When people think of Gaziantep, food is usually the first thing that comes to mind. And for good reason. The city is famous across Türkiye for its baklava, kebabs, beyran and countless other local specialties. But after spending a day here, we quickly realized that Gaziantep is much more than a food destination.
Beyond the restaurants and dessert shops, the city is home to world-class Roman mosaics, lively historic bazaars, traditional coffee houses and museums that tell the story of its role in the Turkish War of Independence.
We spent a full day exploring Gaziantep, starting with baklava on our first night in the city and ending the following evening with tea beside the wood stove at Tahmis Coffee House. Along the way we visited the Zeugma Mosaic Museum, wandered through the old bazaars, tasted katmer and menengiç coffee, and learned more about the city’s history than we expected.
In this guide, I’ll walk you through our route, share our honest impressions and include a few practical tips that might help if you’re planning a visit of your own.
Let’s get started.
🌙 First Impressions of Gaziantep
Gaziantep was the second stop on our Southeastern Türkiye road trip. After a full day in Adana, we hit the road in the evening and arrived in Gaziantep after an easy 2 to 2.5-hour drive.
The city is often considered one of Türkiye’s culinary capitals, so naturally we already had a long list of foods we wanted to try before we even arrived. But first, we decided to start with one of the city’s most famous specialties.
🥮 Koçak Baklava
Before checking into our hotel, we made a quick stop at Koçak Baklava.
Even late in the evening, the place was packed. Rows of golden baklava filled the display counters, loaded with the pistachios that Gaziantep is famous for.
We ordered a mixed dessert plate to sample a few different varieties. The first thing that stood out was how light the syrup was. Instead of overwhelming sweetness, the pistachios remained the star of the show. The amount of pistachio used was impressively generous as well.
Ask ten people where to find the best baklava in Gaziantep and you’ll probably get ten different answers. But starting our visit here felt like a pretty good decision.
After our baklava stop, we headed to the hotel, checked in, and took a short break. Before calling it a night, though, there was one more local specialty we wanted to try: beyran.
🍲 Gece Beyranı
Traditionally, beyran is considered a breakfast dish. Many locals start their day with a steaming bowl of it early in the morning. For visitors spending only a short time in the city, however, finding beyran later in the day isn’t difficult.
Later that evening, we headed back out and found ourselves in a small beyran restaurant.
Served in a copper dish, beyran is a rich soup made with lamb, rice, garlic, spices and intensely flavored bone broth. It’s hearty, warming and surprisingly powerful. After the first spoonful, it was easy to understand why this dish has become such an important part of Gaziantep’s food culture.
After a long day on the road, that hot bowl of beyran was exactly what we needed. With our first evening in Gaziantep complete, we returned to the hotel to get some rest before a busy day of exploring the city.
🏛️ Zeugma Mosaic Museum
We started the day with breakfast at our hotel before heading to our first stop: the Zeugma Mosaic Museum, one of Gaziantep’s most important cultural attractions. Located close to the city center, the museum is easy to reach and well worth a visit.
The museum itself is modern and thoughtfully designed. From the moment you enter, it feels clear that a great deal of care went into creating the visitor experience. The soaring exhibition halls and subdued lighting make every mosaic stand out under the spotlights.
🏛️ Ancient Zeugma
Most of the mosaics displayed here were recovered from the ancient city of Zeugma, which once stood on the banks of the Euphrates River.
During the Roman period, Zeugma was one of the region’s most important and prosperous cities, home to wealthy families and impressive villas. The famous Roman statesman and orator Cicero even served as governor in this part of the empire.
Calling these mosaics “floor decorations” almost feels unfair. From mythological gods and battle scenes to hunting compositions and everyday life, the level of detail is remarkable. We often found ourselves stopping to study the facial expressions, the folds of clothing and the movement captured in the figures.
Around two thousand years ago, people walked across these mosaics as part of their daily lives. Today, visitors view them from specially built platforms designed to protect them. It’s a strange and fascinating thought.
👁️ The Gypsy Girl
The museum’s most famous exhibit is the Gypsy Girl mosaic.
Reaching it feels almost ceremonial. You walk through a series of dimly lit corridors before entering a dark room where the mosaic is displayed on its own.
The first thing you notice is the gaze. No matter where you stand, it feels as if those eyes are following you around the room. Even after two thousand years, the expression remains incredibly vivid and powerful.
🌊 A History Saved from the Water
The fact that these mosaics can be seen today is largely thanks to extensive rescue excavations carried out before dam projects flooded parts of the Euphrates Valley.
Without those efforts, many of the masterpieces displayed here would likely have disappeared beneath the water forever. It’s hard not to leave the museum feeling grateful that so much of this history was preserved.
We spent around an hour to an hour and a half exploring the museum, which felt like the perfect amount of time to see everything without rushing.
🛍️ Gaziantep’s Historic Bazaars
Leaving behind the calm atmosphere of the Zeugma Mosaic Museum, we drove back into the city center. Gaziantep’s historic bazaars feel like a continuation of the history you see in the museum, only this time as part of everyday life. If you want to experience the city’s character beyond its museums and restaurants, this is the place to do it.
🔨 Gaziantep Bedesten
The Bedesten and the surrounding streets are among the busiest and most popular parts of the old city. It doesn’t take long to realize how important food is to Gaziantep. Shops are filled with sacks of pistachios, piles of spices, isot pepper, red pepper flakes and countless local products. The number of stores selling pistachios alone is remarkable.
One of the most distinctive sights is the rows of dried vegetables hanging outside the shops. Dried eggplants, peppers and tomatoes add color to the narrow streets and offer a glimpse into the ingredients that form the foundation of many local dishes.
Another thing that surprised us was the number of knife shops. Storefronts are packed with handmade knives, kebab skewers and large cleavers. Considering Gaziantep’s famous food culture, perhaps it shouldn’t be surprising that a strong tradition of craftsmanship exists alongside it.
There are also plenty of shops selling copperware. Trays, coffee sets, engraved pots and all kinds of kitchen tools fill the display windows. Even if you’re not planning to buy anything, wandering through the streets and browsing the shops is enjoyable.
In some of the side streets around the Bedesten, small workshops are still operating. Copper craftsmen, carpenters and other artisans continue working in tiny spaces tucked between the shops. Mixed among them are equally small kebab restaurants with only a few stools outside. In Gaziantep, food culture and craftsmanship seem to exist side by side.
🥮 Metanet Katmer
While exploring the Bedesten, we made our way to Metanet Katmer.
A quick note: don’t confuse Metanet Katmer with Metanet Restaurant. We were looking for the tiny dessert shop, not the restaurant. Inside, there are only a handful of tables. No fancy décor, no attempts to impress—just a small local business focused entirely on making good katmer.
The smell of butter and roasted pistachios hits you as soon as you walk through the door.
Each katmer is prepared to order. Paper-thin layers of dough are filled with generous amounts of Gaziantep pistachios and clotted cream before being cooked on a hot griddle. The edges become wonderfully crisp while the center stays soft and rich.
Sugar plays only a supporting role here. The real stars are the pistachios and the cream.
This was easily one of the best desserts we had in Gaziantep. I’ll go even further: it may have been the most delicious dessert I’ve ever eaten.
☕ Tahmis Coffee House
After the richness of the katmer, we walked a few minutes to Tahmis Coffee House, which has been operating since 1635. It’s one of Gaziantep’s most famous and most visited landmarks.
High ceilings, stone walls, antique decorations, a large wood-burning stove and wooden chairs give the place a distinctive atmosphere. Finding an empty table on weekends can be difficult. The place is loud and crowded, with people chatting, tea and coffee constantly moving between tables, and visitors taking far more photos than drinking coffee.
Trying menengiç coffee here felt almost mandatory. Made from the fruit of the wild pistachio tree, it is very different from traditional Turkish coffee. Instead of the strong, bitter profile of regular Turkish coffee, it has a much softer taste with subtle nutty and pistachio-like flavors.
To be honest, I’m not a huge fan of menengiç coffee. It’s definitely worth trying for the experience, but if I had to choose, I would still take a traditional Turkish coffee. The snacks served alongside it, however, make a nice addition.
After leaving Tahmis, we continued walking along Şehitler Street and explored more of central Gaziantep, eventually making our way toward the Şehreküstü area. Historic buildings, old shops and scenes of everyday life accompanied us along the way.
🎖️ Şahinbey Milli Mücadele Müzesi
After leaving Tahmis, we continued walking through the city center. Following Şehitler Street, we spent some time exploring the Şehreküstü area and the surrounding neighborhoods. Historic buildings, small shops and everyday city life accompanied us along the way.
Eventually, we arrived at the Şahinbey War of Independence Museum, one of the most memorable stops of the day.
This is not the kind of museum where you simply walk past display cases and information panels. Instead, it tells a story and gradually pulls you into it.
The museum focuses on the period when Antep, as Gaziantep was known at the time, was under French occupation following World War I. As you move through the exhibits, you follow the city’s struggle, the hardships of the siege and the resistance of the local population.
The use of life-sized reconstructions, sound effects and lighting is particularly effective. Some sections are deliberately dark and quiet, creating an atmosphere that feels very different from a traditional museum visit.
More importantly, the museum helps explain why the city was later given the title “Gazi,” meaning “Veteran” or “War Hero.” The stories of ordinary people carrying ammunition, delivering messages and supporting the resistance make the scale of the city’s sacrifice much easier to understand.
If you’re curious about the history behind Gaziantep’s name, this museum is well worth a visit.
After finishing our visit, we took a local minibus back toward the bazaar area. One small but useful tip: public minibuses in Gaziantep accept contactless credit cards, so there’s no need to buy a separate transportation card for short trips around the city.
🌙 Evening in Gaziantep and Saying Goodbye to the City
After leaving the museum, we returned to the bazaar district and spent a little more time wandering through the historic streets. We browsed the shops, watched the city gradually transition from day to night, and enjoyed the atmosphere before dinner.
🍽️ Dinner at İmam Çağdaş
As evening approached, we headed to İmam Çağdaş, one of Gaziantep’s most famous restaurants.
The place was packed, but what impressed us most was how smoothly everything operated. Tables were constantly turning over, yet the service never seemed to slow down.
This time, we decided to skip the more common kebab choices and ordered Patlıcan Kebabı (Eggplant Kebab) and Hünkar Beğendi. The smoky flavor of the roasted eggplant paired beautifully with the meat, while the Hünkar Beğendi lived up to expectations with its tender beef and silky eggplant purée.
For dessert, we finished with a slice of havuç dilimi baklava, a Gaziantep classic. Rich with pistachios and perfectly balanced syrup, it was a fitting end to the meal.
☕ One Last Stop at Tahmis
After dinner, we walked back to Tahmis Coffee House for one final visit.
The crowds we had seen earlier in the day were gone. The place felt completely different, more like a traditional coffee house than a tourist attraction.
The wood-burning stove, the faint smell of smoke and the soft lighting made the atmosphere far more enjoyable than during the busy daytime hours. This time, instead of menengiç coffee, we ordered apple tea and spent a while sitting near the stove.
To be honest, we liked Tahmis much more in the evening. If you have the chance, I’d recommend visiting after dark.
Before returning to the hotel, we made one final stop at Çelebioğulları to buy some baklava to take with us. Back at the hotel, we opened the box in the lobby and happily finished a few more pieces before calling it a night.
With that, our full day in Gaziantep came to an end. From the stunning mosaics of Zeugma to the lively bazaars, from menengiç coffee and katmer to kebabs and baklava, the city offered much more than we had expected.
Looking back, it wasn’t only the food that stayed with us. The museums, historic streets, traditional coffee houses and the city’s unique atmosphere left just as strong an impression.
The next morning, we would continue to the final stop of our Southeastern Türkiye road trip: Şanlıurfa.
If you’d like to see our complete route through Adana, Gaziantep and Şanlıurfa, be sure to check out our full itinerary:
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