Troy Ancient City (Truva)

People who come to Troy picturing towers and palaces are often disappointed for the first ten minutes. On the Hisarlik mound you find walls, ramps and foundations belonging to nine main cities, each built over the last across roughly 4,000 years. A guide, or an hour in the new Troy Museum, helps those layers fall into place. In 2026 foreign visitors pay €27 for a ticket that includes the ruins and the museum.

Quick facts

History in brief

The first settlement on the mound dates to about 3000 BC. Archaeologists label the main layers Troy I through Troy IX, running from the early Bronze Age to Roman Ilion. The late Bronze Age layers Troy VI and VIIa are the ones most often connected with the Trojan War described in the Iliad. Heinrich Schliemann started excavating in 1870. In his search for Homer's city he dug a deep trench through the mound and destroyed much of what he was looking for. The gold he uncovered and named Priam's Treasure turned out to be around a thousand years older than the war. More careful excavations followed in the 20th century, and UNESCO added Troy to its World Heritage list in 1998.

Highlights of the site

• Troy VI walls: the strongest defensive remains, with sloping stone faces and a tower.
• Troy II ramp: a paved stone ramp climbing to a gate, near the spot where Schliemann found his treasure.
• Schliemann's trench: a deep cut into the mound where you can see the layers in cross-section.
• The sanctuary, with altars for sacrifices from the later Greek and Roman eras.
• Roman Ilion's Odeon and bouleuterion.
• The replica wooden horse by the entrance, which children can climb inside. It is a modern piece with no link to the excavations.

The Troy Museum

The museum opened in 2018, around 800 metres from the site entrance, in a rust-coloured cube designed to recall the layers of the mound. It shows finds from Troy and the region around it: gold jewellery, pottery, weapons and a marble sarcophagus from nearby Gumuscay. Some of the Troy gold that came back from abroad is displayed here. Visit the museum before the site if possible; the ruins are far easier to understand afterwards.

When to go

Spring and autumn are the best seasons. Summer afternoons are hot, with little shade. The quietest time is early morning. Many people pair Troy with Gallipoli, across the Dardanelles and an hour or more away once the ferry is counted; doing both in a day from Istanbul makes for a long day of around 14 hours.

From US$165, our Full-Day Private Troy Tour from Istanbul includes hotel pick-up, the ruins, the Troy Museum and the wooden horse. From US$175, the Troy Ancient City Tour from Istanbul with Lunch & Ferry Ride adds lunch and a ferry across the Dardanelles. If you have longer, the 2-Day Private Gallipoli & Troy Tour from Istanbul gives one day to the WWI battlefields and one to Troy.

Practical tips

• You really need a guide or the audio guide; without one, the layers are difficult to interpret.
• Paths are gravel and hard earth, so comfortable shoes help.
• The wooden horse from the 2004 film Troy is on the Canakkale seafront, not at the site, and is worth a photo stop in town.
• At the entrance there are a few small cafés and souvenir shops, but not much else.

Read more about the area on our Troy destination page.

Frequently Asked Questions