Sungurlu Visitor Guide
The main gateway on the road to Hattusa: Sungurlu's location, its sights and its value as a stop on the Hittite route, on one page.
Sungurlu is a district southwest of Çorum on the Ankara–Samsun highway. Its tourist value comes largely from being the main gateway on the Hattusa (Boğazkale) route; the town centre has only a few sights, but it is a practical stop and supply point for the Hittite trip.
🚪 The gateway to Hattusa
It is about 30 km (~25 minutes) from Sungurlu to Boğazkale. Visitors from Ankara or Çorum usually reach Hattusa via Sungurlu; as the town offers more food and shop options than Boğazkale, it is the ideal last supply stop. For the full details of the site, see the Hattusa visitor guide.
🕌 Sights in the town centre
- Sungurlu Clock Tower: the town's emblem, built in 1891 by the district governor Edip Bey.
- Grand Mosque: an Ottoman-period mosque built, according to its inscription, in 1762.
- Historic bath and streetscape: an 18th-century bath with traditional houses and a bazaar; the centre is walkable.
The museum for the region's Hittite finds is the Boğazköy Museum next to Hattusa; there is no separate archaeological museum in the Sungurlu centre.
🏭 Defense industry and the gold hub
Sungurlu has also stood out in recent years for its industrial identity: in the district's organized industrial zone, ARCA Defense's integrated ammunition facilities and Ahlatcı Holding's GoldForce gunpowder plant (missile and rocket propellants; USD 2.3 billion investment) are rising. Ahlatcı's gold refinery, meanwhile, is located in the central Çorum OSB. See our page on the defence industry in Sungurlu for details.
🎒 Practical tips
- Time: ~1–2 hours for the town centre; plan the main day around Hattusa and Alacahöyük.
- Route: Sungurlu + Hattusa + Alacahöyük can be combined in one day.
- Season: spring and autumn are ideal for the open-air sites.
Related: Hattusa visitor guide ·places to visit ·Çorum Guide.