Mersin

Introduction

Mersin, the capital of Mersin province, is an unpopular destination among travellers. Set along the Mediterranean coast of Turkey, it has some of the most beautiful and most isolated beaches of Turkey thus providing a great opportunity for travelers who do not like being surrounded by other tourists.

Ethnicwise, it is one of the most diverse cities with Turkish, Kurdish and Arabic inhabitants. Mersin province was formerly known as İçel until 2002 when the name was changed to match that of its capital.

Sights and Activities

• Ulu Cami
• Mersin Museum
• Kizkalesi

Events and Festivals

• Mersin Art and Culture Festival - September

Weather

The summers are hot and dry with temperature ranging from 35 °C to 43 °C. Winters are warm but usually there is rain. The temperature never falls down below 0 °C.

Getting There

By Plane

Adana Şakirpaşa Airport (IATA: ADA, ICAO: LTAF) in the city of Adana is the closest to Mersin.

Airlines flying into the airport include Blue Wings (Düsseldorf; Stuttgart), Onur Air (Antalya, Ercan, Istanbul-Atatürk, Izmir), Pegasus Airlines (Antalya, Berlin-Tegel, Düsseldorf, Ercan, Istanbul-Sabiha Gökçen, Trabzon) and Turkish Airlines (Ankara, Berlin-Schönefeld, Cologne/Bonn, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Istanbul-Atatürk, Jeddah, Venice).

By Train

The Mersin train station is located in the city centre. The Turkish State Railways operate train services to Tarsus and Adana frequently. From these cities there are services to Ankara and Istanbul.

By Bus

The bus station is located in the city centre and there are buses almost from every city in Turkey. There are free shuttles from the bus station to different parts of the city.

By Boat

There is a marina in the city centre for those who own private boats. Even though one of the biggest ports of Turkey is in Mersin, it is not used for passenger boats. The closest port used for public transportation is in Tasucu, a town two hours away from the city centre. There are connections to Cyprus from there.

Getting Around

By Public Transport

State run public transportation is free on Islamic and national holidays.

By Bike

Even though there are no bike paths in the city, due to the weather a lot people choose to bike around the city. Drivers are used to bikers, though they may not be friendly.

Eat

• Tantuni is minced beef along with onions, peppers and tomatoes wrapped in lavash bread. It is sold in every other restaurant in the city and is a must-try dish for non-vegetarians.
• Another specialty of Mersin is cezerye, sweet that is slightly similar to Turkish delight, lokum, but has totally different ingredients such as carrot, walnuts, coconut and biscuits.
• Offal is widely sold and eaten in Mersin. Even though there are restaurants selling offal through out the day street sellers only sell offal at night.

Sleep

Upscale

You can use the form below to search for availability (Travellerspoint receives a commission for bookings made through the form)

Keep Connected

Internet

Internet cafes can be found everywhere except small rural villages. The cost of an hour use of internet ranges from 1 YTL to 1.5 YTL. Wireless internet is becoming popular in some cafes in big cities such as Istanbul, Ankara, and Izmir, and at airpots. But in many other places it's still not available, or sometimes at a very high cost.

Phone

See also: International Telephone Calls

Turkey's international country code is 90. Dial 112 for an ambulance anywhere, from any telephone, without a charge. In case of a fire, dial 110; for police, call 155. However, in rural areas there is not a police coverage, so dial 156 for gendarme, a military unit for rural security. All these numbers are free of charge and can be called from a telephone booth without inserting a calling card, or any phone including cell phones.

There are telephone booths owned by Turk Telekom in major parts of cities. public phones now operate with chip telekom cards which are available in 30, 60 or 120 units and can be obtained at post offices, newspaper and tobacco kiosks.
It is estimated that approximately 98% of the population of Turkey lives within the coverage areas of Turkey’s three cell phone line providers. Line providers from most countries have roaming agreements with one or more of these companies. Pre-paid mobile phone SIM cards can be purchased for approximately TRY20-50. These can be purchased at the airport on arrival or from the many outlets in Istanbul and other large cities. Providers include Vodaphone.

Post

PTT is the national post service in Turkey. Services are generally moderately fast but quite reliable. There is an extended price list on the PTT website, where you can see the costs of sending items within Turkey, countries in Europe and further afield. For sending packages one might also use international companies such as DHL and UPS and local companies such as Yurtici Kargo. Post offices bear the distinctive yellow PTT sign and are generally open between 9:00am to 12:00 noon and 1:30pm to 5:00pm from Monday to Friday. Some might keep longer hours or be open during the weekend as well, but this mainly applies to the larger ones or those in central places and tourist areas.

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