Daily Mevlana Museum & Meke Crater Lake Tour from Konya

Konya Day Trip: Rumi's Mausoleum, Meram and the Volcanic Meke Crater Lake

This daily Mevlana Museum and Meke Crater Lake tour from Konya pairs the city's most important spiritual monument with one of the most unusual natural landscapes in Central Anatolia. A professional English-speaking guide, comfortable transport with hotel pickup and lunch in a traditional restaurant make it an easy and well-paced day tour and a complete daily Konya tour.

• Mevlana Museum – the mausoleum of Rumi and former lodge of the Whirling Dervishes
• Inside the museum – the Matbah kitchen, the tombs, the Tilavet Chamber and the Sema-Hane ritual hall
• Selimiye Mosque – an Ottoman mosque commissioned by Sultan Selim II
• Authentic lunch in a local Konya restaurant
• Panoramic Meram drive through the green quarter of the city
• Meke Crater Lake – a volcanic lake with a cone rising from its centre

The Mevlana Museum holds the tomb of Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi, the Sufi mystic known as Mevlana, and was the tekke of the Mevlevi order. On this daily excursion you walk through every open section: the Matbah, where novice dervishes were trained in the kitchen, the Tilavet Chamber used for Quran recitation and chanting, and the Sema-Hane where the whirling ceremony took place. Next door stands the Selimiye Mosque, begun in 1558 while Selim was still a prince and completed in 1567 after he became sultan.

In the afternoon the road leads to the Karapinar plain and Meke Crater Lake. The site formed in two stages: a volcanic explosion first opened a wide crater that filled with water, and later a cone of rhyolite and basalt debris built up in the middle. Today this dark hill rises about 140 metres above the lake, whose water is about 12 metres deep, creating a striking photo stop.

Good to know: the day suits all ages and involves only light walking. Bring a hat and water for the crater, and dress modestly for the museum and mosque.