Ankara became the capital of Turkey in 1923 because Ataturk chose it: a provincial Anatolian town of about twenty thousand people, defensible, central, and pointedly not Istanbul. It is now a city of more than five million, almost entirely built in the last century, and it is the seat of government, the diplomatic corps and the universities. Almost nobody comes here as a tourist, which is precisely why it is interesting and why so few packing guides exist for it.
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What it has is two things of real substance. Anitkabir, Ataturk's mausoleum, is a vast ceremonial complex that tells you more about modern Turkey in two hours than anything else in the country. And the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations, in a restored Ottoman bedesten below the castle, holds the best Hittite collection anywhere and is one of the finest archaeological museums in Europe or Asia.
What Makes Ankara Different to Pack For
It is a steppe city at 938 metres, and it is cold
This is the thing visitors who have only been to the Turkish coast get wrong. Ankara has a continental steppe climate: winter runs minus 4°C to 4°C with snow that lies, frequent frost and January nights well below zero, while summer runs 18°C to 32°C, hot and very dry. Spring and autumn are short and pleasant.
A merino wool base layer for women is the right foundation for a winter visit, particularly given the swing between a freezing street and an interior heated hard.
It is dry, and the winter air is bad
Ankara sits in a basin, and in still cold weather it traps pollution from heating and traffic. Winter smog days are a real feature and matter if you have a respiratory condition. The rest of the year the dryness is the issue: chapped lips, dry eyes and dehydration you do not notice.
It is a big, spread out, modern city
The sights are kilometres apart: Anitkabir in the west, the castle and museum in the old quarter, Kocatepe in the centre. The metro and buses are good and cheap.
Dress expectations sit between Istanbul and the conservative interior
Ankara is a secular administrative capital with a large student and professional population, and it is noticeably more relaxed than central Anatolia generally, while still being an Anatolian city rather than a resort.
Recommended Tours and Experiences
The Ankara Packing List
Footwear
Comfortable flat walking shoes, because Ankara involves distance and the castle quarter is steep cobble and rough stone.
For winter, insulated waterproof boots with tread, because Ankara gets real snow and ice and the hill up to the castle is the worst of it. Something you can slip off for a mosque.
Clothing
Layers. For winter, a base layer, a fleece or insulated mid layer, a windproof outer, a warm hat, insulated gloves and a scarf, plus thermal leggings for standing outdoors at Anitkabir.
A packable rain jacket for spring and autumn. For summer, light loose clothing, because the dry heat is considerable.
A scarf, which is required to cover your head in a mosque and which also serves for sun, dust and cold. Cover shoulders and knees for Kocatepe and Haci Bayram, and shoes come off at the door. Ankara is a smartly dressed city by Turkish standards, more formal than the coast, so one decent outfit is genuinely useful.
For sun
Summer sun on the steppe at altitude is strong, and Anitkabir's ceremonial plaza is enormous and entirely unshaded. A wide brim sun hat, sunglasses and sunscreen. Lip balm and moisturiser for the dryness year round.
Practical
Cards work widely in Ankara and contactless is normal, but carry Turkish lira for markets, small cafes and taxis. An Ankarakart for the metro and buses. A refillable bottle, though tap water in Ankara is generally avoided for drinking and bottled is universal.
A power bank. A photocopy of your passport, since hotels register it and police checks exist. A translation app, because English is less widely spoken here than in Istanbul or the resorts.
A dust mask or at least awareness of the air quality index in winter if you are asthmatic. And a small bag rather than a large one, since bags are scanned at museums, Anitkabir and metro entrances.
What to Wear at Key Sites
Anitkabir
Ataturk's mausoleum: a Lion Road of stone lions, a ceremonial plaza the size of several football pitches, the tomb itself and a large museum beneath it.
Practically: the plaza is vast, open and completely unshaded, and it is bitter in a January wind and baking in August, so dress for standing outdoors for two hours. Comfortable shoes for a lot of marble. Entry is free, bags are scanned, and the changing of the guard happens on the hour. This is a place of national reverence and behaviour matters: no loud talking near the tomb, no posing for photographs on the steps, and follow the guards' instructions immediately. Modest, tidy clothing is appropriate.
The Museum of Anatolian Civilizations
In a restored fifteenth century covered market below the castle, holding Hittite, Phrygian, Urartian and Neolithic collections including the finds from Catalhoyuk.
Practically: indoors and warm, so a layer to shed. Allow two to three hours, and go before the castle so you understand what you are looking at from the walls. The walk up from Ulus is steep.
Ankara Castle and Hamamonu
The citadel on the rock above the old town, with village like lanes inside the walls, and the restored Ottoman quarter of Hamamonu nearby.
Practically: the castle walls are unrestored in places, with uneven stone, no railings and real drops, and they are genuinely slippery in ice. Grippy shoes. The lanes inside are residential, so behave accordingly. Hamamonu is restored, pedestrianised and pleasant for a coffee.
Kocatepe Mosque and Haci Bayram
The enormous modern Ottoman style mosque, and the older shrine and mosque complex beside the Temple of Augustus.
Practically: a headscarf, covered arms and legs, loose clothing and shoes off at the door. Avoid Friday midday prayers as a visitor. Haci Bayram is a genuine pilgrimage site and is busy with worshippers rather than tourists.
The Roman remains
The Temple of Augustus with the Res Gestae inscription, the Roman baths and the column of Julian, scattered through Ulus.
Practically: outdoor, exposed and dusty. Ordinary walking clothing, sun protection in summer.
Tunali Hilmi and the modern city
The Cankaya and Kavaklidere districts, where the cafes, bookshops and embassies are.
Practically: this is the part of Ankara that feels like a contemporary European city, and it dresses accordingly. Comfortable shoes, ordinary clothing.
What Not to Bring
Leave a coastal Turkish wardrobe, because Ankara in January is a snowy steppe city and nothing like Antalya.
Leave shorts and vests, which suit neither the climate nor the city. Leave heels for the castle hill. Leave the expectation of a tourist infrastructure, because Ankara is a working capital and the English signage and tourist services are thin. Leave a large bag, which will be scanned everywhere. Leave any casual behaviour at Anitkabir. And leave a single night as your plan if the museum interests you at all, because it deserves a morning on its own.
Essential Resources for Women in Ankara
Emergency numbers in Turkiye: 112 is the single national emergency number for ambulance, fire and police, having replaced the older separate numbers, and it works throughout the country. English is available but not guaranteed, so having your hotel call is often faster.
Tourist support: Turkiye has a tourism police, the Turizm Polisi, concentrated in the main tourist cities rather than in Ankara, where the regular police handle everything. The Ministry of Culture and Tourism operates information offices, and ALO 176 is the tourism information line. A theft is reported at a police station for the report your insurer needs.
US Embassy: the Embassy is in Ankara itself at tr.usembassy.gov, which is the one practical advantage of the capital, with consulates in Istanbul and Adana. Enrol in the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program at step.state.gov before you travel.
Main hospital or clinic: Ankara has the best medical provision in Turkiye outside Istanbul, with major university hospitals including Hacettepe and Ankara City Hospital, one of the largest hospital complexes in the world, plus private hospitals such as Acibadem and Medicana used by visitors. Turkish private healthcare is good and inexpensive by western European standards and wants payment or insurance up front, so travel insurance is advised. Pharmacies, eczane, are plentiful and operate an out of hours rota.
Official health authority: the Saglik Bakanligi at saglik.gov.tr. Tap water in Ankara is treated but is heavily chlorinated and mineral, and almost everyone drinks bottled, which is cheap and universal. No vaccination requirements beyond routine ones. Winter air quality in the Ankara basin is the health issue that genuinely applies, with smog days in still cold weather, and the readings are published. The dryness at 938 metres causes more minor discomfort than anything else. Turkiye sits in a major earthquake zone, and while Ankara is less exposed than the south and west, knowing your building's exits is sensible anywhere in the country.
US State Department travel advisory for Turkiye: current advisory level and detail. Turkiye carries a nationwide caution with specific do not travel areas along the Syrian and Iraqi borders in the southeast, which are a long way from Ankara. Read it directly rather than relying on this page.
UK FCDO travel advice for Turkiye: entry requirements, safety and health guidance, including the regional risks section naming the restricted border provinces, the terrorism section and the guidance on demonstrations, which are periodically significant in the capital.
Official tourism authority: the Turkish tourism board at goturkiye.com, with the Ankara provincial directorate for museum opening hours and the Anitkabir ceremonial timings.
Solo women safety assessment: Ankara is a straightforward and comfortable city for a woman travelling alone, and in several respects easier than Istanbul. It is a secular administrative capital with an enormous student population across several major universities, a large diplomatic community, excellent public transport and a professional daytime rhythm, and it sees so few foreign tourists that you attract curiosity rather than the commercial attention that wears people down in the resort towns and the Istanbul bazaars. Street harassment exists and is noticeably milder here than in Istanbul's tourist districts, and much milder than in the coastal resorts. Violent crime against visitors is rare. Walking alone in Kizilay, Tunali Hilmi, Cankaya and Kavaklidere in the evening is entirely normal and those districts are busy and lit. The practical precautions are ordinary: keep a bag zipped in the Ulus markets and on crowded metro trains, which is where pickpocketing happens; treat the streets around the Ulus bus and market area as daytime territory, since it is scruffier and less comfortable at night; use a licensed taxi, BiTaksi or an app rather than an unmarked car, and insist on the meter, since refusing the meter is the standard scam; and take the usual care over drinks. Dress modestly enough not to be conspicuous, which in Ankara means covered shoulders and knees rather than anything stricter, and carry a scarf for mosques. Two things specific to the capital. The first is that this is the seat of government, so demonstrations, political gatherings and heavy police presence occur, particularly around Kizilay and the ministries, and the correct response to any of them is to leave the area rather than watch, because Turkish law on participation in unauthorised gatherings is strict and applies to foreigners. The second is photography: do not photograph military installations, police, or government buildings, which are numerous here, and be careful around Anitkabir's guards. On the physical side, ice and snow in winter cause the falls, the castle walls are unguarded and genuinely hazardous in ice, the winter air quality matters if you are asthmatic, the summer dryness dehydrates, and Turkish traffic is fast and pedestrian crossings are treated as advisory.
Reading On
Ankara is four and a half hours from Istanbul on the high speed train and has its own international airport. The Turkey travel guide for women is the parent for the country and the Turkey packing list for women covers a trip across it, including the dress code in more detail. West, the Istanbul packing list for women covers the city on the Bosphorus and the Bodrum packing list for women the Aegean coast. South, the Cappadocia packing list for women covers the rock landscape three hours away, which shares Ankara's continental climate, and the Antalya packing list for women the Mediterranean. The travel packing guide for women is the parent for all destinations. For why a thin wool layer handles a freezing street and an overheated interior, the best merino wool base layers for women explains the fibre, the merino wool for women who run cold covers the cold end, and the Roman Trail collection is where the tops themselves live.
If the outer journey is calling you, the inner one usually is too. Explore SoulMap at romantrail.com/blogs/soulmap.
