovely historic places.

The journey to Doğubayazıt, 180 kilometres from Van, gave us wonderful shots and views. Of course, the good weather and most places being covered pure white with snow played a big part in that. 🤩 Now to the places to visit in Doğubayazıt. Again, we start telling them in the order of our route.

İshak Paşa Palace

Construction of İshak Paşa Palace, which combines Ottoman, Seljuk, Georgian, Iranian and Armenian design, began in 1685 and was finished in 1784 by the Ottoman general İshak Paşa. In case you wonder about the glass-covered parts on top when you go to the palace, let's tell you now: these were made temporarily to stop the palace wearing away. In future, the aim is to remove this glass roof and rebuild the old domes. Thanks to this glass ceiling, the palace can be visited even in rainy weather.

Until the early 1930s the Palace was surrounded by the town of Old Bayazıt, but after a Kurdish uprising it was destroyed by the Turkish army. You can see its ruins as you go down below the palace; this event led to the founding of modern Doğubayazıt.

The main courtyard at the palace entrance leads to the 1st courtyard, which was to be open to merchants and guests. If you look at the corner just to the right of here, you can see the dungeons.

Only families and special guests are allowed into the 2nd courtyard, which gives access to the palace's selamlık (men's quarters) and harem sections. As you pass into the courtyard, the stairs going down to the left lead to the servants' quarters and the grain stores. The steps to the right of the courtyard lead to the selamlık. Inside, guests were received in the ceremonial hall-courtyard on the right. The selamlık also has a beautiful mosque that preserves its original relief decoration (the tree of life) and ceiling motifs.

Outside the selamlık entrance, an elaborate tomb thought to be İshak Paşa's is richly decorated with a mix of Seljuk carvings and Persian relief styles.

The Harem's magnificently decorated courtyard rises at the far end of the courtyard. These women's quarters have a kitchen, a hamam, a carved stone fireplace and rooms with panoramic windows.

Clinging to the cliffs east of the palace are the ruins of the Old Castle, probably founded in the Urartian period around 800 BC. Old Bayazıt's still-standing 16th-century mosque is on its feet. To the right of the castle is the banded stone tomb of Ahmad Hani (a beloved 17th-century Kurdish poet and philosopher). On the hills above the car park here, there are excellent views of the palace, and beyond it Doğubayazıt and Ararat.

Note: The palace, open every day of the week, can be visited between 07.30 - 15.45 in winter and 08.00 - 19.00 in summer. Entry is 5₺. If you have a museum card, entry is free.

🚗🚌Getting there: The magnificent İshak Paşa Palace stands on a small plateau below vast cliffs, 6 km southeast of the town. You can reach the palace by dolmuş for 2.50₺.
Dolmuşes to the palace leave until 17.00 from the stop behind Doğubayazıt Municipality. Those going by taxi can pay 25₺ one way, or 40₺ for a return trip, which even includes 1 hour of photo time.

Mount Ararat

If you're lucky and the sky is clear, the view of Mount Ararat from the hills of Doğubayazıt looks wonderful! It took us quite a while to realise that the mountains in front of us were Mount Ararat, but the view is worth watching. If you have a tea with you too, you'll be in heaven.

By the way, the traveller Marco Polo made a statement like this about Mount Ararat: "Its summit can never be climbed," he said, but the first climb of the mountain was made in 1929. If you like, tour companies organise climbing programmes on the mountain. Prices ranging between 1500-2000₺ are available. As we said, even watching Mount Ararat from Doğubayazıt is a joy in itself! 😎🤩

Bayazıt Mosque

Built in the time of Yavuz Sultan Selim, Bayazıt Mosque is made of cut stone. The mosque, built on a square base as in the picture, has a single dome.

If you'd also like to look at the lovely view of İshak Paşa Palace from here, we suggest going up to the mosque's entrance.

Ahmed-i Hani Tomb

The year of death of the famous philosopher, whose date of birth is unknown, is recorded as 1651, and there is a tomb belonging to him. Ahmed-i Hani Tomb, one of the top spots visited often by local people as well as tourists coming to the town, is one of the places worth seeing for its magnificent architecture.

Doğubayazıt Castle

If I hadn't known there was a castle just above İshak Paşa Palace, I might not have realised right away that this was a castle. The castle, built in a way that literally merges with the steep cliffs, has an impressive look.

As for the castle's history, the ruins are thought to belong to the Urartian period. The exact construction date of the castle isn't known. Archaeologists put forward the Urartian period based on the tomb right next to the castle.

We didn't have time so we couldn't visit them, but if you have time you should definitely see the world's second-largest Meteor Crater and Noah's Ark.