Tushpa
Tushpa was the 9th-century BC capital of Urartu, later becoming known as Van which is derived from Biainili, the native name of Urartu.
Tushpa was the 9th-century BC capital of Urartu, later becoming known as Van which is derived from Biainili, the native name of Urartu. The ancient ruins are located just west of modern-day Van, Turkey and east of Lake Van in Van Province. In 2016 it was inscribed in the Tentative list of World Heritage Sites in Turkey.
Adapted from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Worth seeing in and around Tushpa
6 places within 25 km that the world writes about, in the order of how widely: the ones a visitor has heard of first, then the ones only a local would name.
- 01Urartu
Urartu was an ancient civilization and Iron Age kingdom centered on the Armenian highlands between Lake Van, Lake Urmia, and Lake Sevan. The territory of the ancient kingdom of Urartu extended over the modern frontiers of Turkey, Iran, Iraq, and Armenia.
0 m · Iron Age kingdom located in a large region around Lake Van · Wikipedia - 02Rusahinili
Rusahinili Rusa I)", modern Toprakkale, is an ancient Urartian fortress built by Rusa I, located near the modern city of Van in eastern Turkey. The site has been excavated by archaeological teams from Germany, the United Kingdom, and other countries.
5.8 km · modern Toprakkale, Turkey, is an ancient Urartian fortress built by Rusa I, located near the modern city of Van in eastern Turkey · Wikipedia - 03Van Museum
The Van Museum or Urartu Museum is a museum located in the city of Van in eastern Turkey. It showcases on 13,000 m2 a large archaeological and ethnographic record of human life and cultural development in the lake Van region from eastern Anatolia’s Stone Age to the present.
500 m · museum in İpekyolu District · Wikipedia - 04Shamiram canal
The Menua Canal, also known as the Semiramis Canal or as the Shamiram Canal, is a canal joined with a series of hydraulic works such as aqueducts constructed by King Menua of Urartu. It is located to the east of Van, Turkey and runs 56 kilometres, supplying a large region and flowing into Lake Van.
2.4 km · ancient canal in modern Turkey · Wikipedia - 05Xerxes’s inscription
The Xerxes I inscription at Van, also known as the XV Achaemenid royal inscription, is a trilingual cuneiform inscription of the Achaemenid King Xerxes I. It is located on the southern slope of a mountain adjacent to the Van Fortress, near Lake Van in present-day Turkey.
500 m · cuneiform inscription near Lake Van, present-day Turkey · Wikipedia - 06Van Yüzüncü Yıl University
Van Yüzüncü Yıl University is a university in Van, Turkey. The name was "Yüzüncü Yıl University" until June 15, 2017.
8.8 km · state university in Van, Turkey · Wikipedia
Ranked by the number of language editions of Wikipedia with an article on each, from Wikidata; the sentences are the openings of those articles, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Getting to Tushpa
- Airports
- Nakhchivan (NAJ), 199 km · Zvartnots (EVN), 205 km · Shirak (LWN), 254 km
- Stations
- Van Ferit Melen Airport, 3.6 km · Van railway station, 4.3 km · Van Pier railway station, 3.5 km
- Nakhchivan → TushpaTrain, bus, flight, ferry and road, side by side
- Ganja → Tushpa355 km · quickest by road, 12h 49m · $55–80
- Baku → Tushpa600 km · quickest by road, 13h 22m · $60–85
- Plan a tripFrom anywhereThe planner compares every way there from wherever you are.
Road and air are today’s quick answer; timetabled trains, buses and ferries load on the results page from the operators’ feeds.
No local-transport research exists yet for Tushpa
Our researched notes are written from a sourced entry: every shared taxi, boat and village bus with its operator, its rule, its fare and the year we saw it, and what could not be confirmed. Nobody has done that work for Tushpa. What is above is what we hold from open sources; nothing here pretends to be more.
- Get inThey leave Tehran W & Su at 12:30 for Tabriz at 01:30, then four hours of border procedures at Razi / Kapıköy, to arrive at Van ferry pier at 11:00.
- Get inThis is the main station, the ferry pier is not shown as a separate station.
- Get inFerries across the lake from Tatvan sail infrequently and irregularly and take 4 hours.
- Get aroundFor the castle and museum take a dolmuş signed "Kale", which means castle but also refers to the sprawling suburb north of it.
- Get aroundA dolmuş ride costs 20 TL in 2025, pay the driver as you get in.
From Wikivoyage: Van, CC BY-SA. Not yet checked by us; that article was last edited 2026-09.
- 01222 km
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- 04393 km
- 05421 km
If you know how people move in Tushpa – the stand, the rule, the fare – tell us, and the note gets an entry.
Next door to Tushpa
Tushpa is 4 km from Van, the nearest large city, whose note carries the wider picture.