Beyşehir

Beyşehir is a city in the Lakes District of Mediterranean Turkey, with a population of 77,700 in 2022. It's on the large freshwater Beyşehir Gölü or Lake Beyşehir, 45 km long by 20 km wide. The main attraction is Eşrefoğlu Mosque, inscribed as a collective UNESCO World Heritage Site with four others elsewhere known as the Wooden Hypostyle Mosques of Medieval Anatolia.

Understand

There was probably once a Hellenistic settlement here and certainly a Roman town, with its bishops recorded to 879 AD. At some point thereafter it became depopulated, only reviving in the 13th century under the Seljuks, who found it a congenial spot for their summer palace. They were followed by the Eshrefids or Ashrafids who made it the capital of their rinky-dinky little state, and it's their beys - rulers - that give the place its name.

The town stands at 1123 m at the outflow of Lake Beyşehir, which is freshwater - many bodies of water in this "Lakes District" are salty, indeed hypersaline. That gives it some leisure use, but more significantly it's a resource to agriculture. In 1914 the distinctive dam-cum-bridge was completed to regulate the outflow, and this has boosted crop yields around Konya.

Tourist information is posted on the city website.

Get in

Beyşehir is 90 km west of Konya by D330.

Inter-city public transport usually means travelling via Konya, but two overnight buses are direct from Istanbul, taking 11 hours. Four buses a day take six hours from Ankara. Five buses a day take 2 hours from Konya.

Bus lines are Metro Turizm and Flix Bus.

1 Beyşehir bus station is 2 km north of town at the junction of D330 and D350. Few fecilities here.

Get around

Town centre is compact and walkable, but you need wheels for the sights further out.

See

• 1 Eşrefoğlu Mosque, Kale Sk 21. Remarkable wooden mosque commissioned by Süleyman Bey in 1296 AD, with cedar pillars and a grand portal. Next to it is Süleyman's tomb, a medressah, and a Bedestan or cloth-market. (updated Dec 2024)
• Old town is the little quarter of cobbled lanes near the mosque. Most of Beyşehir is bland and modern.
• Beyşehir Castle survives only as a castle gate 150 m north of the mosque.
• Denirli Mosque built in 1315 is tiny. It's 150 m west of Eşrefoğlu Mosque.
• 2 Taşköprü meaning "stone bridge" is a regulator dam and road bridge built 1908-14. The Konya basin alternated between flood and drought, but the dam's control of the lake outflow enable agriculture to flourish. A dual carriageway bridge was later built to carry D687 across the river, so Taşköprü is now a broad footbridge.

Further out

Taşköprü

• 3 Eflatun Pınar ("Plato's Spring") is a sacred pool constructed by the Hittites, so it's about 3500 years old. The site is 20 km north of town off D350, and free to visit 24 hours.
• 4 Kubadabad Palace on the west lake shore was a summer palace built for Sultan Kayqubad I in the 1220s. It was only re-discovered in 1949, partly because it stood in isolation, not near a fort or citadel. So either the sultan was confident of his subjects' loyalty, or the guards on the lake island outpost were fast rowers. The site is still under excavation and closed to visits in 2024, and the access lane is in bad condition. The best of it is now in Karatay Museum in Konya, the palace tiles.

Do

• Park: the best area for strolling is along the lakeside south of the river.
• Boat trips potter out from the town jetties in summer.
• 75 Yıl Cumhuriyet Stadyumu is 1 km southeast of the river on Mehmetçik Cd. The old sports stadium north of Eşrefoğlu Mosque is derelict.

Buy

• Supermarkets are close to Taş Köprü on both sides of the river, open daily to 21:00 or later.

Eat

• Restaurants cluster along Köprübaşı Cd the main street by the lakeside south of the river.

Drink

Eşrefoğlu Mosque

• Many restaurants serve alcohol, no stand-alone pub.
• The public water supply is safe to drink but "hard" with minerals, so you might prefer to drink bottled water.

Sleep

• 1 Ali Bilir Otel, Recep Bilginer Cd 2, ☏ +90 332 512 0456. Central and friendly but smells of cigarette smoke. B&B double 3000 TL. (updated Dec 2024)
• 2 Paradise Suit Otel, Sadettin Hoca Sk 8/A, ☏ +90 332 500 0090. Clean friendly place near town centre. B&B double 2500 TL. (updated Dec 2024)
• Hotel Penta at Şarkikaraağaç Cd 29, north of Eşrefoğlu Mosque, is simply a disgrace.

Connect

Beyşehir and its approach roads have 4G from all Turkish carriers. As of Dec 2024, 5G has not rolled out in Turkey.

Go next

• Konya is a must-see for its Seljuk architecture.
• The road south comes onto the Med coast, lined with hotels. Turn east for the Roman city at Side or west for the string of resorts to Antalya.

Routes through Beyşehir

Muğla ← Isparta ←

W  E

→ Konya → Ends at (W E)