Ankara is the cheapest capital-city break in the region: nearly every park, mosque and han courtyard is free, a plate of döner in Bahçelievler costs less than a coffee in Istanbul, and one Ankarakart tap buys a cable car with a whole-city view.
Turkey's largest mosque, finished in 1987 in Ottoman-revival style with four 88-metre minarets. Entry is free outside the five prayer times, and headscarves and wrap skirts are lent at the shoe racks by the north door.
A restored quarter of bay-windowed Ottoman timber houses below Hacı Bayram, rebuilt by Altındağ council after 2007. Walking the cobbled lanes costs nothing and the Karacabey Hamamı courtyard and mesir workshops are open to look at.
Atatürk ordered this 27-hectare park drained from a marsh and opened it in 1943 as the republic's first public leisure ground. The lake, plane-tree avenues and dancing-fountain shows in the evening are all free to walk through.
The small Çankaya park whose black swans were a 1958 gift from the Chinese government, wedged between the embassies on Tunalı Hilmi. Benches, a duck pond and free wifi make it the standard late-afternoon stop for locals.
A two-storey caravanserai built in 1508-11 by Hasan Pasha, still working as a bazaar of haberdashers, button sellers and tailors. Entry to the arcaded courtyard is free and the han's own tea house serves glasses at street prices.
The Weavers' Slope climbing from Ulus towards the Citadel gate, lined with copper, wool and spice stalls; the Bakırcılar Çarşısı branch off it sells hand-beaten pans. Vendors weigh roasted chickpeas and apricots by the 100 grams.
The student eating street behind Ankara University, four blocks of döner, tantuni, kumpir and pide counters competing on price. A full portion with ayran runs well under the cost of a sit-down meal in Kızılay.
The pedestrianised fish and meyhane lane off Kızılay square, where tables spill onto the asphalt and grilled hamsi, midye dolma and kokoreç are sold by the piece from open counters at the Ziya Gökalp end.
A reservoir in a wooded valley south of the city, managed by Middle East Technical University since 1956. A flat 6 km gravel track loops the shore past reed beds and rowing sheds, with picnic tables and drinking fountains along it.
Bare steppe until 1961, when the university began planting what is now a forest of some 30 million trees. The road in from the A1 gate past Devrim Stadium is open to walkers and the campus canteens sell subsidised tea and toast.
A green corridor built through the Dikmen valley from the 1990s onward, with artificial ponds, a long pedestrian suspension bridge and stepped terraces. Open around the clock and free, it stays quiet on weekday afternoons.
The municipal cable car running 3.2 km from Yenimahalle metro up the Şentepe ridge, opened in 2014 as public transport rather than a ride. The cabins climb over rooftops to a plateau looking back across the whole plain.