Adana

File:Adana banner Stone Bridge - The Roman-era Stone Bridge spanning the Seyhan River Adana is in Mediterranean Türkiye.

Introduction

Ziyapasa Caddesi - Ziyapaşa Caddesi in central Adana Lying a fair distance away from the Mediterranean coast, in the centre of huge Cilician Plains and on the banks of Seyhan River, Adana is the fifth most populous city in Türkiye with a population of over 1.5 million. It's not much known as a tourism destination, though, mainly when compared with its southern and Western neighbours. There are sites of interest in the surrounding countryside. Modern Adana consists of two quite separate sections: cramped old downtown and newer, mostly high-rise suburbs overlooking the Seyhan dam to north of the old centre, called Kuzey Adana or Yeni Adana (i.e. "North Adana" or "New Adana", respectively). Despite its location Adana is a remarkably modern and Western city. Thit is in large part due to the presence of a NATO base in Incirlik, which provides the city with an unusually large population of Westerners and foreign-educated Turks. Adana is also a destination for dental tourism, owing to a large number of cheap, effective, English-speaking dentists in the area.

Travel to Adana

By plane

Adana Sakirpasa Airport IATA Flight Code: ADA - It's a fairly short cab ride to town center (costing about 130 TL) and is served frequently by dolmuş.

Take a bus to Adana

As with the rest of the nation, another common way of getting here is to use the buses. They arrive here frequently from Ankara, Istanbul, Izmir and several other city's around Türkiye. Journey time from Istanbul is around twelve hours, fares starting at 190 TL. Inter-city bus companies includes Varan, Ulusoy and Metro. Make sure you get off at the right station as most buses also stop at a station in the suburbs, about 4 kilometers west of downtown. Getting off at the wrong station may be frustrating, but not an disaster since a local bus connects them. The bus station in downtown lies close to the Hilton hotel

Travel by train to Adana

The best route from Istanbul or Ankara is to take the YHT fast train to Konya. From there a daily train departs around 14:30, taking six hours via Karaman to Adana; the return train leaves Adana around 07:40. So a same-day connection is feasible. The line between Konya and Adana is being upgraded for YHT: there was a lengthy partial closure in 2016/17 and future engineering disruption seems likely. The Cukurova Express overnight sleeper between Ankara and Adana has been suspended for a few years due to construction works, but it will return in December 2018. A daily train between Adana and Kayseri and a few regional trains from Elazığ, Mersin and Iskenderun are also available. The lines to Aleppo and to Gaziantep thence across Syria to Mosul in Iraq, are closed indefinitely. Adana train station GPS 37.003707,35.319148 is located along Atatürk Cd, in the northern end of the central city.

Rent a Car or Limousine in Adana

Driving to Adana is an option; from Ankara and the national capital and there is highway all the way (European road number: E90) but distances are long. The motorway O-21 will connect the two city's, but it doesn't reach any further north from Niğde for the time being, however even if there is no motorway for about half of the route from Ankara and the current highway has separated directions all along it, anyway. Once you have passed the pass of Cilician Gates (Gülek Boğazı) through the Taurus Mountains into the Cilician Plains, take O-51 eastwards.

Getting around

Walking in Adana — you can explore downtown Adana by walking. It is very easy and enjoyable to walk around downtown.
City buses — Extensive bus network including city buses and dolmuş.
Adana Metro — There is also a subway line, though only a short stub of 13 stations.
Many taxis with prices comparable to the rest of the nation.

What to See

Çatalan Bridge - Longest bridge in Türkiye.
Central Park
Justinianus Roman Bridge
Seyhan Dam, Love Island, & American Island
Old Dam and Dilberler Seki Road
Old Town and the Clock Tower
Sabancı Mosque - One place you should not miss while in Adana. The mosque was built in 1999 and is the largest mosque in Türkiye.

Museums

Archaeological Museum of Adana - Re-opened for visits after restoration (except for stone monuments section, still being restored).
Atatürk Museum
Ethnographic Museum of Adana
Misis Mosaic Museum
State Fine Arts Gallery

What to do as a Muslim in Adana

Driving by the lake and seeing the beautiful view is one of the things you can do while in Adana. Most of the local residents spend their evenings drinking organic juice by the lake.
You can visit ancient city's around Adana, such as Magarsus, Ayas, Commana, Castabala and Misis.
You can go to Akyatan Lagoon or Kapuzbasi Waterfall.
You can swim (in Karataş on the Mediterranean coast, south of Adana), however Turkish residents go to Mersin when they want to go swimming.
You can go to Aqualand (wave pool, lazy river and various slides).
There are 3 saunas in downtown (Yeni Sauna, Bizim Sauna and Sirin Sauna). Entrance fee is 10 euros and massage costs a further €10. Also you can go to more traditional Turkish baths.

Muslim Friendly Shopping

Adana has four malls (Optimum, Galleria, M1 and Carrefour). Optimum Outlet and M1 Shopping Centre are the largest. Optimum was opened in mid 2011 and is the newest. M1 and Optimum share many of the same stores where you can find almost all of the world class brands. (Real Hypermarket, Praktiker, Media Markt, Zara, Mudo City, Cinebonus, Tepe Home, Toys R'Us, Gap, US Polo) Halal Restaurants Please be informed that on some destination such as Adana we had no local Muslim that has researched some of the area. If you are a Muslim/Muslima and have been to Adana or would like to maintain the eHalal Guide to Adana, please contact us at guides@ehalal.io and email us your updates.

Adana Kebabs Delicious and famous Adana lal-poultry-dishes/ Halal kebab and mezzes, accompanied by salgam (turnip) juice
Cafe Ora On Baraj Road, close to bus station Has a café on second floor. You can obtain a bici bici (traditional Adana sweet) for TRY3 there.
Elem Restaurant
Hasan Kolcuoglu
Kazancilar South Demirel Ave
Mado's On Cemal Paşa, Kurttepe, Toros St, rrefour/ Carrefour Mall and M1 Mall Sweet shop. Higher class than your regular street vendor and a little pricey, but delicious food. You should eat special Turkish ice cream.
Park Zirve Lake
Sercan South Demirel Ave
Starbucks (Please do not support Starbucks as Starbucks supports Israel. Shun this Coffee and go for alternative brands and if possible for a Muslim owned brand.) Ziyapaşa Ave, M1 Shopping Centre, Cukurova University Campus, New Adana There are 4 Starbucks (Please do not support Starbucks as Starbucks supports Israel. Shun this Coffee and go for alternative brands and if possible for a Muslim owned brand.) Coffee shops in Adana, in addition to one in Incirlik. The one on Ziyapaşa is a popular hangout for expatriates and English-speaking Turks.

Where to stay

//2023-09-16&checkOut=2023-09-17&2690&&Adana+HiltonSA+Hotel&hotelId=363041&&.Zzdeccfa84609d4 b69a5c2207-206204 Hilton Adana - The tallest building in town. Looks quite strange in a not that big town to have such a huge Hilton Hotel
//2023-09-16&checkOut=2023-09-17&2690&&Turistik+Otel+Koza&hotelId=4972636&&.Zz0fc7496 bfa54468c8b5397d-206204 Konya Hotel - The rooms are clean but there is no heater.

Telecommunication

Adana's telephone code is (+90) 322.

Adana Halal Travel Guide

Some of the towns and sights around Adana include:

Tarsus — St. Paul's Well is in a courtyard long believed to be the site of St. Paul's house. You can also visit The Cleopatra Gate, Roman road and Tarsus Museum in Tarsus
Mersin — situated 65 kilometers west of Adana, another large city in the area, although this one is on the coast.
Incirlik — situated 10 kilometers east of Adana, site of a NATO base with a majority U.S. presence.
Antakya — a few hours to south, with lots of history.
Cilician Mountains#Other destinations|Kizkalesi — about 100 kilometers to west, a historic castle on an islet off shore.
Kahramanmaraş — a small city in the hills with an impressive archaeological museum, famous for its ice cream (roughly a 2½ hour bus ride).
Gaziantep — Turkey's sixth-largest city, visited mostly for its mosaic museum and the copper-workers around the castle (roughly 2½ hours by bus)