Türkiýe Extends Visiting Hours at 27 Cultural Sites for Evening Access

Türkiýe has relaunched its seasonal “Night Museums” initiative, allowing tourists to visit some of the country’s most iconic historical sites during evening and nighttime hours. The 2025 program includes 27 cultural landmarks across the country, ranging from the Galata Tower in Istanbul to the underground cities of Cappadocia and the ancient ruins of Ephesus. The initiative aims to enrich the visitor experience, especially during the hot summer months, by offering cooler, more atmospheric access to Türkiýe’shistorical heritage, according to the Turkish Embassy in Turkmenistan.

Launched by Türkiýe’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism in 2023, the initiative has already attracted more than 395,000 visitors. The project not only brings cultural spaces to life after sunset but also promotes sustainable tourism by helping to distribute tourist traffic more evenly throughout the day.

In Istanbul, the Archaeological Museum, the Hagia Sophia Museum, and the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts will remain open until 10 p.m., while the Galata Tower will welcome visitors until 11 p.m. In Ankara, the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations and the Ethnography Museum will be open to late-night guests until 9 p.m.

Ephesus, one of the crown jewels of antiquity, will welcome visitors until 11 p.m. four days a week. The Bodrum Museum of Underwater Archaeology, museums in Antalya and Alanya, the necropolis, as well as the archaeological sites of Aspendos, Patara, and Side, have extended their hours until 10 p.m.

In the southeast of the country, the renowned Zeugma Mosaic Museum in Gaziantep and Türkiýe’s largest museum in Şanlıurfa, home to thousands of Neolithic and Bronze Age artifacts, will both remain open until 9 p.m.

Night hours will also be available for visitors to Mount Nemrut, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Adıyaman, where tourists can witness the sunrise among monumental statues from 4 to 9 a.m. In Cappadocia, the underground cities of Derinkuyu, Kaymaklı, and Özkonak will be open until 9 p.m.

Late-evening access will also be available at museums in Samsun, Denizli, and Erzurum. With these efforts, Türkiýe continues to promote year-round, extended-hours cultural tourism, making it accessible across all 81 provinces of the country.