Routes GÜNEYDOĞU ANADOLU

Mardin – Hasankeyf Mezopotamya Yolu (D380 / D955, Midyat üzeri)

Mardin to Hasankeyf: plateau, monasteries, reservoir

DISTANCE: 126 km
DRIVING TIME: 1 h 42 min
STOPS: 13

Motorcycle
Car
Caravan

Directions in Google Maps İz on Google Play

01Mardin – D950 kavşağı
02Yeşilli kavşağı
03Hop Geçidi
04Ömerli
05Acırlı sapağı
06Midyat – D380 × D955 kavşağı
07Yolağzı
08Gercüş kavşağı
09Kesiksu sapağı
10Karaköy sapağı
11Hasankeyf Tüneli
12Hasankeyf-2 Köprüsü
13Yeni Hasankeyf

DRAWING · NOT A LIVE MAP© OpenStreetMap contributors

A southeastern stage on state road the whole way: from the stone city above Mesopotamia across the Tur Abdin plateau, then down to the Tigris reservoir on a 1,001 m bridge.

The corridor traces the upper edge of Mesopotamia: Mardin's stone city at 1,083 m, Deyrulzafaran 3 km east with 52 Syriac patriarchs buried inside, and Mor Gabriel, founded in 397 and the oldest working Syriac Orthodox monastery anywhere. Midway lies Midyat, the city of languages and religions, its telkâri silverwork registered in 2021. At the end, Hasankeyf: an Artuqid capital (1102-1232) on a 12,000-year-old settlement mound. Impoundment began in August 2019, old Hasankeyf lies under the reservoir, and the road reaches New Hasankeyf on the 1,001 m Hasankeyf-2 bridge.

What to eat

Sembusek
A closed lahmacun: thin yeasted dough folded into a half-moon over minced meat, onion, parsley, green pepper and black pepper, then cooked on a griddle or baked.
Mardin 1. Cadde; Doboo beside the Emir Hamamı and Marmatbah in Şar (No: 310) do it on the griddle or in the oven, and it is on the fixed menu at the women's cooperative cafe in Midyat; registered since 2009 (no 120).
Kiliçe (Mardin Kiliçe Çöreği)
A traditional bun from the baking and sweets category, baked and handed round at religious festivals, engagements, weddings, Christmas, baptisms, Easter and funerals.
At the bazaar bakeries of Mardin and in homes before the festivals; the bun of feast days, engagements, weddings and funerals, it was registered in 2021 (no 776, İpekyolu Women's Cooperative) — eaten alongside mırra.
Kitele ve Irok (Midyat içli köftesi)
Two sibling stuffed köfte: a thin cracked-wheat shell packed with minced meat, onion and local spices — kitele boiled, ırok deep-fried.
Midyat centre, in the historic stone mansion beside the Devlet Konuk Evi; at the women's cooperative's local cafe kitele comes boiled and ırok fried, with sembusek, kaburga dolması and mehir soup on the same menu.
Midyat Kavunu
A registered table melon grown on the dry soil of the Tur Abdin plateau; the district's only fruit registration and the star of the late-summer stalls.
The market and bazaar of Midyat town centre; the registration (no 954, 23.11.2021, Midyat Municipality) covers only melons grown inside the district, so ask at the stall where it came from.
Mezrone Üzümü, pekmezi ve cevizli sucuğu
A thin-skinned, scented, crisp and juicy local grape grown both for the table and for boiling down into pekmez, pestil and walnut sucuk.
The vineyards of Gercüş, the largest area under vine in Batman; while the autumn harvest festivals run, grapes, pekmez and walnut sucuk are sold in the town centre and in the villages along the D955.

What to buy

Midyat Telkârisi (gümüş telkâri takı ve hediyelik)
Silver drawn into fine wire, bent and soldered into tiny motifs: necklaces, rings, bracelets and earrings, plus badges, pen holders and name plates.
Midyat centre, in the telkâri workshops and silversmiths just inside the junction where the D380 turns onto the D955; registration no 837 (09.08.2021, Midyat District Governorate), look for the MT-950 stamp on the silver — it fits in a pocket and takes no room in a caravan.
Bıttım (menengiç) sabunu
A bar soap boiled from the oil of the wild terebinth pistachio, used on hair and skin; solid, leak-proof and unbothered by a hot car.
The herbalists and soap shops of central Mardin; it is on the trade ministry's provincial list of local products, and the provincial culture and tourism directorate recommends it for thin hair.
Mardin bakır işleri — şahmeran işlemeli tepsi ve cezve
Hand-beaten copper coffee pots, sugar bowls and trays worked with the şahmeran, a serpent figure out of local legend; a tray hangs on a wall on its own.
The coppersmiths' shops in central Mardin; hand-beaten cezve, sugar bowls and trays with the şahmeran motif, second on the provincial culture and tourism directorate's list — a small cezve for a motorcycle, a tray for a caravan or car.
Hasankeyf sarımsağı
A registered garlic grown in the riverside gardens of Hasankeyf; small tight heads with a strong scent, and the dried bulbs travel without spoiling.
At the market stalls of New Hasankeyf, the route's last stop; the registered garlic is harvested in the Hasankeyf gardens, and dried heads survive the drive home.
Midyat İnciri
A geographically protected fig from the orchards of the Tur Abdin plateau; fresh at the end of summer, dried all year, and the dried form travels home.
The market and greengrocers of Midyat town centre and the roadside orchard stalls within the district; the registration is bounded by Midyat district (mark no 688, 10.03.2021, Midyat Municipality), fresh in August and September, dried all year round.
Gercüş Mezrone üzümü, pekmezi ve kuru üzümü
The Mezrone variety a grape district owes its name to; what is left for the traveller is raisins, pestil and pekmez boiled down the traditional way.
Gercüş town centre at 955 m and the seasonal stalls of the vineyard villages along the D955, in the largest stretch of vineyard in Batman province; the harvest and the boiling of the must both fall in autumn. Its registration came through in 2023, Batman's second after the Sason strawberry.

Road notes

Start the day at Deyrulzafaran. The monastery is open seven days a week, 09:00-17:00, but you go in only on guided tours that leave on the hour; entry is 200 TL, 150 TL for students. The turning is just east of Mardin, the first one before you join the D380, so be there well before 17:00 to catch the last tour.
East of Mardin you cross the corridor's only pass, Hop Geçidi at 1,115 m, and Ömerli comes straight after — 28 km east of Mardin, right on the D380, the natural break between Mardin and Midyat. Then comes the longest leg of the route: 36.5 km from Ömerli to the Acırlı turning with no town in between, only the Şenköy junction. Fill the tank and the water in Ömerli.
The Mardin-Midyat section is still a building site: 58.8 km is being turned into dual carriageway with 23 junctions, the ground was broken on 16 June 2021, and part of it is still single carriageway. The KGM table also shows 7 km at the Midyat exit under construction. Pure driving time for the 126 km is 1.7 hours; plan the day around the stops, not the driving.
Mor Gabriel closes over lunch: open 09.00-11.30 and 13.00-16.30, and in winter it shuts at 16.00 in the afternoon; entry is 200 TL and free under 12. The monastery sits at km 23 of the Midyat-İdil road, so about 46 km there and back. Put your own lunch break in that gap.
Spend the evening in Midyat. The Konuk Evi is open seven days a week, until 20:00 on weekdays and 21:30 at weekends, and entry is 20 TL — the only indoor place on the corridor that stays open late. The whole town is visible from its roof terrace; in the telkâri workshops inside the same junction, ask whether the silver is registered Midyat work.
You lose height the whole way: Mardin sits at 1,083 m and Hasankeyf at 495 m, about 590 m between them, and the valley floor is always a few degrees warmer than Midyat up on the plateau. The July average is around 30°C; in summer do not leave Hasankeyf for the middle of the day, and take water with you.
Boat trips at Hasankeyf run from April to the end of November, leaving from the Müze Limanı, taking 1 hour 30 minutes and passing the castle, the Tigris valley canyons, the Salahiye gardens and the Artuqid pavilions; the council's number is 0488 381 22 77. The stretch up to the jetty is still cobbled, and the castle, shut since 2012, reopened once loose rock was cleared — even so, keep away from the foot of the rock walls.
Time Gercüş for autumn: the town sits at 955 m in grape country, the commonest variety is Mezrone, and at harvest and molasses-boiling time the vineyard villages along the D955 put pestil, walnut sucuk and pekmez out on the stalls.

Along the way

Deyrulzafaran (Mor Hananyo) Manastırı
A working Syriac Orthodox monastery over a Roman fort and an older sun temple, on a ridge looking straight down onto the Mesopotamian plain — the drive's first big view.
3 km east of central Mardin, the first turning before you join the D380.
Mardin Eski Şehir (taş kent ve Kasımiye Medresesi)
A terraced old town of cut limestone houses climbing a 1,083 m ridge above the plain, with Artuqid madrasas, mosques, churches and monasteries stacked in layers.
Central Mardin, the stone town below the castle, with the Kasımiye madrasa at its southwest end.
Mor Gabriel (Deyrulumur) Manastırı
Founded in 397 AD, the oldest still-functioning Syriac Orthodox monastery in the world, standing alone on an oak-covered hill of the Tur Abdin plateau.
At km 23 of the Midyat-İdil road, in Güngören village; about 46 km there and back.
Midyat Konuk Evi
A three-storey Midyat stone mansion, its lowest room carved into bedrock, bought by the district governorate and opened as a house museum with a roof terrace over the town.
Midyat old town, inside the junction where the D380 turns onto the D955.
Hasankeyf-2 Köprüsü
A 1,001 m bridge on piers up to 90 m tall, thrown across the Ilısu reservoir in 2021 to replace the drowned road — the corridor's most cinematic minute.
On the D955 variant north of the tunnel; the bridge runs into New Hasankeyf.

When to go

Spring / Autumn

Warnings

In winter the middle of the corridor — Ömerli at 800-1,100 m and the Midyat plateau — turns hard and snowy, and the Mardin governorate warns against unnecessary journeys without winter tyres or chains. The route runs northeast, away from the Syrian border, but detours towards Nusaybin and Dara bring you close to the edge of the 10 km border strip the FCDO advises against all travel within.

Itinerary

Distances between stops were measured along the route's line and scaled to the total; that is why the last stop reads the route's own kilometres.

01 Mardin – D950 kavşağı
02 Yeşilli kavşağı
03 Hop Geçidi
04 Ömerli
05 Acırlı sapağı
06 Midyat – D380 × D955 kavşağı
07 Yolağzı
08 Gercüş kavşağı
09 Kesiksu sapağı
10 Karaköy sapağı
11 Hasankeyf Tüneli
12 Hasankeyf-2 Köprüsü
13 Yeni Hasankeyf

START ▶ Mardin – D950 kavşağı · FINISH ■ Yeni Hasankeyf

Mardin – D950 kavşağı (D380 başlangıcı)0 km
Yeşilli kavşağı (D380 × 47-28 il yolu)+12 km12 km
Hop Geçidi (1.115 m)+12 km24 km
Ömerli (D380 ilçe merkezinden geçer)+11 km34 km
Acırlı sapağı (D380)+36 km71 km
Midyat – D380 × D955 kavşağı (Cumhuriyet/Atatürk Bulvarı)+9 km80 km
Yolağzı (D955 Batman yolu)+14 km93 km
Gercüş kavşağı (D955 × 72-27 il yolu)+6 km100 km
Kesiksu sapağı (D955)+8 km108 km
Karaköy sapağı (D955)+3 km111 km
Hasankeyf Tüneli (kuzey ağzı, D955)+7 km117 km
Hasankeyf-2 Köprüsü (orta nokta)+3 km120 km
Yeni Hasankeyf (D955 girişi)+5 km126 km

Directions in Google Maps

Sources

59 SOURCES

This record is the counterpart of the route card on İz's Explore screen. The whole shelf, and how it was compiled, is on the route shelf. İz is live on Google Play and on the App Store.