Trabzon
Where Gulf guests go to escape the summer: green valleys, mist and August mornings at fifteen degrees.
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IST · SAW · AYT · BJV · TZX
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The Black Sea coast resembles no other part of Türkiye. In August, while Antalya sits at forty degrees, a morning on the Trabzon highlands is fifteen and you cannot sit outside in the evening without a layer. That single fact is why Gulf guests turn this way in summer: to escape the heat. But the region has a hard side too — everything is far from everything else and the roads are mountain roads. This page sets out the distances, the highland season and how many days the trip really needs.
- Airport
- Trabzon (TZX) — inside the city
- Distance to Uzungöl
- About 100 km, two hours each way
- Highland season
- Late June – September
- Enough time
- Five days; the distances are long
Sümela, Uzungöl and the road between
The Sümela Monastery stands in the Altındere valley, about forty-five kilometres and an hour from the city centre; it is carved into the cliff and there is an uphill walk from the entrance to the building — not right for every age, and a guest with bad knees should know beforehand. Uzungöl is in the opposite direction, a hundred kilometres of largely mountain road; two hours each way, which means four hours in the car there and back. Squeezing both into one day is technically possible, but most of it is spent on the road and neither place is properly seen. We put them on separate days; the Zigana pass, the tea gardens and the Hamsiköy stop then follow naturally.
When the highlands open
The highland season opens at the end of June and closes in September. Outside that window Ayder and the high plateaux are misty, cold and sometimes cut off by road — every year a guest arrives in May and says "we couldn't see the highlands", so we say it plainly when dates are discussed. Uzungöl and Sümela, by contrast, can be visited all year; only the driving is slower in winter. Ayder and above are inside Rize province, not Trabzon; in our five-day programme that day crosses into Rize, and if the season is closed the day turns to the coast or the country around the city.
Rain country: what to bring
The Black Sea region gets more rain than anywhere else in Türkiye, and that holds in summer too. Even in August you may catch a wet day, mist can close the view completely, and it is entirely possible to drive two hours to Uzungöl and not see the lake. We cannot prevent that, but we build the day around it: we leave early, and the mist usually lifts towards noon. Bring a light raincoat and shoes with grip; evening temperatures on the plateau can drop to ten degrees, so a thin layer earns its place in every season. Alongside your summer clothes, one warm top is enough.
What we do in Trabzon
Meet-and-greet at Trabzon airport and transfer to the hotel, a car and driver by the day within the region, a twelve-hour Black Sea tour and a five-day programme. Tours are private: you do not join a group and the driver speaks Arabic. You reach Trabzon by air — the road from Istanbul is over a thousand kilometres and takes a full day one way. The flight is not included in the programme, but we will buy it in your name if you want. We book hotels too; we have no list of partner hotels. What we do not do: no yacht charter, no serviced apartments, no wedding cars.
What we offer in Trabzon
Common questions about Trabzon
Technically yes, but we advise against it. They lie in opposite directions from the city; Uzungöl is two hours each way, Sümela one. Put them in the same day and five of your eight hours are spent in the car, you get half an hour at each and you come back to the hotel worn out. In our five-day programme they fall on separate days; if you are making a single day trip, choosing one gives a far better result.
On the coast July and August run twenty-five to thirty degrees and humid; on the plateau the same mornings are around fifteen and the evenings cool. That contrast is exactly what Gulf guests come for. But you do not come here for the sea: the Black Sea is not as warm as the Mediterranean and the shore is more a place you pass through. If swimming is the point, Antalya or Bodrum is the right answer; people come here for green and for cool air.
By air. The road from Istanbul is over a thousand kilometres and takes a day one way, so nobody drives it. The ticket is not included in the programme, but we will buy it in your name if you like — we ask how flexible your dates are and pick the best time together. You are met at Trabzon airport, at the arrivals gate, with a name board.
Let us plan your trip today
Send us your dates and party size, and we will come back the same day with a fixed price and a draft programme.
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