Best time to visit Turkey

The most favorable season to travel to Turkey is between early-April & late-October. During the low-season, temperature is much cooler & snow is possible in mountainous areas. Many visitors enjoy the spring & fall, with their mild weather & small crowds.

Turkey is a huge country, and its climate varies widely from region to region as well as seasonally.

• For sightseeing holidays to Istanbul ; Sun in the summer, snow in the winter, but the humidity is a constant in sea-encircled Istanbul. Festival-filled spring and autumn are the Best times to visit Istanbul, but the chill of the winter is enlivened by magical snowfalls and languid evenings by the Bosphorus is the upside of the humid heat in the summer. Between December and March Istanbul is cold, grey and blustery. Temperatures average 5C (42F), but humidity and windchill make it feel much colder. Sleet and snow showers are not uncommon; the city is usually buried under several feet of snow at least once every winter – a magical sight, even if it means life grinds to a halt.Summers can be oppressive; temperatures average 25-30C (78-88F) from June to August, occasionally rising beyond 35C (104F). The heat and humidity can be draining during the day, but when things cool down at sunset city dwellers descend to the Bosphorus to enjoy languid evenings at waterfront cafés.  The best weather is in spring and autumn, when days are temperate and evenings mild. Occasionally, poyraz, a chill Balkan wind, and lodos, hot, humid gusts from the south, can result in a ‘four seasons in a single day’ effect. Both spring and autumn are busy festival seasons.

• Best Time to Visit Ephesus ; Coldest time of the year is January and February. Average temperature these days are approximately 10 C /40 F. Almost never have any snow. Rainy season is in  between October and April. It hardly rains in the summer time. The warmest time of the year is July and August. Midday temperature rises upto 43 C/110F. Best time to visit Ephesus is April, May, October, November. This is the time the weather is neither hot, nor cold.

• Best Time to Visit Cappadocia ; Spring (April to June) and Autumn (September to November) are the Best times to visit Cappadocia . The weather is moderate with temperatures cool and remaing in the mid 20s Centigrade At this time tim ethe year the crowds are less too. In the months of July and September, the weather can be very hot and major tourist spots can be both crowded and expensive.Cappadocia experiences a fairly cold Winter season, lasting between December to early March, with night temperatures tending to fall to 0 degrees Centigrade or lower during peak winter. The day time temperatures are in the region of 15 degree Centigrade. If visiting during winter, one popular activity to look forward to is skiing, owing to the snow witnessed during these months. The ski slopes at Mt. Erciyes are covered with powdery snow and have ideal ski conditions.

CNN ( Weather in Turkey ), CNN provides a day to day, region by region online weather forecast.

Climate of Turkey

The climate in Turkey has a vast diversity depending on the diverse topography and latitude.

Aegean and Mediterranean coastal areas enjoy the typical Mediterranean climate. There is hardly a drop of rain during the sunny and hot summer (May to October). Winters are mild and rainy in these regions, and it very rarely snows at coastal areas, with the exception of mountainous areas higher than 2000 metres of these regions, which are very snowy and are frequently not passable. The water temperature in the Aegean and Mediterranean Seas is warm during the long summer season (May to October) which constitutes the swimming season and fluctuates between 23° and 28°C from north to south.

The region around the Sea of Marmara, including Istanbul, has a transitional climate between an oceanic climate and a semi-Mediterranean climate, but it does rain, albeit not a lot, during the very warm summer (as showers which tend to last for 15-30 minutes). Its winters are colder than those of the western and southern coasts. Snow is common at coastal areas, although it doesn’t stay on the ground for long and is limited to only a few days every winter. The water temperature in the Sea of Marmara is also colder than the Aegean and Mediterranean Seas, with the water temperature reaching only between 20° and 24°C during the summer (June, July and August) and the swimming season is restricted to those summer months.

The Black Sea region has an oceanic climate (thanks to the protective shield effect of Caucasus mountains) with the greatest amount of precipitation and is the only region of Turkey that receives high precipitation throughout the year. The eastern part of that coast averages 2,500 millimeters annually which is the highest precipitation in the country. Summers are warm and humid while the winters are cool and damp. Snow is common at coastal areas, although it doesn’t stay on the ground for long and is limited to only a few days every winter, though mountains are very snowy as it is expected to be and are frequently not passable, there are glaciers around the year in the highest zones. The water temperature in the whole Turkish Black Sea coast is always cool and fluctuates between 10° and 20°C throughout the year, and is even less suitable for swimming during the summer than in the Sea of Marmara.

Most of the coastal areas have a high level of relative humidity during most of the year which makes hot weather feel hotter and cold weather feel colder than it actually is.

Interior areas like Ankara, generally have hot summers (though the nights are cool enough to make someone who is wearing only a thin t-shirt uncomfortable outdoors) and cold and snowy winters. The more easterly the location is, the colder the winters are and the heavier the snow is. The northeastern part (around Erzurum and Kars) is the only inland area which has cool and rainy summers.

The southeastern region near the Syrian border has a desert-like climate, temperature is frequently above 40°C during summers with no rain. Snowfall is occasional in winter.