Kars trip plans

2 days · Kars

Kars and Ani in 2 days: the castle quarter, Baltic-style streets and the Ani ruins

The plan has two clusters. Day one stays in the city centre on foot: in the castle quarter, the foot of Kars Castle, the Kümbet Mosque, the Stone Bridge, the Ottoman baths, the Evliya Mosque and the tomb of Ebu'l Hasan Harakani are all close together. In the afternoon you move on to the Baltic-style buildings of the Yusufpaşa, Ortakapı and Cumhuriyet districts, laid out on a grid in the Russian period, and the day ends at the Kars Museum. The morning of day two is for the UNESCO World Heritage site of Ani, about 42–44 km from central Kars; the shuttle run by the Provincial Directorate of Culture and Tourism, leaving from outside the Gazi Ahmet Muhtar Paşa Mansion, is the backbone of the route. In the afternoon you visit the Caucasus Front War History Museum at Kanlı Tabya. The Kars Museum and the War History Museum are closed on Mondays, while Ani is open every day; if the plan falls on a Monday, move the museums to the other day. Train details for those arriving or leaving on the Touristic Eastern Express are below.