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Geonivora
Region

Hatay Province

Local name: Hatay ili

Located in Turkey Coordinates: 36°30′00″ N 36°15′00″ E

Hatay Province
Antakya · Maarten Sepp · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Population
1,562,185
1.6M
Elevation
1,255 m
above sea level
Local time
UTC+03:00
Europe/Istanbul · UTC+03:00
Places inside
178
listed under Hatay Province
When to go
June–September
See the climate
Airports
HTY Hatay Airport16 km
ALP Aleppo International Airport95 km

About Hatay Province

Hatay Province is a region. Location: Turkey. Population: 1,562,185.

From Wikipedia

Hatay Province (Turkish: Hatay ili, pronounced [ˈhataj]) is the southernmost province and metropolitan municipality of Turkey. Its area is 5,524 km2 (2,133 sq mi), and its population is 1,686,043 (2022). It is situated mostly outside Anatolia, along the eastern coast of the Levantine Sea. The province borders Syria to its south and east, the Turkish province of Adana to the northwest, Osmaniye to the north, and Gaziantep to the northeast.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

At a glance

Area
5,403 km²
Official website
hatay.gov.tr

Source: Wikidata

Travel notes for Hatay Province

From Wikivoyage

Hatay is a province in the southeastern part of Mediterranean Turkey, bordering Syria.

Understand+

The Dead Sea Fault Line runs from the Red Sea through the Dead Sea and Jordan valley to end near the northeastern tip of the Mediterranean, where it meets the East Anatolian Fault. The land west of it lies upon the African tectonic plate and east upon the Arabian plate: it's a "slip-strike" fault with both sides moving north, but the Arabian plate is overtaking by 5 mm a year. It's been active for some 50 million years, throwing up the mountain chain that sunders Hatay from the rest of Turkey, and its most recent major movement was in the earthquakes of February 2023. Hatay and adjoining parts of Southeast Anatolia were devastated and are still trying to recover.

The Ottomans captured the region in 1516 AD and it became part of their sprawling empire. From 1866 to the First World War it was governed within the vilayet - administrative region - of Aleppo, which also took in Kahramanmaraş, Gaziantep and Urfa; so it had a large Syrian population as well as Turks and Armenians. The Ottoman Empire was carved up after the war and the region was allotted to French-controlled Syria, not to the new Republic of Turkey. But there was pressure from Turkey to cede the territory, which was worth little to France, and in 1938 it briefly became the State of Hatay - nominally independent but effectively under French and Turkish joint control. That name was coined by Kemal Atatürk and referred to the ancient Hittites who for centuries ruled the Anatolian heartland, to reinforce his narrative that it was naturally a part of Turkey. Following a rigged plebiscite in 1939, Hatay indeed became a province of Turkey. Syria gained independence from France in 1946 and to this day remains officially in denial about losing Hatay, with maps denoting some kind of "special administrative region", but there was never the sort of border nonsense that formerly affected travel in Kosovo / Serbia, Moldova / Transnistria or North / South Cyprus.

Get in+

Hatay Airport (HTY IATA) is 25 km north of Antakya and 45 km southeast of Iskenderun. It has daily flights from Istanbul (both IST and SAW) and from Ankara.

By road follow toll motorway O-53, which branches off O-52 the Adana-Gaziantep motorway. It's flanked by coast highway D817, non-toll but congested and industrial. These join south of Iskenderun to snake over Belen Pass to Antalya then the border with Syria.

Buses from Istanbul run via Adana to Iskenderun and Antakya. They no longer run from Beirut, Damascus or Aleppo.

Iskenderun port was wrecked in the 2023 earthquake and resumption of ferries is nowhere in sight. From Northern Cyprus sail to Mersin.

Trains to Iskenderun are suspended because of interminable track works around Adana.

Source: Wikivoyage · CC BY-SA 4.0 · abridged

Places bordering Hatay Province

Climate of Hatay Province

Best months for sightseeing

Best months for sightseeing: June–September.

This month · November

Outside the best season

Day 14° · Night 4° · Rain 90 mm

Better nearby cities in November

  • İskenderun · 12 km northwest22°
  • Arsuz · 34 km west21°
  • Antakya · 34 km south21°
Hottest month
August (day 26°)
Coldest month
January (night -1°)
Wettest month
December (154 mm)
Driest month
July (8 mm)

Bars: average monthly low and high temperature. Below: precipitation. Monthly averages for 1970–2000 at about 18 km resolution, adjusted for elevation. Highlighted months are mild and relatively dry. Source: WorldClim 2.1 (CC BY 4.0).

Show values as a table
Climate of Hatay Province
Month JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Average high (°C)6°8°11°16°20°23°25°26°25°20°14°8°
Average low (°C)-1°-1°2°6°10°14°17°17°15°9°4°0°
Precipitation (mm)14312511379521989246990154

Other places to visit in this season: June July August September

How to get to Hatay Province

The nearest airport is Hatay Airport (HTY), 16 km to the south as the crow flies. For international flights: Aleppo International Airport (ALP) (95 km). The nearest large city is İskenderun, 12 km to the northwest.

Airports

  • Hatay Airport (HTY) Antakya 16 kmsouth
  • Aleppo International Airport (ALP) Aleppo 95 kmeast
  • Çukurova International Airport (COV) Tarsus 114 kmnorthwest

Nearby large cities

  • İskenderun Population: 251.7K 12 kmnorthwest
  • Arsuz Population: 109.6K 34 kmwest
  • Antakya Population: 399K 34 kmsouth
  • Samandağ Population: 123.4K 53 kmsouthwest
  • Osmaniye Population: 202.8K 64 kmnorth

Straight-line distances; road distances are longer. Airport data: OurAirports.

Places in Hatay Province

178 places
  1. 1 Antakya İlçesi 399K
  2. 2 İskenderun İlçesi 251.7K
  3. 3 Defne 134.6K
  4. 4 Dörtyol İlçesi 128.9K
  5. 5 Kırıkhan İlçesi 121K
  6. 6 Samandağ 116.2K
  7. 7 Arsuz 109.6K
  8. 8 Reyhanlı İlçesi 108.1K
  9. 9 Altınözü İlçesi 60.3K
  10. 10 Hassa İlçesi 56.7K
  11. 11 Erzin İlçesi 41.3K
  12. 12 Payas 39K
  13. 13 Yayladağı İlçesi 36.8K
  14. 14 Belen İlçesi 34.4K
  15. 15 Kumlu İlçesi 13.3K
  16. 16 Uchagyz 275

Bar: population relative to the most populous place in this list.

Cities & villages6

Mountains & nature13

Lakes, rivers & coasts25

Largest cities and towns

Nature and heritage in Hatay Province

Sources & licences

Data last updated: · 2 independent sources