Turkey

Turkey is a country that refuses to be summarised. Straddling Europe and Asia, it is a place where three thousand years of empire — Greek, Roman, Byzantine, Ottoman — sit layered on top of one another, and where a single fortnight can take you from the domed skyline of Istanbul to Roman marble cities, cotton-white travertine terraces and a volcanic landscape of fairy chimneys unlike anywhere else on earth.

Istanbul is the natural starting point, and it rarely disappoints. The old city of Sultanahmet holds the Byzantine grandeur of Hagia Sophia, the six minarets of the Blue Mosque and the sprawling chambers of Topkapi Palace, once home to Ottoman sultans. Beneath the streets, the atmospheric Basilica Cistern feels like something from another world entirely. But Istanbul rewards those who go beyond the obvious too — a walk through the Spice Market and the backstreets of Karaköy in search of the best simit and döner, or an afternoon Bosphorus cruise past waterfront mansions, is every bit as memorable as the headline sights.

West and south of Istanbul, the Aegean coast is where Turkey's ancient history comes into sharpest focus. Ephesus is widely considered the best-preserved ancient city on earth — the marble street leading to the Library of Celsus is one of travel's genuinely great views. Nearby, the hillside village of Şirince offers fruit wines and village hospitality, while the battlefields of Gallipoli and the excavated layers of ancient Troy provide a more sobering, reflective side to the region's long history.

Further inland, Pamukkale is one of the most photographed landscapes in the country — brilliant white travertine terraces cascading down a hillside, filled with warm turquoise mineral pools that have drawn bathers since Roman times. The ancient city of Hierapolis sits on the plateau above, a reminder that people have been coming here to soak for the best part of two thousand years.

And then there is Cappadocia, a landscape that has to be seen to be believed. Centuries of volcanic ash eroded into surreal cones and pillars — the famous fairy chimneys — pock the valleys around Göreme, many of them carved out and lived in as cave dwellings, churches and, today, boutique cave hotels. The reason most travellers come, though, is the sunrise hot air balloon flight: hundreds of balloons lifting silently over the valleys as the light turns gold, a sight that genuinely lives up to the hype.

Between the coast and Cappadocia, Konya offers a different kind of Turkey again — the home of the whirling dervishes and the resting place of the mystic poet Rumi, a city of quiet spirituality after the crowds of the coast.

Turkey's food alone justifies the trip — from Istanbul's street food to Aegean meze, fresh seafood and the sweet, sticky pleasures of baklava and Turkish delight. Add genuinely warm hospitality, extraordinary value for money and a diversity of landscape that few countries can match, and it's easy to see why Turkey keeps drawing travellers back.