A semi-arid continental climate reigns in the area. In summers (May onwards), daytimes are sunny and hot, enough to walk around comfortably in just a t-shirt, however, nights and early mornings are cool enough that you will want to pack along a jacket or a sweater.
Malatya Erhaç Airport is 30 km away from the city center and can be reached by shuttle buses of the airlines and taxis. Flights leave from [wiki=0ef8f876d62a45352e28410454e3634b]Istanbul[/wiki] and [wiki=9221413dd904c157938b397753a8b4bb]Ankara[/wiki]. Turkish Airlines THY [url=http://www.thy.com.tr],]AnadoluJet [url=http://www.anadolujet.com[/url],]Pegasus Airlines [url=http://www.flypgs.com[/url]]and Onur Air [http://www.onurair.com.tr[/url] have daily flights to Malatya.
If bought one month prior to the flight date, a one-way flight between Istanbul and Malatya costs between 114 and 154 TL, depending on the company.
There are daily services of 4 Eylül Mavi Treni from [wiki=9221413dd904c157938b397753a8b4bb]Ankara[/wiki]. The Mavi Tren departs at 3:10PM, arriving in Malatya at 7AM next morning, and has couchette and soft sleepers, a restaurant car, as well as standard seating cars attached.
From [wiki=0ef8f876d62a45352e28410454e3634b]Istanbul[/wiki], Güney Express and Vangölü Express, which are bound for further [wiki=2667b7afbeaa886e1ee8f17e10b5a077]southeast[/wiki] and [wiki=c1b4559248fc9671438adcf302a42ee6]east[/wiki] from Malatya respectively, call at Malatya station on alternating days, 6 times a week. They share the same route for most part of their long journey across the country, calling at [wiki=d2acb662e2edb7ed821962041c5a66a2]İzmit[/wiki], [wiki=632bf6e4254a0fad039d56f8411d76ab]Eskişehir[/wiki], [wiki=9221413dd904c157938b397753a8b4bb]Ankara[/wiki], [wiki=39ee0ab78d87f8f7be433f11d07b9fb2]Kayseri[/wiki], and [wiki=874508d000420ba3f53660c93b6c2514]Sivas[/wiki], among many other smaller towns and cities, before arriving to Malatya. Their paths diverge east of Malatya-while Güney Express heads for [wiki=17798a1082dd5d81395688c33fb27cee]Diyarbakır[/wiki] and [wiki=4a4566696cc81c6053ec708975767498]Batman[/wiki], Vangölü leads to [wiki=4ba2c53aeee3865a0bb8ae4d403ee073]Tatvan[/wiki] on the Lake Van via [wiki=b964c9580471dffa5f2e3554389846fa]Elazığ[/wiki] and [wiki=5529de5ee1370ae2069319effcc02ed1]Muş[/wiki]. Both has standard seating cars, compartment cars, couchettes, and sleeper cars available.
There is also the daily Fırat Express, which operates between the [wiki=2cf4c8016d2c76d9f7f3c4b3921025e5]Mediterranean[/wiki] city of [wiki=5520d9658f058d9f3ebbc9671bb09ae9]Adana[/wiki] and [wiki=7d286ceb5f607a27a3bcb5d032582427]Elazığ[/wiki] to northeast of Malatya, which can be caught from either direction.
More details on trains can be gathered from the website of the Turkish State Railways [http://www.tcdd.gov.tr].
Trains to Istanbul. Depending on the day of your trip, you'll either take Güney or Vangölü Express out of Malatya. They depart around 5:50PM six days a week, offering beautiful views of the apricot orchards surrounding the city and wilder vistas of Upper Euphrates Valley further out on the way before the night falls in spring and summer. While the scheduled arrival time to Istanbul is 8:29PM the next day (i.e., a duration of more than 24 hours), they are generally several hours late, and that usually means they arrive after the midnight-when Istanbul's public transportation is in a very reduced operation. So, assuming that the keeping your budget down is why you prefered train over other means of transportation in the first place and therefore you may want to avoid hefty taxi rides across the city, in order not to stuck at the station in the middle of the night, make sure you have arranged your accommodation at least for the first night in [wiki=43485217c7745b94a09769ea1d193658]Asian Side[/wiki], where the terminal train station of Istanbul, Haydarpaşa, is located.
A standard seat in a pullman car (like those in buses) costs 30.75 TL for a ride between Malatya and Istanbul. Note that neither Güney nor Vangölü Express has a restaurant car attached, so make sure to pack along some supplies (there is a large Carrefour supermarket near the station) as the nearest convenient stop is in [wiki=9221413dd904c157938b397753a8b4bb]Ankara[/wiki], about 20 hours away (as the other long-enough stops, [wiki=874508d000420ba3f53660c93b6c2514]Sivas[/wiki] and [wiki=39ee0ab78d87f8f7be433f11d07b9fb2]Kayseri[/wiki] are both scheduled in the dead of the night).
Malatya's train station is located northwest of the city centre, in residential suburbs of the city, about 200 metres off the çevreyolu-intercity highway (look for the small white sign saying TCDD Gar at the roundabout with a big-box store named Carrefour at one side). From the city centre, it takes around one and a half hour to get to the station even with a relatively quick pace, but fortunately public bus lines #1A and #1B as well as a number of minibuses connect the station with the central square quite frequently.
Malatya can easily be reached by car, via [wiki=39ee0ab78d87f8f7be433f11d07b9fb2]Kayseri[/wiki]-Malatya motorway, which is numbered D300.
There are many domestic coach firms from [wiki=0ef8f876d62a45352e28410454e3634b]Istanbul[/wiki] bus station. The coaches, reach Malatya via Ankara and the journey takes nearly 15 hours. Beydağı Turizm [url=http://www.beydagi.com.tr],]Aksoğanoğlu Zafer Turizm [url=http://www.zaferturizm.com.tr[/url],]Kernek Turizm [url=http://www.kernekturizm.com.tr[/url]]have at least 5 daily coaches to Malatya within the specific times of the day.
Buses from [[Ankara[/url]], which also shortly call at [wiki=39ee0ab78d87f8f7be433f11d07b9fb2]Kayseri[/wiki] bus station on the way, take between 9 and 11 hours depending on the service, costing 35 TL on the average. In addition to some of the local companies based in Malatya listed above, nation-wide Metro Turizm [url=http://www.metroturizm.com.tr/]]operates on this line, too.
Long-haul buses from other major centres in the country, both regional and elsewhere alike, such as [[Bursa[/url]], and [wiki=585f98ed9d73111845ef5e876fd8c8dc]Van[/wiki] also call at and accept passengers for Malatya bus station.
Malatya's bus station (otogar) lies at the western outskirts of the city, on the highway from [wiki=39ee0ab78d87f8f7be433f11d07b9fb2]Kayseri[/wiki] and way out of city centre. Luckily, quite frequent public buses, which call at the stops on the highway in front of the station (cross the street for eastbound buses, i.e., those heading for the city), connect it with the city centre (although not all of the buses calling at that stop make it to the city centre-some proceed to the suburbs on the other side of the city via the intercity highway). The earliest public bus services start around 6AM.
The name of the bus stop in front of the otogar (as well as the administration of the station itself) is Maşti, so look for that in bus signs when getting from elsewhere in the city.
The bus station has an official tourism information office, an internet cafe open 24-hr, toilettes (which cost 0.75 TL), as well as benches which might offer a quite uncomfortable sleep if you arrive in the middle of the night. The place is calm and safe through the night with a visible presence of security officers.
There is a large park east of the city, on the highway to [wiki=b964c9580471dffa5f2e3554389846fa]Elazığ[/wiki] with a large pond and distant views of the [wiki=051ca448f849cde9988201afb1b24001#Get out]Karakaya Dam lake[/wiki]. Minibuses and public buses heading for Üniversite pass by the entrance of it.
*Northwest of the city centre (on Boztepe Caddesi a block north of intercity highway-çevreyolu), there is a ruined Armenian church that is...well, ruined. Only its outer walls are standing and the neighbourhood in which it stands seems to be a somewhat rough one, so a distant look from the highway might suffice unless you have a special interest in the Armenian heritage of the region.
Murat Palancı Oteli Turgut Temelli Cad. No: 26 Malatya; +90-422-3251003
*Yeni Butik Oteli Yeni Camii Karşısı Zafer iş Hanı No:1 Malatya; +90-3231424
*Otel Avşar Çevreyolu, Eski Otogar Karşısı Malatya; +90-422-3248491 [http://www.otelavsar.com/default.asp]
*Bezginler Hotel Çevreyolu Adliye Kavşağı No:12/3 Malatya; +90-422-3241252
DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Malatya Inonu Caddesi No:174, Malatya, 44090,TEL: +90-422-377 70 00
*Altın Kayısı Hotel Istasyon Caddesi 44200 Malatya; 90-422-2114444 [http://www.altinkayisi.com]