Adana is located in the Mediterranean region of southern Turkey. The provinces adjacent to it are Mersin to the west, Hatay to the southeast, Osmaniye to the east, Kahramanmaras to the northeast, Kayseri to the north, and Nigde to the northwest.

According to the 2000 census, with 1,130,710 inhabitants,it is the fifth most populous city of Turkey (after Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir and Bursa). The 2006 estimate of Adana's population is 1,271,894.

For most Turkish people, the word 'Adana' associates with Kebab, şalgam, cotton, oranges, and very hot weather.

Adana is named among the 25 European Regions of the Future for 2006/2007 by Foreign Direct Investment Magazine. Chosen alongside Kocaeli for Turkey, Adana scored the most points for cost effectiveness against Kocaeli's points for infrastructure development, while Adana and Kocaeli tied on points for the categories of human resources and quality of life.

Adana today

Adana has become an international metropolis, stretching and swallowing its neighbors. Adana is the marketing and distribution center for the Çukurova agricultural region, where cotton, wheat, corn, soy bean, barley, grapes and citrus fruits are produced in great quantities. The main industries of the city are textile manufacturing, leather tanning, and wool processing.

The city of Adana today is administered by two district council authorities: Seyhan and Yüreğir separated by Seyhan river. Seyhan, the more developed west part of the city where Yüreğir is located on the east part of the Seyhan river. NATO's Incirlik Air Base is located in town of İncirlik, 12 km east of Adana.

The houses in Adana have flat tops, and the roofs serve as bedrooms for the inhabitants during the hot summers. Several types of fruit, including the apricot, are native to this area.

The city is also famous for its cuisine, including; the Adana kebab; şalgam, a salty fermented juice made from turnips; Sirdan a kind of home-made sausage stuffed with rice, and eaten with cummin; Paça, boiled sheep's feet; Bicibici (pronounced as bee-jee-bee-jee) made from diced semolina, rose water and sugar and served with crushed ice, consumed especially in summer time. But especially the Adana kebab, this you have to try.

Furthermore, the city has a number of famous desserts, such as Halka Tatli a round shaped dessert and Tas Kadayif a bow shaped dessert.

Shopping in Adana is enhanced the 'American bazaar' a street market selling new and second-hand goods that have seeped out of the Incirlik Air-base.