Guide
The Sultan's Trail retraces on foot the road of Süleyman the Magnificent's campaigns against Vienna in 1529 and 1532, neither of which took the city. It runs about 2,100 km from the outskirts of Vienna, at the spot where Süleyman's camp stood and where a Habsburg emperor afterwards put up a pleasure palace, to Süleyman's own tomb behind the Süleymaniye Mosque. On the way it borrows stretches of two long-distance paths, the E8 and the Donauweg, and roughly follows the line of the Via Comitis, the old Roman road that led to Jerusalem.
Within Türkiye the trail covers 330 km, and this part can also be done by bicycle. The Sultan's Trail office in Haarlem, in the Netherlands, issues a pilgrim card to be stamped at points along the way in exchange for a certificate, and posts up-to-date route and GPS information on its website. Walking is possible for most of the year, though July and August bring real heat in Türkiye.
When to go
- Climate
- Across İstanbul as a whole, monthly mean temperatures run from 6.8 °C in January to 24.7 °C in August; the mean stays between 15 and 25 °C in May, June, July, August, September and October; rainfall is heaviest in December (99 mm) and lightest in July (22 mm). Long-term means for 1950-2025 from the Turkish State Meteorological Service (MGM).
