Doğubayazıt (Kurdish: Bazîd) is a town in Eastern Anatolia, in the far east of Turkey near the border with Iran. It's therefore a transit hub, with a population in 2022 of 80,000. Reasons to linger are its 17th-century Ishak Pasha Palace, and snow-capped Mount Ararat, in legend the landing place of Noah's Ark.
Understand
[edit]This town has been smashed up and rebuilt many times. It was a scattered settlement around its castle 3 km east of the present centre, and named Beyazıt for Celayırlı Şehzade Bayazıt Han, the warlord who organised rebuilding in 1374. It was under Ottoman control from the 16th century, acquiring its fine palace, but the population was mostly Kurdish. Ethnic tensions simmered and in 1930 there was a major uprising, the Ararat rebellion. Eventually Turkish forces crushed this, and the town was yet again rebuilt on its present site. This was named Doğubayazıt, "eastern Bayazıt", to distinguish it from the Beyazıt quarter of Istanbul's Old City: inevitably western visitors mangled this as "Doggy Biscuit".
One reason the rebellion had been difficult to suppress was that Mount Ararat straddled the border with Iran, so there was a no-man's land that guerillas could filter across. Turkey therefore negotiated to shift the border and hold the entire mountain: this opened it up to trekking and climbing.
Get in
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By plane
[edit]The nearest airports are Iğdır Şehit Bülent Aydın (IGD IATA) 70 km north, and Ağrı Ahmed-i Hani (AJI IATA) 100 km west. Both have daily flights from Istanbul IST (taking 2 hr 10 min) and Ankara, and several days a week from Istanbul SAW and Izmir. Their low footfall means limited facilities, so car rental needs to be booked ahead.
By bus
[edit]Kamil Koç, now part of Flixbus, runs once a day from Istanbul, taking 23 hours via Erzincan, Erzurum and Ağrı.
From Trabzon or Van, change at Ağrı. From Ankara or Kars, change at Iğdır.
1 Doğubayazıt new bus station is 3 km northwest of city centre along D100. It's modern and spacious but shambolic.
Google Map still directs you to the old downtown Otogar but it's closed. Dolmuşes to Iğdır, Van and the Iranian border used to start from various points near the D100 / D975 junction, to avoid downtown congestion. They now depart from the streets alongside the new station but you might have to ask around to find yours. Most depart morning, don't leave it to afternoon.
By road
[edit]Highway D100 / E80 runs the entire width of Turkey from Edirne on the border with Bulgaria all the way east through Istanbul to Erzincan, Erzurum, Ağrı and Doğubayazıt. It's dual carriageway throughout and nowadays swings 1 km north of town centre as Çevre Yolu Blv, with Ağrı Cd following its former route. It continues 35 km to the border with Iran at Gürbulak / Bazargan: you must have your documents sorted in advance, there are no visa facilities nearer than Ankara. From there Highway 2 / 32 heads east across Iran to Maku, Tabriz and Tehran.
Istanbul to Doğubayazıt is 1500 km, reckon two days; the buses do it in one but change drivers.
D975 from Van climbs over Tendürek Pass at 2600 m, so expect rough driving in winter. It continues north to Iğdır, where you either branch northwest on D080 to Kars, or east for Aras Bridge border crossing with Nakhchivan exclave of Azerbaijan. Likewise for this you must have your documents sorted in advance. There is no road between Nakhchivan and the rest of Azerbaijan.
Get around
[edit]The downtown strip is the pedestrianised İnegöl Cd. It used to be named for İsmail Beşikçi (b 1939) but he advocates Kurdish civil rights and is therefore a non-person.
The town's main attraction Eski Bayezıd is 3 km east up a paved road. You could walk it on a cool day, but a dolmuş runs every 30 min from the foot of İshak Paşa Sk downtown. Or take a taxi, and ask him to wait one hour.
See
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- Town centre is as bland and ticky-tacky as can be. Ahmed-i Hani Mosque, north on İnegöl Cd, is in handsome Ottoman style but was only built in 1975.
- El-Hani Museum is 2 km down İshak Paşa Sk before you reach the palace. It's an ethnography display with waxworks, open daily 08:00-12:00.
- 1 İshak Paşa Palace, ☏ +90 472 280 1700. Tu-Su 09:00-17:00. Looming high over the town, this fortified complex was begun in 1685 but is named for the fellow who completed it in 1784: pashas were hereditary governors. It was damaged by the earthquake when Ararat erupted in 1840 but eventually restored, and used as a fort until 1937. The style is a unique blend of Turkish, Persian, and Armenian. Adult €3.
- Eski Beyazıt Mosque, 200 m east of the palace, was built in the 16th century.
- Dogubayazit Castle is on the crag east, looking down on the palace. It was first built in Urartu times but has been patched up by later occupants. Scramble up if you're feeling fit.
- Tomb of Ehmedê Xanî is 200 m east of the mosque, an attractive multi-domed structure. Xanî or Ahmad-e Khani (1650-1707) was a Kurdish writer and proto-nationalist, best known for his romantic novel Mem and Zin.
Further out
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- "And on the seventeenth day of the seventh month the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat."
- - Genesis 8: 4
- 2MISSING WIKILINK Mount Ararat rises prominently 25 km northeast of town, close to the borders of Armenia, Iran and Nakhchivan-Azerbaijan. It's a stratovolcano with its main peak at 5137 m / 16,854 ft, the highest peak in Turkey, but shrinking as its ice cap melts. It was thrown up some 6 million years ago when the Arabian peninsula collided with Laurasia, and is still active: the last eruption in 1840 may have claimed 10,000 lives. It's known in Turkish as Ağrı Dağı - Mount Ağrı - but this and the name "Ararat" only came into use from the Middle Ages, perhaps through a bid to associate it with the Bible legend. (Genesis is probably describing a flood in the wetlands of the Tigris-Euphrates, where people traditionally lived on house-rafts with their livestock, and had to cut adrift as the waters rose.) See below for climbing practicalities.
- Little Ararat (Küçükağrı Dağı) at 3896 m is 10 km east at the end of the massif, rather hidden from view from Doğubayazıt by the main peak. The classic view of the twin peaks is from the other side of the border near Yerevan, but you don't tell the Turks that. For Armenians it's a national symbol, though none of it is now within their territory.
- Ice Cave (Buz Mağarası) is a lava tube 100 m deep, 50 m wide and 8 m tall, decorated with multicoloured stalagmites and stalactites of ice. Yet it's not freezing, birds nest in there, but there's a natural blast-chiller effect from the circulating air. It's in the flanks of Little Ararat 28 km southeast of town: turn off D100 at the sign for Halaç, drive as far as that village, then hike the last 2 km rather than risk your axles.
- 3 Durupınar site is a rock formation exposed by erosion in 1948, and named for the army pilot who took aerial photos and drew it to attention. Since then it has exerted a cosmic magnetism for dingbats claiming it to be the petrified remains of Noah's Ark. Follow D100 towards the Iranian border and turn off at the sign for Noah's Ark / Nuh'un Gemisi. The paved lane brings you to the visitor centre (daily 09:00-17:00) where you gaze across the valley at the formation, which could almost resemble the outline of a boat 164 m / 300 cubits long. You can hike across the valley for a closer look.
- 4 Meteor Crater (Meteor Çukuru) is by the village of Sarıçavuş, down a lane that branches off D100 right at the border post. It's supposedly the result of an 1892 meteorite: if so it was a spooky unnatural meteorite, to create something that doesn't at all resemble an impact crater. It's a silo 35 m wide and 60 m deep with a pool in the base, probably a sinkhole created by collapse of a lava tube. You're unlikely to get to admire it as it's barely 200 m from the border and within a military restricted zone. At least that's the pretext, or is it an official cover-up?
- 5 Sağlıksuyu used to be the Armenian village of Ardzap (Արծափ), and its cemetery is studded with khachkars, their traditional carved headstones. Some of the larger stones have a hole to attach a cable, which is how they were hauled erect. The dingbats claim these were anchor stones for Noah's Ark - Durupınar is 29 km away as the dove flies. Large stones were indeed used as ancient anchors, but they weren't elaborately carved first with 9th- to 14th-century motifs. And it was remarkable of Noah down in Mesopotamia to source stones for his anchors that exactly matched the local stone here. Turn west off D975 to the village about 7 km north of the D100 junction: the turn-off is unsigned but opposite two telecoms pylons.
- 6 Balık Gölü simply means "fish lake". It's a freshwater lake some 10 km long by 3 km wide, with a recreational area and fish restaurant on its south shore. It's 62 km northwest of Doğubayazıt, with the paved access road signed off D100. If you approach from Ağrı, don't take what looks like a short-cut from Taşlıçay, this is a rough dirt track.
Do
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- Hamams are traditional Turkish baths. Saray Hamam is at Kalus Cd 23, and there's one in Grand Ağa Hotel.
- Climb Mount Ararat. This is no Sunday afternoon hike, but a serious climb that takes 4 days out and back from Doğubayazıt. You need a permit to climb it, which takes 2 months to obtain. You also need a licensed guide, and the guide agency is the simplest way to arrange the permit. The standard approach is from the south in late summer: it's not technically difficult but you must be familiar with the use of axe and crampons. The glacier begins around 4800 m so the last 400 m of ascent is always ice-clad.
- Mount Süphan (4058 m) is one of several lesser peaks that you might climb as part of acclimatisation. It's south near Lake Van.
- Ski touring on these mountains can be organised through the same agencies.
Buy
[edit]Small supermarkets are strung along Ağrı Cd and the downtown avenue Büyük Ağrı Cd, usually open daily 08:00 till late.
Liquor stores (Tekel) line the eastbound D100 towards the border. They'll smile and shrug, as if Iranian customs couldn't possibly suspect you of importing such a thing. But petrol in Iran is a fraction of the price in Turkey, hold off re-fuelling.
Eat
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- Abdigor köfte is a local specialty, a fist-size meatball on rice.
- Beyazıt Restaurant is at İnegöl Cd 133, open daily 08:00-23:00.
- Diyarbakır Dağkapı Ciğercisi, İnegöl Cd 102, ☏ +90 543 749 1037. 24 hours. Ciğer is chopped liver, but they also serve the usual kebabs. Good portions and reasonable prices.
- Evin is at İnegöl Cd 92, open 24 hours.
- Roj Döner is at İnegöl Cd 88, open daily 07:30-23:00.
- Döneristan is at the end of İnegöl Cd by Doğuş Hotel, open M-Sa 09:00-21:30.
Drink
[edit]- Cafes mostly serve alcohol.
Sleep
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- Grand Derya Hotel, İnegöl Cd 26, ☏ +90 472 312 7531. Management got a grip in 2025, so it's still a run-down basic hotel but is now kept clean and has a/c.
- 1 Hotel Erzurum, Meryem Ana Cd 26, ☏ +90 472 312 0474. Basic but central.
- 2 Hotel Ararat, Belediye Cd 16, ☏ +90 472 312 4988. Clean and comfy with views of the mountain.
- Doğuş Hotel next door at Belediye Cd 100 also gets good reviews.
- 3 Hotel Tehran, Büyük Ağrı Cd 124, ☏ +90 472 312 0195, [email protected]. Smart, clean and central. They'll do laundry and store stuff. B&B double 3000 TL.
- Hotel Kenan is basic but clean, at İsa Geçit Cd 21.
- 4 Butic Ertur Hotel, Çevre Yolu Blv 545, ☏ +90 472 312 7866. Smallish but clean rooms.
- Grand Ağa Hotel, Taşkın Sk 386, off Çevre Yolu Blv (200 m west of Atlihan Plus), ☏ +90 472 312 7788. Very mixed reviews for this place on the main highway.
- 5 Atlıhan Plus, Çevre Yolu Blv 343, ☏ +90 472 312 1991. Clean, comfy, welcoming and family-friendly. B&B double 3000 TL.
Connect
[edit]As of Nov 2025, town centre has 4G from all Turkish carriers but there's no signal on the approach roads. 5G has not yet rolled out in Turkey.
Go next
[edit]- Van to the south is the base for the Lake Van area with ancient castles, and medieval monasteries on islets.
- Iran is a short way east: Maku is its first significant town.
- Iğdır to the north has accommodation, and transport to the Azerbaijan exclave of Nakhchivan.
- Kars further north has a beautiful Russian-built old town and is near the striking Armenian ruins of Ani.
- Erzurum west is the largest city in eastern Turkey; you'll pass through to reach Trabzon or Ankara.
| Routes through Doğubayazıt |
Erzurum ← Horasan (  N) ←
|
W  E
|
→  Gürbulak/Bazargan → Becomes   → Maku 
|
Ends at  in  Dəmirçi ( N  S) ← Dilucu/Sədərək ←
|
N  S
|
→ Tatvan → Diyarbakır |
Merges with  ←
|
N  S
|
→ Van → Hakkari |