Kırşehir travel guide

The city goes back to Hittite times and took its present name when the Seljuks occupied it in 1070: kır şehir means city of the steppes, for its high-altitude setting. It's on the North Anatolia fault line and is often roiled by earth tremors, so few antiquities have survived and its architecture is non-descript modern. It has over the centuries produced an unusual number of poets, preachers and scholars, and nowadays hosts Ahi Evran University named for one of them. Local industries are furniture, agriculture such as flour, pulses and animal feeds, light engineering, electronics and tyres.

Getting in

Kırşehir is midway along Highway D260 between Ankara and Kayseri. It's somewhat longer but quicker to use the toll motorway O-21 to the Harmandalı turnoff. Ankara, Kayseri and Nevşehir airports all have flights from Istanbul but Ankara (ESB) is the best served. Buses from Ankara run hourly, taking 3 hours via Kirikkale, and continuing east to Kayseri and beyond. From Nevşehir takes 2 hours via Hacıbektaş. Bus lines are Metro Turizm and Flixbus. Kırşehir Otogar is the bus station, 4 km north of city centre at the junction of Meytaş Cd and Highway D260.

Getting around

Town centre is walkable. Dolmuşes to Kaman can drop you at the Çağırkan turnoff, for the Kalehöyük museum.

Wikivoyage contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0; excerpted.