Hotels near Kars Harakani Airport - KSY, Kars

Kars is a fascinating town with an interesting history and beautiful location. In places it is very dirty and dilapidated, with buildings crumbling and empty spaces where they have collapsed or been demolished. However, there seems to be a good deal of restoration work going on and the area around the castle and the main historical buildings has been developed and is clean and pleasant. It is worth making a visit to the ruins of Ani, the ancient Armenian capital, right on the border with present-day Armenia. Very beautiful and atmospheric. A local bus goes there once a day, leaving from very close to the hotel.

Kars is a gem in the East that many should visit. It has access to other countries like Armenia, Georgia. Living standard here is much lower than Istanbul. I will spend more time here if given another chance to visit Turkey I had my hammam here for only 110 TL, which also included massage. You can never find this in Istanbul

Traveling by train to Kars might not have been the best option although an experience. Attractions like Ani are a distance away, use the little bus, taxi's will rip you off. The bus driver however will not sell you a 1 way ticket. At the current price 30 TRY each way, is well worth it. You will however only have 2 hours to explore, but that is sufficient. The food choices are exactly the same as the rest of Turkey, Doner, Iskendar, etc. Very important point, you can get a bus in the city and do not have to go to the Otogar outside of town.

Kars itself is a cold, high, frontier town, in what was Russia late in the 19th Century, feels oddly like Alaska (also Russian then). A big fortress, lovely gardens below, but polluted river and the odd packs of large stray dogs. More like huskies, not hostile, but unnerving. Some far older buildings too, well restored overall. A lively music scene too, it seems, both classical and folk, the latter commemorated in lines of severe portrait busts. Modern airport, and taxi drivers give free Kurdish lessons. In the end I suspect, for most, a useful, vibrant, waystation to Ani, the incredible lost city on a gorge, next to the Armenian border.

It's a Turkish city like no other. As few as four decades of the Russian Empire here made it look very different. Yet, its history has been much longer, and one can see many layers. The nearby ancient ruins of Ani and natural beauty of the Lake Çıldır, a very mild summer, peculiar and mouthwatering local food specialties will just add to your overwhelming excitement.

The historic centre is very compact and has an old Armenian church, the castle and a historic bridge and hammam. When we visited (September) there were lots of other tourists there but we didn't see any other westerners. The area is clean and felt safe and is all well maintained.