Go ahead, spend your life savings on plane tickets and baklava.

First off, not only is Turkey overwhelmingly gorgeous, its cities and landscapes are also incredibly diverse.

Süleymaniye Mosque, Instanbul — FèlixGP / Creative Commons / Flickr: felix2510

Where else can you start your weekend on a ski slope...

From Palandöken in Erzurum to Erciyes in Kayseri, Turkey's mountains turn into prime ground for winter sports around November of each year.

Sarıkamış, Kars — Erdal Degercan / Creative Commons / Flickr: erdalce

...and end it with a dip in the Mediterranean?

Turkey's entire coastline is basically composed of beautiful beach towns, so there's really no way to go wrong.

Fethiye, Muğla — Adam Baker (cropped from original) / Creative Commons / Flickr: atbaker

Although the Black Sea is pretty great, too.

Amasra is the Black Sea's most adorable port town and positively deserted compared to its counterparts on the Mediterranean, so you can get that beach all to yourself.

Amasra, Bartin — Jorge Franganillo (saturated and cropped from original) / Creative Commons / Flickr: franganillo

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