Trabzon & Uzungöl

Turkey's gateway to the Black Sea, with the cliffside Sumela Monastery, Lake Uzungöl and misty highland villages, plus tea gardens and seafood.

Trabzon is a historic city on the Black Sea coast of northeastern Turkey. Known in antiquity as Trebizond, it was a port on the northern Silk Road and the capital of the Byzantine Empire of Trebizond. Backed by the Pontic Mountains, the area between the mountains and the sea is rainy and humid, and its meadows, rainforests, tea gardens and highland villages create scenery quite unlike the rest of Turkey. In the city you can see Hagia Sophia Mosque, the old city walls and the Atatürk Pavilion, and sip tea while looking out over the sea at Boztepe. About 45 km south is Sumela Monastery, built into a cliff face, often combined with Karaca Cave and the village of Hamsiköy on a day trip; Lake Uzungöl, about 95 km southeast, can be visited as a day trip or with an overnight stay. Further east, the tea gardens of Rize, the Fırtına Valley, Zil Castle and Ayder Plateau make up the classic Black Sea highlands route, and a night in Ayder is recommended. The best time is May–Sep, when the highland meadows are lush green, with highland festivals in Jul–Aug; winters bring plenty of rain and snow, and highland roads may close. Trabzon Airport has flights from Istanbul and Ankara; getting around the city is mainly by dolmuş minibus, and for the highland route, self-driving or joining a tour is recommended. Plan to stay 3–5 days. Must-tries include Black Sea anchovies (hamsi), Akçaabat meatballs, kuymak (a cornmeal and cheese fondue) and Rize black tea.

Top sights

• Sümela Monastery – A Greek Orthodox monastery built into cliffs about 1,200 meters above sea level, with vivid frescoes. It is the top attraction in the Black…
• Uzungöl – A high mountain lake ringed by peaks, with a lakeside mosque and wooden houses reflected in the water. It is the most photogenic scenery on…
• Hagia Sophia, Trabzon – A 13th-century Byzantine church from the Empire of Trebizond, with finely preserved frescoes, now a mosque that visitors can enter.
• Atatürk Pavilion – A late-19th-century white villa among the pines where Atatürk once stayed, now a memorial with a garden.
• Boztepe – A tea-garden lookout on a hill south of the city centre, overlooking Trabzon, its port and the Black Sea, especially beautiful at night.
• Meydan Park & Uzun Sokak – Trabzon's city-centre square and a pedestrian shopping street, where you can try Akçaabat meatballs and Black Sea desserts.
• Walls of Trabzon & Zağnos Valley – Triple walls dating from the Byzantine era and the Empire of Trebizond, guarded by two deep ravines, with the valley floor turned into a ci…
• Gülbahar Hatun Mosque – A 16th-century mosque built by Sultan Selim I for his mother, with the queen mother's tomb and a small park alongside.
• Trabzon Museum (Kostaki Mansion) – A neoclassical mansion built for a Greek merchant in the early 20th century, showing the house's original interiors and Trabzon's archaeolo…
• Kaymaklı Monastery – An Armenian monastery on a farm on the edge of town, whose chapel preserves exquisite frescoes from the late 17th century.
• Sera Lake – A small lake in a mountain valley west of the city, with a lakeside wooden trail and cafés, popular with locals for weekend strolls.
• Hıdırnebi Plateau – A highland meadow village at about 1,600 m, where a cliff-edge viewing platform often looks down on billowing clouds.
• Karaca Cave – A limestone cave in the mountains at about 1,500 m, rich in stalactites and stalagmites, often combined with Sümela Monastery in a day trip.
• Hamsiköy – A highland village beneath the Zigana Pass, famous for Black Sea-style baked rice pudding made with local milk.
• Çal Cave – A long cave with an underground river, where visitors can follow a walkway about 1 km into the cave to a small waterfall.

Where to eat

• Kalkanoğlu Pilavı – A century-old rice house in Trabzon, founded in 1856 and run by five or six generations of one family, serving only but…
• Cemilusta Meatballs (Meydan Branch) – A local Trabzon brand founded in 1969, serving Akçaabat meatballs and Black Sea dishes at Atatürk Square.
• Uzungöl Ada Restaurant – One of the most-reviewed restaurants on the shore of Uzungöl, known for butter-fried rainbow trout served with cornbrea…

Itineraries

• Black Sea Highlands to Batumi Cross-Border Journey – Explore Sümela Monastery, Uzungöl, and Ayder Plateau, then cross the Sarp border crossing into Batumi, Georgia.