Osmaniye travel guide

Osmaniye is a city on the eastern edge of the Çukurova plain in southern Turkey. It is the seat of Osmaniye Province and Osmaniye District.

Osmaniye is in the southeast corner of the Cilician Plains, at the foot of the Nur Mountains. In the 12th century BC, after the collapse of the Hittite Empire, the area came under the rule of several polities collectively named "Neo-Hittites". In the Middle Ages, it was the seat of the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia, allies of the Crusaders, who established numerous castles. Turkish nomads arrived in the 11th century, and because the summers here are so hot and mosquito-ridden they moved seasonally between the mountains and plains.

Getting in

The most convenient airport is Çukurova (COV) 130 km west, with frequent flights from Istanbul (both IST and SAW), and daily from Ankara, Izmir, other Turkish cities and Ercan in Northern Cyprus. In 2024 COV replaced Adana airport, which has closed. Others are Kahramanmaraş (KCM) 112 km northeast, Gaziantep (GZT) 160 km east, and Hatay (HTY) 116 km south. All trains are suspended because of major engineering works in southeast Turkey. A partial re-opening is expected in 2026 when the line to Adana, Tarsus and Mersin is rebuilt, with a spur to Çukurova airport.

Getting around

The city centre is flat and compact, so is very walkable. There is a fleet of city minibuses, but you are unlikely to use them. For the outlying sites, you need a car. The downtown area is on a strange one-way grid, with several streets in parallel with each other running southwards, but none in the other direction. Devise a workaround plan before setting out. Parking space is also hard to come by in this area.

Wikivoyage contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0; excerpted.