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A Winter Day in Ankara, Indoor Museums and Snowy Views

Ankara's winter is a real winter.

Radar TürkiyeRadar Türkiye15 Ekim 2026
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A Winter Day in Ankara, Indoor Museums and Snowy Views

Ankara's winter is a real winter. According to the measurements the Turkish State Meteorological Service has kept since 1927, the average January temperature in the city is just above zero and the average minimum is below zero. In January the sun shows itself for about two and a half hours a day on average. The thickest snow on record in the city is 33 centimetres, measured on 31 January 1950. In climate classification Ankara falls into the cold semi arid group; because of its altitude and its distance from the sea, its winters are cold and snowy and its summers hot and dry. This cold does not make the city harder to explore, it only changes the plan. Instead of long walks you need warm halls, and instead of trips that run into the late afternoon you need mornings that start early. This article explains how you can build a winter day in Ankara between indoor museums and snowy views.

Planning for winter

The first rule is to start the day early. The Ankara Provincial Directorate of Culture and Tourism announced that the museums and archaeological sites under it would follow winter hours from October to April in the winter of 2025-2026; in this period the museums close earlier than in the summer months and you need to complete entry before the ticket office closes. Since the day is also short, it makes sense to see the snowy views while there is light and to leave the museums for the afternoon. Also keep in mind that, according to the same measurements, on average eleven to twelve days a month bring precipitation in January and December.

A warm morning in Ulus

You can begin your winter day in Ulus at the Museum of Anatolian Civilisations. The museum occupies two historic Ottoman buildings, the Mahmutpaşa Bedesteni and the Kurşunlu Han. Its story goes back to a small Hittite Museum opened in 1921 in the Akkale tower of Ankara Castle. When space ran out, the covered market and the inn were repaired; the restoration that began in 1938 was completed in 1968. Chosen European Museum of the Year in 1997, the museum displays its works in chronological sections running from the Palaeolithic Age to the Phrygian and Urartian kingdoms. While the restoration was still going on, the central space of the covered market, whose repair was finished, opened to visitors in 1943. The museum was rearranged in 2014; today the displays also include virtual tours, reconstructions and replicas of the T shaped pillars of Göbeklitepe. Wandering through thousands of years under the domes of a covered market is one of the best ways to spend the hours while snow falls outside. The museum's official page announces that some halls may be closed for periods because of maintenance and repair; check the current situation on muze.gov.tr before you go.

Snow at the castle

Leaving the museum, a few minutes' climb takes you up to Ankara Castle. When the castle was built is not known for certain; it was repaired many times in the Roman, Byzantine, Seljuk and Ottoman periods. The Roman emperor Caracalla had the walls repaired in 217, and the Seljuk sultan Alaeddin Keykubad I also had the castle restored. The inner citadel covers an area of about 43,000 square metres, and its walls, 14 to 16 metres high, carry 42 towers, most of them pentagonal. Look closely at the walls and you will see column capitals, marble blocks and pieces of sarcophagi; in the 8th and 9th centuries pieces of nearby Roman buildings were built into the wall to repair the castle quickly. The pentagonal towers lined along the walls of the inner citadel and Akkale at its south east corner stand out more clearly when covered in snow. The stone lanes inside the walls become slippery in snow and ice; wear shoes with soles that grip and take care when climbing the towers. On a clear winter morning you can look out from the castle and see the city's roofs and the distant hills under a white cover.

Midday at the Ethnography Museum

Crossing from Ulus towards Opera, you find the Ethnography Museum on the ridge once called Namazgah Tepesi. Designed by the architect Arif Hikmet Koyunoğlu, the building was begun in 1925, completed in 1926 and opened to visitors in 1930; the museum regards the visit of King Amanullah Khan of Afghanistan on 27 May 1928 as its first opening date. Sources also mention that the building was first intended as an archaeology museum. Between 21 November 1938 and 10 November 1953 the area in the entrance hall served as Atatürk's temporary tomb; the museum reopened on 18 May 1956. Today its halls hold examples of woodwork, manuscripts, tiles and porcelain, a collection of carpets and kilims, and an Ankara House section. A flight of 28 steps leads up to the building, whose facade is clad in küfeki stone. In the woodwork hall, pieces such as the 13th century throne of the Seljuk sultan Keyhüsrev III and the 14th century wooden cenotaph of Ahi Şerafettin count among the finest examples of Anatolian woodwork. The calm of the domed hall and the inner courtyard makes a good break on a cold midday. The bronze equestrian statue in front of the building was made in 1927 by the Italian sculptor Pietro Canonica.

Anıtkabir in the snow

Go to Anıtkabir on the first clear day after snowfall. Designed by the architects Emin Onat and Orhan Arda, the complex on Rasattepe was begun in 1944 and completed in 1953. The 262 metre Aslanlı Yol, the Road of Lions running from the entrance to the ceremonial square, is lined on both sides by twenty four lion statues with junipers and roses planted between them. You reach the entrance by a 26 step stairway commemorating 26 August 1922. Hüseyin Anka Özkan, who made the seated marble lions, was inspired by the Hittite period Maraş Lion in the Istanbul Archaeology Museum. The paving of the road uses beige travertine brought from Kayseri. The architects took the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus as a model for the tomb. The snow covered lions and the yellow travertine paving make one of the most photographed images of Ankara in winter. As in the cover photograph of this article, the travertine wet with melting snow holds the reflection of the mausoleum. The Peace Park, which covers most of Anıtkabir, also turns into a quiet walking area on snowy days. The steps and the square can ice over, so watch your step.

Industrial history in Tandoğan

For the afternoon, the MKE Industry and Technology Museum in Yenimahalle makes a good indoor stop. Opened on 22 May 2013, the museum stands on the site of an old cavalry barracks built in the reign of Abdülhamid II. The barracks burned down completely in a fire on 20 November 1922 and the present building was built in its place. According to the sources, Mustafa Kemal visited the site after the fire and, saying that something better should be built in its place, spoke the well known words Türk, öğün, çalış, güven here. The museum has about 4,500 square metres of indoor and 10,000 square metres of outdoor space. The museum displays more than a thousand documents and objects from the history of Turkish industry, production machines and old weapons. Its best known piece is the Gazi Kovan, a shell case filled and fired again and again during the War of Independence. The Culture Portal writes that the museum is closed on Sundays and public holidays; check the visiting conditions before you go.

Aircraft in Etimesgut

If you want to go a little further, choose the Air Force Museum in Etimesgut. Located at Şaşmaz, at the twelfth kilometre of the İstanbul Yolu, the museum opened on 18 September 1998. Aircraft, weapons and ground defence systems stand in the open air exhibition area; on a snowy day the aircraft with snow piled on their wings make an unusual sight. The really warm hours are spent in the indoor hall. Here important events of Turkish and world aviation are told in chronological order with photographs, models and reconstructions; models of the flight attempts of Hezarfen Ahmed Çelebi and Lagari Hasan Çelebi and scale models of the first domestic aircraft are also here. Among the aircraft outside are MiG series aircraft donated by the air forces of several countries and a Blériot replica named Fethi Bey, built for a documentary film. One corner of the hall is dedicated to Sabiha Gökçen, the first woman combat pilot, who donated her belongings herself. Visitors can sit in the cockpit of a training aircraft and of a fighter bomber. Sources state that the museum is closed on Mondays.

A short note on skiing

There is also a place to ski near Ankara. Elmadağ Ski Centre lies about 17 kilometres south east of the city, on the northern slope of Elmadağ, at altitudes between 1500 and 1850 metres. According to Wikipedia, January to March counts as the ski season, and a large part of the facilities belong to universities and clubs. The same source writes that snow depth in the season is usually 30 to 60 centimetres and that the runs, 700 metres in total, are treeless. In spring and summer the area is also used for nature walks. We could not find an official source on the centre's current status; if you plan to go, get information from the institutions concerned first.

Practical notes

The museums and the castle in Ulus can be reached by public transport heading towards Ulus, and the MKE museum by vehicles heading towards Tandoğan. Since roads can slow down on snowy days, put any trip out to the districts at the start of the day. Dress in layers, because the indoor halls are warm and the open areas are cold. Since visiting hours and winter period arrangements can change, check the current information for each museum on its official page.

Sources

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