Experience the best of Erzurum

Erzurum stands at around 1,900 metres on a wide plateau in eastern Anatolia, ringed by bare mountains that hold snow for much of the year. Its medieval centre has the Çifte Minareli Medrese, a Seljuk college with twin minarets and a carved portal, the Yakutiye Medrese, built under the Mongol Ilkhanids with a tiled minaret, and the three domed tombs of the Üç Kümbetler. A clock tower rises from the citadel above the old town.

The Palandöken ski area rises just south of the city and hosted the 2011 Winter Universiade. The Tortum waterfall and its lake lie to the north, on the road to Yusufeli and the high valleys of the Kaçkar Mountains, and medieval Georgian churches of the Tao-Klarjeti region stand in the valleys farther north.

The city's best-known dish is cağ kebabı, lamb roasted on a horizontal spit and sliced straight onto flatbread. Jewellers in the old bazaar sell black Oltu stone, carved into prayer beads and rings. Winters are long and hard here, while summer days are bright, dry and cool at night.