Muğla Old Town

Most people pass through Muğla on the way to the coast without stopping, which is why its old quarter stays as it is. Saburhane, below the citadel hill, is a grid of narrow streets lined with whitewashed nineteenth-century houses, and the detail that identifies them is the chimney: Muğla bacası, tall and elaborately built with a hood and decorative crown, standing above every roof and unlike anything elsewhere in Turkey. The quarter was historically mixed Greek and Turkish, and the church, the mosque and the old school stand within a few streets. Around Saburhane is the working bazaar - Arasta, the coppersmiths, the covered market - which is genuinely a local trading area rather than a tourist one, with a Thursday market that fills the streets. There is a museum in a restored house, a clock tower on the hill and the Yağcılar Han courtyard for tea and lunch. Muğla is a university town, so the cafés are good and cheap.

What you'll find

• The chimneys - the ornamented Muğla bacası above every roof.
• The Saburhane streets - whitewashed houses in a tight grid.
• The working bazaar - coppersmiths, arasta and the covered market.
• Yağcılar Han - the old courtyard han used for eating.

When to go

April to June and September to November. Thursday for the market; weekday mornings for the bazaar at work. Summer inland here is hotter than the coast.

Practical notes

It is a working provincial town, not a restored showpiece - some houses are shabby. There is little in the way of tourist facilities or English signage. A few hours covers it.

Nearby

Akyaka is 25 km toward the coast; Marmaris and the Gökova gulf are south.