What to see and do in Konya and Sille, a glimpse of traditional Turkey

A new stop on our trip through Turkey after our getaway in Kaş and Fethiye. This time, we’re taking you to a city that’s a bit less well-known (or at least less visited): Konya. To be honest, before arriving in Turkey, we’d never even heard of Konya. And yet this city in the center of the country, in Central Anatolia, has a population of over 2 million! It’s also relatively well known around the world for housing the tomb of Jalal ad-Din Rumi, more commonly known as Mevlana, the founding father of the Whirling Dervish order. In this article, we’ll tell you about the city, things to see and do, as well as the Dervishes and how to watch a performance for free. At the end, we’ll share our impressions of visiting Konya during Ramadan. Ready for a guided tour of the city? Let’s go!

Things to do in Konya

Visit the Mevlana Museum

The Mevlana Museum is THE museum to see in Konya. Actually, it’s more of a museum and mausoleum combined. This is where Mevlana’s tomb is located, which makes it a highly popular pilgrimage site.

The setting of the museum is absolutely stunning! Even though, as non-Muslims, we probably didn’t grasp the full spiritual significance of the place, we still really appreciated the very pleasant atmosphere there, a place that breathes calm.

We were a bit disappointed by the lack of explanations about Mevlana’s life, but they do offer audio guides in French and English (90 TL per person). In our opinion, it’s a good idea to get one, even though we can’t actually tell you what they say: the rental desk was unfortunately closed during our visit.

Admission to the museum is free.

Get on top of Alaaddin Hill

Alaaddin Hill is a small artificial hill right in the heart of the city. From the top, you get a lovely view over Konya, but the real reason to come here is the very relaxed atmosphere. It’s probably the only place in Konya where we saw young couples sitting side by side in the grass. At the top of the hill, there’s also a beautiful mosque housing a mausoleum from the Seljuk dynasty.

Stroll through Kültür Park at night

Kultur Park is a small green space located just behind Alaaddin Hill. It’s nice during the day, but we found it had the most charm at nightfall. The view of the Hacıveyiszade Mosque from the lit-up fountain is really pretty. Sure, the colored neon lights are a bit tacky, but the overall effect is lovely. When the muezzins begin the call to prayer, the atmosphere becomes even more incredible.

Visit Medersa Ince Minareli, home to Konya’s stone works Museum of Fine Minaret

On paper, a museum of stone and wood carving doesn’t necessarily sound thrilling. And yet I’d highly recommend it! Why? For one, the carvings are magnificent, but above all, the building itself is simply incredible! Built at the end of the 13^th century, this building is truly one of a kind and is worth the visit on its own!

Admission costs 20 TL.

Stop by Atatürk’s House (or not)

While we enjoyed our visit to the Atatürk Museum in Izmir, we found this one in Konya to be of relatively little interest. The museum isn’t particularly well designed and the explanations are sparse. Atatürk never actually lived in Konya, but he visited 13 times. The museum touches on these visits and quotes a few of the speeches he gave during his stops there. That said, admission is free, so there’s no harm in taking a quick look, but don’t expect anything amazing ;).

Visit Sircali Madrasa

Sırçalı Medrese is a former open-air school, built in 1242, for the study of Islam. This site is best known for its iwan, an architectural feature consisting of a vaulted hall opening onto a rectangular facade. Decorated with numerous mosaics, the building is still relatively well preserved considering its age. It isn’t a museum, but the site is open to the public for free, and you can walk in to admire the architecture!

Wander through the Bedesten Bazaar

Bazaars are often unique places in Turkey. Istanbul’s is the most famous, but it’s also by far the most touristy. In Konya, it’s a complete contrast! The Bedesten Bazaar spans 40 streets with more than 2,500 stalls, and it’s entirely local.

We were there during Ramadan, which meant anything related to food was very limited during the day. Still, it’s really pleasant to wander through. And since it’s not touristy at all, the vendors aren’t pushy in the slightest. Two of the city’s most beautiful mosques are also located within the bazaar grounds. We give you all the details just below.

Visit Konya’s most beautiful mosques

According to statistics, Konya is the city in Turkey with the most mosques. The exact number varies depending on the source, but there are apparently more than 3,000!

Needless to say, we didn’t see them all ;). If we had to put together a list of mosques worth checking out that are within walking distance of the city center, it would look like this:

• Alaeddin mosque (located on the hill of the same name);
• Kapu (or Kapi) mosque (right in the middle of the bazaar);
• Aziziye mosque (a magnificent mosque with Ottoman baroque architecture, also located in the bazaar);
• Selimiye mosque (right next to the Mevlana Museum);
• Serafeddin mosque (though it’s been under renovation for 10 years now);
• Haciveyiszade mosque (in Kültür Park).

Watch a Turkish dance performance

Konya is the place where the Whirling Dervish order was founded. It would truly be a shame to come here and not see a performance! I’ll go into more detail in the next section.

Konya’s Whirling Dervishes

History

You’ve probably already seen images of these men spinning in dance, dressed in long white robes. But do you know why they do it? Personally, I had no idea before coming to Konya! I naively assumed it was a traditional Turkish dance performed for tourists. But in reality, the Whirling Dervishes are part of a much deeper history tied to Sufism, a spiritual movement dating back to the 8th century that is part of the Islamic faith.

It was during the Ottoman Empire that Jalal al–Din Rumi founded the Mevlevi order in Konya. Over the years, this dance also spread to Egypt and the Balkans.

In Turkey, the history of the dervishes is a bit unusual. When Atatürk declared the country secular in 1925, the sema (the name given to the Dervish dances) was banned. It wasn’t until the 1950s that it was allowed again.

The idea of this dance? Guided by the shaykh (the spiritual master), the dancers spin in place, gradually picking up speed, all accompanied by traditional instruments and chants or prayers. The goal of this dance is to reach a kind of trance-like state and, in doing so, draw closer to God.

Where to see the Whirling Dervishes

Performances for tourists can currently be found in Istanbul, but Konya remains the city where the tradition runs deepest.

In Konya, you can attend a free Sema performance every Saturday evening. If we’re not mistaken, the ceremony normally takes place at 7 pm. During our visit, it was held at 9:30 pm since we were there during Ramadan. But if you’re planning to go, your best bet is to stop by the tourist office located behind the Mevlana Museum. They’ll be able to tell you the schedule for the current week.

Update 2026: performances now come with an admission fee :(. Expect to pay 300 TL per person (still cheaper than tickets sold online or through travel agencies).

Location: Konya Mevlana Culture Center. It’s located about 500 meters past the Mevlana Museum, along Aslani Kışla Avenue.

Note: It’s a good idea to arrive about 1 hour before the performance starts, as there’s apparently an English-language explanation beforehand. That said, it didn’t happen on the day we were there.

Duration: The Sema lasts about 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes.

Getting around Konya

In Konya, there are mainly 3 ways to get around:

• By tram: 2 lines cross the city
• By dolmuş and bus: countless buses and minibuses criss-cross the city.
• On foot! By far the best way to explore the centre! Some days we travelled nearly 20km in the city alone 😉

We only used the tram to get to the center from the bus station (Otobüs Terminali, here), which is located quite far outside the city. It’s by far the cheapest way to reach the heart of Konya. The fare runs between 7 and 10 TL.

Good to know: to pay your fare, you can either buy a transport card (KonyaKart) that you can top up, or pay directly with a contactless credit card. To pay by credit card, just tap it on the reader to unlock the security gate. It’s really convenient, especially if you arrive in the evening when the ticket counters are already closed.

For the larger buses, it’s the same system: a rechargeable transport card or contactless credit card.

On dolmuşes (minibuses), payment is made directly in cash to the driver.

Where to stay in Konya?

Before arriving in Konya, we figured we’d book a hotel ahead of time since we’d be arriving in the evening. We were quite surprised to see that accommodation prices online were really affordable compared to the rest of Turkey! In the end, we decided to stay at the Nun Hotel, a decent hotel with the advantage of being well located. The price was more than fair for a double room, breakfast buffet included.

If I had to give you one piece of advice, book accommodation within walking distance of Mevlana Square or Alaaddin Hill. Plenty of nice hotels are located near the bus station or the Japanese garden, but honestly, they’re really far from the city’s main attractions. And figuring out which bus number to take remains, and probably always will remain, a total mystery to us.

You really won’t have any trouble finding something for every budget. We’ll admit, we even considered splurging on the Hilton, which was going for €25 during our visit :). But I think the prices were especially low during our stay because of Ramadan. It seems that period really is the low season for tourism in the city.

Find a place to stay on the map below:

Day trip to Sille: the mountain village perched above Konya

When we stopped by the Konya tourist office to ask about the Whirling Dervish schedule, the woman at the desk strongly recommended we take a little trip to Sille if we had time. According to her, Sille is “a little paradise in the mountains not far from the city.” That was all it took to convince us to go check it out!

Getting to Sille

The easiest way to get to Sille is by bus. Bus number 64 departs from north of Alaaddin Hill (roughly in front of the technical university, here) and takes about 25 minutes to reach Sille. The fare is 3 TL, if we remember correctly. We paid with a contactless credit card, and I’m not 100% sure I understood the price correctly, but it’s somewhere around that ;).

Sille: a village built for tourism

Based on the description from the young woman at the tourist office, we were super excited at the idea of seeing this little green paradise perched above Konya. Oddly enough, the closer the bus got to our destination, the more our excitement faded.

We planned to start the visit at the water reservoir above Sille for a short walk, then head down into the village via a hiking trail marked on Maps.me.

Setting aside what we were seeing out the bus window, we arrived right at the top of Sille, next to the artificial lake. We got off the bus and headed toward the lake. Let me walk you through our monumental fail:

1) Barely off the bus, we reached a guarded entrance to the lake. The guard informed us the lake didn’t open until 2 pm. Since when do lakes and trails have opening hours? No idea, but apparently in Sille, they do.

2) Undeterred, we figured we’d just follow the trail down to Sille. The catch? We never actually found this trail and had to settle for walking along the road instead.

3) After passing a massive parking lot that felt more like an airport runway (and was completely deserted), we reached the village.

4) The village? A kingdom of kitsch! Shops everywhere, a fully concreted artificial canal, and lots of small cafés (all closed). We were literally the only people in this village, and it honestly felt a bit eerie.

Our take

Want our honest opinion? This village, with nearly 2,000 years of history, seems to have been completely reshaped by a government determined to turn it into a major tourist destination. The catch? It doesn’t seem to have worked (yet). Parking spaces for 2,000 cars, cafés and restaurants ready to feed and water thousands of people, yet strangely: absolutely no one there!

Was it because of Ramadan? Maybe. But if we didn’t enjoy Sille, it wasn’t because of the lack of people; let’s be clear about that. It was entirely because of the sheer excess of concrete and “touristic” construction on this historic site.

The beautiful museum of Sille

After walking through the village, we finally came across the one and only open café. We sat down for a small tea, and right across from us was the Sille Museum. A little deflated by our disappointing visit to the village, we figured we had nothing to lose by checking out the Sille Müzesi.

Well, let me tell you, this museum is truly the only thing built for tourism in Sille that’s actually worth your time. This museum is simply gorgeous! Brand new, extremely well designed, and it does a great job showcasing the region’s history and local craftsmanship. Walking out, we couldn’t help but feel even more disappointed by what this village has become. Historically speaking, it’s a beautiful place, and both the church and the surrounding scenery are stunning!

Hiking from Sille to Konya

Rather than taking the bus back to Konya, we opted for a short hike. We left the village near the large parking lots and picnic areas (it genuinely pains me to write those words to describe the start of a mountain hike).

We soon reached the old Sille cemetery. It’s not mentioned in guidebooks, but we found this place absolutely spectacular. Some of the Ottoman graves were extremely old (we’re sorry to say we couldn’t find any information on exact dates), but it was truly lovely.

From the cemetery, we kept climbing until we reached a nice viewpoint over Sille and its “runway” parking lot. Then, we started heading toward Konya and reached a great viewpoint that gave us a sweeping view over the entire city. From there, all that was left to do was follow the track toward the west side of the city and find a bus back into town.

Note: we found a bus by heading toward the bus depot marked on the map below. We simply asked the drivers if they were headed toward Alaaddin and hopped on with the first one who said yes.

Map of the walk from Sille to Konya:

Konya: things to do around the city

During our visit to Konya, we stuck to the city itself and Sille. But apparently there are 2 excursions not too far away that are worth the trip:

• Tüz Lake (Tuz Gölü): located about a two-hour drive away, this lake is known for its color, which can sometimes turn a striking pink due to the algae found there. In spring, many flamingos also settle here.
• Meke Lake: this place looks absolutely wild! Picture a lake inside a crater, with utterly surreal scenery!

The catch with these excursions? Outside of high season, we couldn’t find any tours going there, and no public transport reaches them either. If you have a car, don’t hesitate for a second! Both excursions would have really tempted us, but unfortunately we ran out of time. Also, honestly, out of motivation to rent a car, especially since driving in the city of Konya is chaotic – fair warning!

Visiting Konya during Ramadan

When we were researching Konya before our visit, all the reviews seemed unanimous: avoid Konya during Ramadan. Known as one of the most traditional cities in Turkey, guidebooks advise against visiting since everything is supposedly closed during the day.

So let’s just say it upfront: Ramadan might not be the “best” time to visit, but it’s still entirely doable. Museums and sites remain open. That said, it’s true that Konya was the one place in Turkey where we genuinely struggled to find anything to eat or drink during the day. Since we weren’t observing Ramadan ourselves, we had no issue with grabbing a bite. But more often than not, our best option ended up being buying bread at the supermarket.

During Ramadan, keep in mind that it’s really best to avoid eating or drinking in public. For our part, we generally tried to head back to our hotel and take advantage of being in our room to eat and drink.

As for clothing, Konya is, once again, quite traditional. So in terms of dress, it’s best to plan for pants and, at minimum, a T-shirt that covers the shoulders and doesn’t show cleavage. Women generally keep their arms fully covered, but personally, I never felt the slightest issue wearing a “normal” T-shirt. Pants are also the way to go for men: we didn’t see a single man in shorts!

To visit the mosques, it’s also useful to keep a scarf in your bag to cover your head. Outside of mosques, I didn’t wear a veil and it was never an issue.

The people we met in Konya

That said, if you’re in Turkey during Ramadan, don’t hold back from visiting Konya! It’s very likely the city where we had the most wonderful encounters. There was the tourism student who helped us figure out the metro on our first day and with whom we ended up chatting for almost an hour, the lovely bus driver we talked to the whole way to Sille who asked us to take photos in front of his bus, and then there was that absolutely magical family.

On a Friday evening, while we were wandering around waiting for sunset (and with it, the opening hour for restaurants), we arrived at Mevlana Square. There, thousands of people had gathered to wait for the breaking of the fast. Everyone was set up on large mats spread out on the ground, with big picnic baskets. As we were watching the scene, with about 45 minutes still to go until Iftar, a family started waving enthusiastically at us. Seeing that we were tourists, they spontaneously invited us to join them and share their meal. We’re far from having understood everything they told us, but the evening turned out to be wonderful! And incidentally, the home-cooked meal prepared by the women of the family remains, to this day, the best Turkish meal we’ve ever had :).

On Friday evening, while we were walking around waiting for the sunset (and therefore the opening time of the restaurants), we arrived at Mevlana Square. There, thousands of people had gathered to wait for the break of the fast. Everyone was sitting on large mats on the floor with large picnic baskets. While we were watching the scene and there were still 45 minutes to go until Iftar time, a family started to wave at us. Seeing that we were tourists, they spontaneously offered us to come and join them to share the meal. We were far from having understood everything they were telling us, but the evening was wonderful! And incidentally, the homemade meal made by the women of the family will most probably have been our best Turkish meal to date… 🙂

We hope you enjoyed this (long) practical article about Konya! Got any other recommendations for the area? Leave us a comment :)!

See you again very soon for a series of articles on Cappadocia!

P.S. — We’ve put together a complete article to help you plan your backpacking trip to Turkey! Itinerary, accommodation, transport, budget… It’s all covered!

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