The most spectacular landing in Turkey: flying over Lake Van

Landing in Istanbul is spectacular – getting a bird’s eye view of the city is fascinating enough but it cannot be compared to landing in Van. Van wasn’t really one of the most exciting cities, -however, times are changing - but arriving here by plane is one of the most remarkable travel experiences in Turkey. So despite our ever-lasting love for the dolmuş, we strongly recommend taking a flight. Of course, Van has much more to offer than amazing views from the airplane, but that will follow later, so bear with us. Now, we’re just concentrating on the most scenic route and landing.

What's on: July. Music and exhibitions

The avalanche of summer programmes is unstoppable.

What's on: June. From one festival to the other...

Summer is here with an incredibly rich list of events taking place in the whole of the country. Many of these are (partly) aimed at tourists, but most of the festivals mainly entertain locals.

Istanbul offers new temporary exhibitions in the major museums and works of many contemporary artists are displayed in smaller galleries.

What's on: May. Free visits to museums!

Museums for free! You can visit Pera Museum for free from 7pm until midnight on 14 May. You can see the two new exhibitions, paintings by Ihsan Cemal Karaburçak and the fascinating project of Fundamentally Human: Neuroscience and Contemporary Art. Of course, there is no celebration without music, so there will be a live concert and DJs. Both exhibitions can be visited until 3 July. Celebrating Museums Week, Santralistanbul can also be visited free of charge between 18-24 May.

Rafting in Istanbul? Rafring FROM Istanbul!

A calm stretch of the Büyükmelen river

So there we were in the middle of red tape with a free weekend in Istanbul. Out of the blue, friends suggested we joined them on a one-day rafting tour. Small shrieks of joy were followed by tiny shrieks of horror as we had to meet Taner at 5.30 am many miles away from our place. But it’s not every day that you can go rafting from Istanbul.

What's on: culture in April

With the festival season full in swing, you can enjoy even more films in Istanbul. The 30th International Istanbul Film Festival will be held between April 2 and 17. The more then 230 films to be screened represent a wide range from new feature films to classics, Turkish cinema, and documentaries. Are you an owl-type of person? A special treat, the Midnight Screenings is especially for you.

A song for Hasankeyf by Aynur Doğan