Kilis: Olive Groves and Stone Mosques on the Syrian Border

On this page

1. What is Kilis?
2. How do you get to Kilis?
3. Where should you stay in Kilis?
4. What type of climate does Kilis have?
5. When is the best time to visit Kilis?
6. What is the history of Kilis?
7. What is Kilis famous for?
8. What are the historical places of Kilis?
9. What are the best things to do in Kilis?
10. What are the best places to visit in Kilis?
11. What is the traditional food of Kilis?
12. What should you buy in Kilis?
13. Frequently asked questions about Kilis
14. What do the official records say about Kilis?

What is Kilis?

Kilis is a small border province in southeastern Türkiye and the name of its only sizeable town. It sits on a limestone plateau between Gaziantep and the Syrian frontier, and more than three-quarters of the province’s people live in the town itself. The rest of the province is olive groves, vineyards, wheat fields and small villages, with the Afrin stream cutting through the west.

The town’s old centre is built of cut stone: courtyard houses, Ottoman mansions, baths, fountains and a group of mosques going back to the Mamluk period. Kilis was part of Gaziantep province until it became a province of its own after the 1995 election, and it still looks to Gaziantep for its airport, hospitals and most connections.

The 2002 inventory introduces Kilis as a border city that has to be seen for its historic mounds and castles. It names the Hurrians, Mitanni, Assyrians, Hittites, Persians, Macedonians, Romans and Ottomans among the powers that ruled the area, and dates settlement here back to the Middle Bronze Age.

Places to visit in Kilis

Ravanda Castle

Ravanda Castle in Kilis: a fortress carved into a cone-shaped hill, taken…

Oylum Höyük

Oylum Höyük near Kilis: a huge settlement mound with a burnt Middle…

Mosaic Basilica

The Mosaic Basilica near Kilis: a 6th-century church beside Oylum Höyük with…

How do you get to Kilis?

Before you go: the town of Kilis lies about 5 km north of the Öncüpınar crossing into Syria. The UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office advises against all travel within 10 km of the Turkey–Syria border, and that zone covers the town and Oylum Höyük. Rockets fired from Syria hit the town in 2016. Check your own government’s current advice, and your travel insurance, before planning a visit. Ravanda Castle, 24 km northwest of the town, lies outside the 10 km band.

By air: Kilis has no airport. The nearest is Gaziantep Airport (GZT); the Kilis Provincial Directorate of Culture and Tourism puts it about 46 km away. Gaziantep has direct flights from both Istanbul airports, Istanbul Airport and Sabiha Gökçen, as well as from Ankara and İzmir.

By road: Kilis is about 60 km south of Gaziantep city. Minibuses and buses run between the two through the day, and long-distance coaches connect Kilis with Istanbul, Ankara, Adana and other cities, usually via Gaziantep. There is no passenger railway.

Getting around: the old centre is small and easy to walk. For Ravanda Castle you need a car or taxi; there is no regular public transport to the hilltop.

Where should you stay in Kilis?

Kilis has only a handful of small hotels, most of them in or near the town centre. Most travellers base themselves in Gaziantep, which has a wide range of hotels in restored stone houses near the castle, and visit Kilis and Ravanda Castle on a day trip. If you do stay in Kilis, choose a hotel within walking distance of the Ulu Cami and the old mosques, so you can see the centre in the early morning and evening when it is cooler.

Tours in Anatolia

−5% Istambul readers save 5% on every tour below — applied at checkout.

See all tours

Partner listings via GetYourGuide · free cancellation on most

What type of climate does Kilis have?

Kilis has a climate between Mediterranean and continental. Summers are hot and dry, with afternoon temperatures reaching around 40°C in July and August. Winters are cool and wet, and nights can drop below freezing, though snow rarely stays. Most of the rain falls between November and April, which is what the olive groves depend on.

When is the best time to visit Kilis?

Spring (April to May) and autumn (late September to October) are the most comfortable months. The 2002 inventory has its own advice: “If you want to love autumn, come to Kilis in September. Kilis is a dead end, but with its horoz karası grapes and its gardens laden with olives that yield forty per cent oil, it comes out to greet you all the way from the village of Ulumahsere.” September is grape harvest time, and the olive harvest follows in October and November.

Late August is traditionally the time of the Kilis Grape and Culture Festival, which the 2002 inventory lists alongside the anniversary of the Ottoman victory at Mercidabık (Marj Dabiq) in 1516, fought just across today’s border.

What is the history of Kilis?

The plain around Kilis sits on the northwestern edge of the Fertile Crescent, on one of the routes that link Anatolia with Syria and Mesopotamia. The provincial culture and tourism directorate notes that wheat, barley, olives and grapes were farmed here very early. Surveys between 2000 and 2003 recorded 147 archaeological sites in the province, including 62 mounds, 11 castles, rock-cut tombs, quarries and an aqueduct, with settlement running continuously from the Late Chalcolithic (around 3500–3000 BC) to the Roman period.

The most important of these mounds is Oylum Höyük, one of the largest in southeastern Anatolia. The 2002 inventory says the Hittites, a major political power of the Middle Bronze Age, must have used it on their southern campaigns, and that Hittite finds have been recovered there. Excavations have since uncovered a Middle Bronze Age palace destroyed by fire.

In the Middle Ages the region was fought over by Byzantines, Arabs, Crusaders, Zengids, Ayyubids and Mamluks. Ravanda Castle was taken by Baldwin of Boulogne in 1097 during the First Crusade and later rebuilt by Saladin’s Ayyubids. The Ulu Cami, the town’s great mosque, carries an inscription dating it to 1339, under the Mamluk sultan al-Nasir Muhammad.

In 1516 the Ottoman sultan Selim I defeated the Mamluks at Marj Dabiq, a short distance south of Kilis, and the region passed to the Ottomans. The inventory notes that an Ottoman register of 1527 already lists Ravanda as a district (kaza) of Aleppo. Kilis grew into a market town in the following centuries; the Canbolat family, local governors in the 16th and early 17th centuries, left their name on the Tekke Mosque, which Evliya Çelebi called the “Canboladoğlu imperial mosque”. Kilis was a district of Gaziantep province in the Republican period until it became a province after 1995.

What is Kilis famous for?

Olives and olive oil. Kilis olives are small and oily, and both Kilis olive oil and the Kilis oil olive (Kilis yağlı zeytini) are registered geographical indications. In 2018 archaeologists at Oylum Höyük reported olive stones around 4,000 years old, along with basalt grinding stones they think were used to press oil.

Grapes. The dark horoz karası grape is the variety the 2002 inventory singles out, and grapes are dried, turned into molasses or eaten fresh at the late-summer festival.

Kilis tava. A tray of spiced minced meat with tomatoes and peppers, baked in a wood oven. It is the dish people from Gaziantep drive down for.

Stone architecture. Courtyard houses with carved wooden fittings, Ottoman baths and a cluster of historic mosques give the centre its character.

What are the historical places of Kilis?

In Kilis town

Ulu Cami (Great Mosque). The largest mosque in Kilis. According to its inscription it was built in 740 AH (1339) by Hacı Halil, son of Abdullah, in the last years of the third reign of the Mamluk sultan al-Nasir Muhammad. The courtyard has two gates and a seven-spouted fountain fed from the Kurtağa spring, which the provincial directorate calls the best water in Kilis. A deep, low dome covers the prayer hall, lit by twelve windows around its base.

Kadı Camii. The provincial directorate dates it to 1238. Its 53-step minaret of regular cut stone has a muqarnas balcony, and the stone is said to come from the quarry on Resulosman mountain. The courtyard is lined with old stones and looks, in the directorate’s words, like an open-air archaeology museum.

Şeyh Camii. In the Büyük Kütah quarter, built in 977 AH (1569) in the reign of Selim II, when Sinan was chief architect of the imperial corps. A single dome covers the prayer hall.

Tekke (Mevlevihane) Camii. South of the government building, on the square of the old Mevlevi lodge. It was a Mevlevi dervish centre in the Ottoman period. Evliya Çelebi compared the monuments of Kilis to a string of emerald prayer beads and called this mosque the diamond pendant on the string.

Muallak Camii. Built of regular white cut stone, with a courtyard gate under an arch of sixteen colours of stone and a single dome.

Kilis Museum. Housed in the restored historic Sabunhane, the old soap factory in the town centre. The 2002 inventory listed the Sabunhane as a building awaiting restoration and reuse.

Mansions and baths. Kilis has a series of Ottoman mansions, among them the Neşet Efendi and Ahmet Bey mansions, and several historic baths including the Paşa Hamamı. The town’s stone fountains, called kastel here as in Gaziantep, were part of its water system.

Around the province

Ravanda Castle. A fortress carved out of a conical hilltop above the Afrin stream, 24 km northwest of the town, in Polateli district.

Oylum Höyük. A large settlement mound close to the Syrian border, occupied from the Chalcolithic to the Hellenistic period, with a burnt Middle Bronze Age palace.

Mosaic Basilica (Mozaikli Bazilika). A 6th-century church southwest of Oylum Höyük with about 800 square metres of geometric floor mosaic, now under a protective roof.

Other mounds. The inventory lists Çatal Höyük and Kulsurun Höyük in Elbeyli, Leylit Höyük on the Öncüpınar road, Yavuzlu, Sinnap, Karamelik, Çörten and Tilel mounds near the town, Belende and Murat Höyük in Musabeyli, and Polatbey Höyük in Polateli. None is set up for visitors.

What are the best things to do in Kilis?

• Walk the old mosques. The Ulu Cami, Kadı Camii, Tekke Camii and Şeyh Camii are all within a short walk of each other in the centre.
• Climb Ravanda Castle. The view from the summit takes in the Afrin valley and the olive country on both sides of the border.
• Eat Kilis tava in town. Small kebab shops bake it in wood ovens at lunchtime.
• Picnic at Akpınar. The inventory describes Akpınar as a picnic ground where clear water flows out of a patch of limestone, surrounded on all sides by olive groves, vineyards and orchards, carpeted with grass, and crowded with people from Kilis in spring and summer. Horse chestnut, lilac, acacia, honeysuckle, hawthorn, olive and walnut trees grow there.
• Spend an evening at Söğütlüdere. The willow-lined valley fed by the Zoppun stream and the Akpınar springs has long been the town’s weekend picnic spot. The inventory describes families arriving with kebabs and local dishes and spending the day with music; the municipality later turned it into a park with a restaurant over an artificial lake.
• Time a visit for the grape festival. The 2002 inventory lists the Kilis Grape and Culture Festival for 23–29 August, together with the Mercidabık anniversary; check the dates locally, as they can change.

What are the best places to visit in Kilis?

Ravanda Castle is the most rewarding sight in the province: a Crusader and Ayyubid fortress on a cone-shaped peak, with its inner gate, cisterns and palace ruins still visible.

Oylum Höyük is one of the largest mounds in southeastern Anatolia, where excavations have exposed a Middle Bronze Age palace destroyed by fire around 3,900 years ago.

The Mosaic Basilica preserves a three-aisled 6th-century church floor in coloured stone, discovered in 1999 and excavated in 2004 and 2006.

Also worth your time: the Ulu Cami and the Tekke Camii in town, the Kilis Museum in the old Sabunhane, and the Akpınar picnic ground. Kilis pairs naturally with a stay in Gaziantep, whose castle, Zeugma Mosaic Museum and Coppersmiths’ Bazaar are an hour’s drive north.

What is the traditional food of Kilis?

Kilis cooking belongs to the same family as Gaziantep’s, with more olive oil and a few dishes of its own. Kilis tava is the best known: minced meat seasoned with spices, spread in a tray with tomatoes and peppers and baked. Other local dishes include oruk (stuffed bulgur shells), lebeniye (a yoghurt soup), ekşili malhıta (a sour lentil dish), şıhılmöhşe, keşkek and züngül, a fried sweet in syrup.

For dessert, look for cennet çamuru (“mud of paradise”), made with shredded kadayıf and kaymak cream, along with gerebiç, burma and künefe. Menengiç coffee, made from wild pistachio, is drunk here as in Gaziantep.

What should you buy in Kilis?

Olive oil and olives. Kilis olive oil and Kilis oil olives are registered geographical indications and the obvious thing to take home.

Grape products. Gün pekmezi, grape molasses thickened in the sun rather than boiled, along with raisins and other grape sweets.

Soap. The old Sabunhane is a reminder that Kilis made olive-oil soap; local shops still sell it.

Frequently asked questions about Kilis

What do the official records say about Kilis?

Kilis, a border city in the Southeastern Anatolia Region, is a province that must be seen for its historic mounds and castles. Kilis and its surroundings, an old settlement centre reaching back to the Middle Bronze Age, were ruled by the Hurrians, Mitanni, Assyrians, Hittites, Persians, Macedonians, Romans and Ottomans. Kilis became a province in 1995.

“If you want to love autumn, come to Kilis in September. Kilis is a dead end, but with its horoz karası grapes and its gardens laden with olives that yield forty per cent oil, it comes out to greet you all the way from the village of Ulumahsere.” This is another way of describing Kilis. (Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Kilis Provincial Tourism Inventory, 2002)