Elazığ
Elazığ is a city in the Eastern Anatolia region of Turkey, and the administrative centre of Elazığ Province and Elazığ District.
Founded in and around the former city of Harput, it is located in the uppermost Euphrates valley. The plain on which the city extends has an altitude of 1,067 metres (3,501 ft). Elazığ resembles an inland peninsula surrounded by the natural Lake Hazar and reservoirs of Keban Dam, Karakaya Dam, Kıralkızı and Özlüce. Its population is 387,072 (2022).
Getting to Elazığ
- 01Elazığ Airport
- 02Yeni Otobüs Terminali is
From Ankara follow D260 to Kayseri then D300 via Malatya.
Worth seeing
- 01Rüstempaşa Mosque on Billur Sk
- 02Elazığ Science Centre
- 03Harput was an ancient Armenian
Things to do
Football: Elazığspor play soccer in TFF 3rd League, Turkey's fourth tier. Their home ground Atatürk Stadium (capacity 18,400) was rebuilt 2019-23; it's 2 km west of town centre. Elazığ Kültürpark is a large recreation area 2 km west of town centre towards the football stadium. Skiing: Hazarbaba is a ski resort on the mountain rising south of Sivrice on Lake Hazar.
Where to eat
Town centre places include Bos, Amcanın Yeri, Saray and Samanlar. Harput has Antik Han Cafe, Ensar and Çara.
Getting around Elazığ the local way
- Get inThe train continues to Tatvan (7 hours), with dolmuşes and ferries to Van, and the twice weekly train to Tabriz and Tehran.
- Get inA scenic alternative from Malatya is to turn north through Battalgazi and cross the Karakaya Dam lake by ferry, which sails three times a day and takes 20 min.
- Go nextTunceli 80 km north via a ferry has rafting and mountain trekking.
From Wikivoyage: Elazığ, CC BY-SA. Not yet checked by us. Last edited 2026-09.
Text adapted from Wikipedia and Wikivoyage, CC BY-SA 4.0. Photograph: Wikimedia Commons (see file page), Wikimedia Commons.