Photo: HALUK COMERTEL (CC BY 3.0) · Source Elazığ is one of the cultural cities of Eastern Anatolia, with Harput, on the UNESCO Tentative List since 2018, and its Urartian "Milk Castle"; the Grand Mosque of 1156, whose minaret leans more than the Tower of Pisa; the Church of the Virgin Mary dated AD 179; Lake Hazar, up to 213 metres deep; Keban, Türkiye's fourth-largest lake; Palu Castle with its Urartian inscription; and Harput music.
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13 places worth seeing in Elazığ, from historic monuments to natural wonders, grouped by type. Open any of them on the map with a single click.
Photo: Haluk Cömertel (CC BY 3.0) · Source A castle founded by the Urartians in the 8th century BC, made up of an inner and an outer fortress. According to legend, milk was used instead of water in its mortar, which is why it is called the "Milk Castle". Harput has been on the UNESCO Tentative List since 2018.
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Photo: Dosseman (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Source A historic town on a plateau at 1,450 metres, 8 km north of Elazığ city centre; with its mosques, churches, tombs and mansions from the Urartian to the Ottoman period, it is an open-air museum.
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Photo: Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA) · Source A castle on a rocky outcrop overlooking the Murat River, built by the Urartian king Menua. It has a 3,000-year-old Urartian cuneiform inscription, rock tunnels, tombs and stairs. Evliya Çelebi described it as "a castle that reaches its head to the sky".
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Photo: Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA) · Source Built in 1156–1157 by the Artuqid ruler Fahrettin Karaaslan, this is one of the oldest mosques in Anatolia. Its brick minaret has been found to lean more than the Tower of Pisa.
View on mapA Syriac church built under a block of rock east of Harput Castle and dated AD 179 by its inscription. Also known as the Red Church and the Jacobite Church, it is counted among the oldest churches in the world.
View on mapA mosque built in 1465 by the Aq Qoyunlu ruler Uzun Hasan in the name of his mother, Sara Hatun; it stands in Harput's Sara Hatun neighbourhood, from which Harput takes its name.
View on mapA mosque built in 1739 by Osman Ağa, the bey of Çarsancak. Its 11th-century ebony minbar, brought from the Grand Mosque, is made using a nail-free joinery technique.
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Photo: Ingeborg Simon (CC BY-SA 3.0) · Source The remains of the historic Grand Mosque in Palu, of which the minaret still stands.
View on mapA museum opened in 1982 on the Fırat University campus; it displays finds from the rescue excavations of the Keban and Karakaya dams and a large carpet and kilim gallery.
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Photo: Gakgos (CC BY-SA 3.0) · Source A tectonic lake about 20 km long and up to 213 metres deep at its deepest point, formed in a depression on the East Anatolian Fault; it is one of the deepest lakes in Türkiye. There are picnic areas and water sports on its shore.
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Photo: Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA) · Source A cave known for the ice that forms inside it in summer, while it stays warm in winter.
View on mapSki facilities at 1,850 metres on the 2,347-metre Mount Hazarbaba, 6 km from Sivrice; Lake Hazar can be seen from the pistes.
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Photo: Haluk Cömertel (CC BY 3.0) · Source A 210-metre-high dam built on the Euphrates in 1965–1975. It created Türkiye's fourth-largest lake and, when it was built, produced 20% of the country's electricity.
View on mapElazığ lies in the Upper Euphrates section of Eastern Anatolia, on a broad plain embraced by the Keban and Karakaya reservoirs. The historic core of the city is Harput, on a plateau at 1,450 metres, 8 km north of today’s centre. The fortress founded by the Urartians in the 8th century BC was the regional centre under the Persians, Romans, Byzantines, Çubukids, Artuqids, Seljuks and Aq Qoyunlu. The castle, whose mortar is said to have been mixed with milk because of a shortage of water, is therefore also called the Milk Castle. In 2018 Harput was added to the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List.
In the 19th century, as people moved down to the plain, a new city was founded, which was first named Mamuratü’l-Aziz, then Elaziz, and in the Republican period Elazığ. Harput is the source of Harput music, with its distinctive makams and uzun havas, of “gakkoş” culture and of a rich cuisine.
In the 20th century the Keban Dam (1965–1975), built on the Euphrates, created Türkiye’s fourth-largest lake and for many years produced a fifth of the country’s electricity on its own. Lake Hazar, south-east of the city, is a deep tectonic lake formed on the East Anatolian Fault; on 24 January 2020 a major earthquake centred on Sivrice struck on this fault.
Elazığ has a continental climate: summers are hot and dry, winters cold and snowy. Averages for 1938–2025 from the Turkish State Meteorological Service:
| Month | Avg. high | Avg. low | Rainfall | Rainy days |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 3.1 °C | −3.8 °C | 42 mm | 12 |
| February | 5.2 °C | −2.9 °C | 43 mm | 11 |
| March | 11.0 °C | 1.0 °C | 58 mm | 13 |
| April | 18.0 °C | 6.5 °C | 63 mm | 12 |
| May | 23.7 °C | 10.9 °C | 54 mm | 11 |
| June | 29.9 °C | 15.4 °C | 12 mm | 4 |
| July | 34.4 °C | 19.4 °C | 4 mm | 1 |
| August | 34.4 °C | 19.3 °C | 2 mm | 1 |
| September | 29.5 °C | 14.6 °C | 9 mm | 2 |
| October | 21.6 °C | 8.9 °C | 39 mm | 7 |
| November | 12.8 °C | 3.2 °C | 50 mm | 9 |
| December | 5.7 °C | −1.1 °C | 45 mm | 12 |
The best periods are May–June and September–October. In July and August the average high is 34 °C; the shore of Lake Hazar is a cool escape in summer. In winter you can ski at Hazarbaba Ski Resort.
By air: Elazığ Airport, opened to civil flights in 1960, is one of Türkiye’s first civil airports; there are regular flights from Istanbul and Ankara.
By train: The Lake Van Express and the Southern Kurtalan Express, which leave from Ankara, pass through Elazığ; the Elazığ–Tatvan regional train also departs from here.
By road: Elazığ lies at the junction of the roads linking Malatya, Bingöl, Tunceli and Diyarbakır. Harput is 8 km from the city centre, and Lake Hazar is about 30 km away.
Day 1 – Harput: In the morning, Harput Castle and Meryem Ana Church; then the Grand Mosque with its leaning minaret, and the Sarahatun and Kurşunlu mosques. Lunch of orcik and sırın in Harput’s mansions; in the late afternoon, views of the plain from the castle and çedene coffee.
Day 2 – The lakes: A walk along the shore of Lake Hazar in the morning; in the afternoon, the view of Keban Dam and leblebi in Ağın.
Extra day: The Urartian inscription and rock tombs of Palu Castle.
The registered delicacies of Elazığ are Elazığ orciği (a sausage-like sweet of walnut pestil and grape must), sırın yemeği (sırın dish), taş ekmeği tatlısı (stone-bread dessert), Palu tava (Palu pan dish), Ağın leblebisi (Ağın roasted chickpeas), Keban biberi (Keban pepper), Elazığ vişnesi (Elazığ sour cherries), Elazığ çedene kahvesi (menengiç coffee), Elazığ geven balı (Elazığ geven honey) and menceki buğdayı (menceki wheat). Among the vineyards, the öküzgözü, boğazkere and tahannebi grapes are registered. Harput köftesi (Harput meatballs) and içli köfte (stuffed meatballs) are also staples of the table.
Elazığ province has 11 districts. Explore the places to visit, local dishes and transport in each one.
A traditional sweet made with walnuts and grape must, with a registered geographical indication.
An Elazığ dish with a registered geographical indication.
A pan-cooked dish with a registered geographical indication.
A dessert with a registered geographical indication.
Coffee made from menengiç (terebinth), with a registered geographical indication.
The main stops are Harput Castle, Harput Grand Mosque, Meryem Ana Church, the Sarahatun and Kurşunlu mosques, Lake Hazar, Hazarbaba Ski Resort, Keban Dam, Palu Castle, the Archaeology and Ethnography Museum and Buzluk Cave.
Harput is a historic town on a plateau at 1,450 metres, 8 km north of Elazığ city centre; it has been on the UNESCO Tentative List since 2018.
According to legend, because of a shortage of water, milk was used instead of water in the castle's mortar.
Measurements put its deepest point at between 152 and 213 metres; it is one of the deepest lakes in Türkiye.
Orcik, sırın, Palu tava, çedene coffee, Ağın leblebi, öküzgözü grapes and Harput music.
You can fly to Elazığ Airport, take the Lake Van Express or the Southern Kurtalan Express by train, or travel by road.
The information in this guide has been compiled from and checked against the sources below (last checked: 7 October 2026). If you spot an error, please let us know.