Halfeti Voyage Tips and guide

Halfeti is a town in the flooded Euphrates river gorge in Southeastern Anatolia, with a population of 9100 in 2022. It's a scenic location with several half-submerged buildings.

The Euphrates or Firat is a great river flowing out of the Turkish mountains down through Syria to Iraq, where it meets the Tigris. The Southeastern Anatolia Project, known in Turkish as Güneydoğu Anadolu Projesi (GAP), is an ambitious project to harness its headwaters for irrigation and hydroelectricity. Atatürk Dam, completed in 1993, created a huge barrage lake flooding a great tract of land between Adıyaman and Şanlıurfa, but it's upstream of Halfeti and didn't immediately impact the town. But the next stage was Birecik Dam 60 km downstream, completed in 2001. This submerged the Roman ruins of Zeugma, and the best of those were hurriedly moved to Gaziantep. It also flooded the long river gorge all the way back to Atatürk Dam, and Halfeti was part-submerged. Houses and businesses therefore relocated to "new" or Yeni Halfeti 9 km inland. The original settlement could have become a ghost town but visitors came to see its off-beat scenery, and it was reborn as a tourist resort.

37°14′38″N 37°52′12″E

Map of Halfeti

Halfeti is 54 km north of Nizip, which is on O-52 motorway (toll) and D-400 highway between Gaziantep and Şanlıurfa. It’s on the east bank of the flooded Euphrates valley, with no bridge or ferry from the west bank.

An infrequent dolmuş runs from Şanlıurfa via Birecik, where you may have to change. Check whether it's going all the way to Eski Halfeti on the riverside: or you might have to change again in Yeni Halfeti the new town 9 km short of the old.

The old town is small and easy to walk around. Dolmuşes ply between old and new Halfeti.

• 37.246237.86651 Ulu Cami or Great Mosque is partly submerged.
• 37.24837.86722 Sallanan Bridge is a footbridge across an inlet of the lake, with a pontoon walkway alongside. It's a good photo spot.
• 37.251837.87383 Değirmen Deresi means "mill stream". It's a scenic dry ravine up a rough track above town.
• 37.255337.84334 Kral Kız Caves are in the west bank cliffs. No safe landing point so you just get a distant view from the boat.
• 37.272337.83855 Rumkale is a Byzantine fortress on a headland, where the Merziman gorge makes a horseshoe to join the main lake. Access only by boat.
• 37.279337.8536 Batık Camii is another half-submerged mosque on the east bank. The boat trips turn around here.

Boat trips sail from the marina along the gorge to Rumkale. The trip might include lunch at the cafes there. Before committing to a particular boat, check how much sun protection it offers (you'll need your own floppy hat etc in any case) and whether the decibel level of the muzak will be tolerable.

Cesur Market is on Atatürk Cd by the Marina.

Most restaurants are along the riverside, Ataturk Cd. South to north are:

• Altinirmak Duba
• Cesur Urfa Tike Ciger
• Has Firat
• Asikan
• Dayi’nin Yeri Kosk
• Zilan Emek Gozleme / Hanife Ablanin Yeri
• Venedik Restoran
• Baskanin Yeri Duba
• Siyah Kösk Duba / Salim'in Yeri
• Serif Cafe
• Duba Baskan'in Yeri
• Beyaz Saray Yali

Restaurants serve alcohol.

Konağı means a converted mansion. These are comfy and atmospheric.

• Halfeti Melek Butik Hotel, Değirmendere Sk 3, ☏ +90 505 707 0598. Charming small hotel. (updated Apr 2026)
• Yusuf Çavuş Konağı is at Orta Cd 27.
• Jubilee Lakeview Hotel is at Orta Cd 13.
• Onur Taş Konak Otel is at Ataturk Cd 1.
• Katip Bey Konağı is a converted mansion on Orta Cd.
• 37.245437.86861 Gül Konağı Butik Hotel, Orta Cd 26. Clean, friendly and central. B&B double 2500 TL.  (updated Apr 2026)
• Cevher Konağı is on the hillside at Orta Cd 5.
• Turkmen Konağı is at Orta Cd 21.
• Tisa Konağı is at Sonmez Sk.
• Sahan Tas Konak Hotel is on Ataturk Cd.
• Rosa Hotel is on Lojman Sk off Ataturk Cd.

As of April 2026, Halfeti and its approach roads have 4G from Turkcell and Vodafone, but no signal from Türk Telekom. 5G has not reached this area.

• Birecik is where you might change dolmuşes. It’s a substantial town but lacks visitor accommodation or anything worth seeing.
• Nizip has mosaics from the Roman site at Zeugma.
• Gaziantep to the west is where the best mosaics are on display.
• Şanlıurfa east has a collection of old mosques around a pool of “holy fish”.