Touring the battlefields

The battlefields of Gallipoli divide into the three regions that saw specific action on the land, namely Cape Helles, Anzac and Suvla Bay, and the naval actions.

Of the land locations, the Anzac area is definitely the most popular and most visited, being a focus for Australians, New Zealanders and the Turkish, for whom the heights of Chunuk Bair are symbolic of victory.
By comparison, Cape Helles receives fewer visitors, although the vast Turkish Martyrs Memorial at Eski Hissarlik point above Morto Bay again draws many Turkish tourists.
Suvla Bay is the most distant area from the major towns, and it is only accessible by taxi or private vehicle. Note that there are no facilities whatsover at Suvla.

Detailed maps with sub-sections for Cape Helles, Anzac, and Suvla Bay can be accessed by clicking the area you are interested in, to the right.

Visit guidance has been divided into battlefield locations, landing beaches, and cemeteries/ memorials. There are 31 Commonwealth War Grave Commission cemeteries on the peninsula and more than 50 Turkish cemeteries, graves and memorials. The latter will be listed on a separate page in due course.

Before travelling to locations on your own, we strongly recommend that you read the practical tips below.

A guide such as this can never be exhaustive. There are hundreds of locations at Gallipoli which hold special or minority interest and it is simply not possible to do justice to them all. Those that have been included are generally the more easily accessible.

Practical preparation

At Cape Helles and Suvla Bay in particular, you will be visiting a rural area where facilities and communication are limited. The following common-sense arrangements are strongly recommended. Our best suggestion is that you join an organised tour – this will provide expertise and support as well as free time for exploration.

If you are visiting as a small group or on your own, then we further suggest the following:

• Let your accommodation know where you are going and when you expect to be back.
• Take a mobile phone – some areas on the peninsula may not offer full cover but it is a very sensible precaution to have one.
• Have a note of relevant numbers to call in an emergency.
• Check the weather. High temperatures are the norm in the summer but rain showers can quickly flood areas such as gullies.
• Plan your route and take local advice about any particular hazards.
• Ensure that you have good maps and perhaps take a GPS device with your origin point waymarked.
• Unless you are an experienced orienteer/walker, we recommend that you go with at least one other person.
• Take food and lots of water. Take a first aid kit and any regular medication you need.
• Dogs on the peninsula are mainly harmless but some have become feral. It can be wise to take biscuits for appeasement and a walking stick for deterence. (The stick is for waving only and if you do not meet any dogs you can always eat the biscuits!)
• DO NOT touch anything that looks like ordnance. Bullets and even shells still lie in the ground.
• Exercise extreme caution on cliff edges and in rough terrain. You are a long way from any kind of assistance.
• If you intend to swim, avoid headlands where currents can be strong, and check the tides care

Research preparations

A good guidebook to the location you are visiting is an excellent investment. Read the relevant section before you visit.
For in-depth research, contemporary maps, especially those that show trenches, are very useful. In many of the less-frequented parts of the peninsula, trenches can still be traced with ease. As well as overviews of the actions, try to look up personal diaries and accounts. Another excellent source for closer research are regimental diaries, or a synopsis such as ‘British regiments at Gallipoli’ by Roy Westlake.

Battle sites are often complicated, with successive actions having taken place over the same ground.Try to focus on a specific action, and where possible, follow the route of this to appreciate its detail. All over the Gallipoli peninsula, as indeed in many other places worldwide, there are military cemeteries. Even if you have no specific family connection with these, there may be particular graves or memorials you wish to see. There are many sources of information for these. In the UK for instance, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission has a free database of the WW1 and WW2 fallen and their location or memorial.