Upon meeting at the Trabzon Airport, we depart for the Ayder Plateau (1200 m). You may spend the day resting, bathing in the thermal spring or sightseeing as soon as we're finished with check-in at the pensions.
DAY 2 - Monday
Today we're heading off for the first walk. We stroll in the Laz Plateaus, following the Avusor Valley. Hacizeni, Peryatak, Dobaye and Taslik plateaus (1800-2500m) are rather close to each other and lie on the slope of Mountain Kemerli Kaçkar. If the group has enough strength and the time is sufficient, we may also climb up to the Avusor Lake (2600 m.)
DAY 3 - Tuesday
Today's destination is the Çeymakçur Plateau (1800 m), which is one of the few plateaus have preserved the traditional view of the region. There is a road reaching out to the plateau but there is no evident change in the architecture of the houses. They are constructed with stone and wood.
DAY 4 - Wednesday
Our program for today involves the visits to Lower and Upper Kavran Plateaus, Büyük Deniz, Küçük Deniz and Karadeniz Lakes. 5 years ago, there has been an avalanche and thus, lots of people have lost their lives in the Lower Kavran Plateau (1800 m). Upper Kavran Plateau (2200 m), on the other hand, is one of the biggest plateaus in the region. We'll ascend with our vehicle up to this point. After a short, photo brake at Kavran Plateau, we'll walk up to the point where the lakes are located. Büyük Deniz and Küçük Deniz Lakes (3100 m) are very close to each other. Since the Büyük Deniz Lake is pretty deep and nourished by the melted snow water, it's rather cold. However the Küçük Deniz Lake is shallow and warm, enabling our tour members to swim in it. Therefore we strongly recommend that you bring your bathing suits and towels. We'll look down on to the Karadeniz Lake and return to the pension.
DAY 5 - Thursday
Free day. Any tour may be arranged according to the requests. If you wish, you may attend to the guide's program or may spend the day at Ayder Plateau.
DAY 6 - Friday
We'll set out with our vehicles, proceeding towards Zil Castle, Palovit Waterfall, Çat (1300 m) and Elevit (1800 m) Plateaus consequently. Zil Castle (Kale-i Zir) means the lower castle in Arabic and used to be a protection and break point on the trade roads. It was constructed between the 14th and 15th century. It consists of ramparts and the inner castle. The Palovit Waterfall is 10 m high and has an imposing appearance. The Çat Valley has preserved its wild life better when compared to the other regions. The possibility of coming across to some wild animals like a falcon, an eagle or a deer is pretty high. With the lunch break given at the Çat Village, you'll probably get the chance of tasting Cüneyt's delicious traditional food made of plateau cheese and butter. The Elevit Plateau located in the upper region of Çat is a rather large and urbanized plateau.
DAY 7 - Saturday
After breakfast, we head off towards the Sümela Monastery and Uzungöl located within the borders of the city of Trabzon. The monastery was engraved secretly in a mountain's body, in the year 406, at the first times of Christianity. Its place was found by two priests, who had dreams about the monastery. Some changes were done in the Byzantine king Justinianus' time. The monastery, which was reconstructed in 6th century, was restored in the year 1360. The Rumanian Pontus king 3rd Alexis was crowned in this building which is still used now. There were 72 rooms in the monastery, on which there are four floors and two terraces are found. On each floor were found 8 rooms which were decorated with frescos. Very few of those frescos could remain until today. The water coming from the pool that is found in the backyard is considered sacred. Although a road for vehicles was constructed on the steep slope after 1980, we prefer to climb up the 200-m-long footpath with the ones who are conditioned enough. The ones who have constructed this monastery have carried all the necessary equipment up using this footpath. This would help you understand what they have felt at the time. After our visit to the Sümela Monastery is over, we set off for Uzungöl. This lake, which seems like it has hidden in the upper region of the Of Town, is being protected. We'll wander around the lake for a while and transfer to the Trabzon Airport afterwards.
Transportation: Intercity transportation may be provided by plane or buses. The transfers in the tour are provided by minibuses.
Accommodation: 6 nights pension accommodated. You may choose from 2 pensions. Istanbul Pension ( is an old, wooden inn similar to a typical plateau house) or Kuspuni Pension ( is a luxurious, wooden pension which has separate bathrooms in the rooms.)
Activity: Hiking and a cultural tour.
Activity time: Starts on Sunday, ends on Saturday.
Degree: It's an easy tour. Some short walks, which last in about 3.5-4 hours, are arranged to the plateaus and lakes.
Equipment: Please provide the personal equipment like a smaller rucksack, a pair of jogging shoes, an extra pair of shoes, raincoat, water bottle, lantern, sunglasses and lotion, hat, beret.
Number of joiners: Minimum of 2, maximum of 15 tour members.
Tour Dates: Arranged every week from the beginning of June until mid-September.
We have prepared a program which involves the interesting and colorful cultural structure of the Black Sea Region, its sympathetic and cheerful people, vivacious traditional dances, delicious cuisine, plateaus that are scattered in the mountains and enjoyable festivals. The difference of this program is that you get to explore the places listed and the culture mentioned very well. There are some other programs which transfer the travelers from one hotel to the other for the whole week and don't even spend an hour in a plateau, where we can't get to see everything by the end of a day. You'll get to know new people during our walks in the natural parks and see how congenial and good- natured they are in such a wild-structured-region. Wonderful things are waiting for you in this paradise where the green and blue unite. By the way, don't forget to bring candies and chocolates to distribute to the kids in the plateau; you'll feel peaceful and happy as you see their eyes shining.
Located in the southeast of Black Sea, Small Caucasus, Pontus Alps or with a better-known name Mountain Kaçkar is worth seeing with its amazingly rich nature, different species of animals and the appealing culture, daily life and native people. You'll not be able to forget about the blue lakes and the green plateaus scattered through the mountains.
The Eastern Black Sea Region with Turkey's only subtropical rain and fog forest habitats, ecosystems, 2500 various plants, 250 species of birds, rare wild life, alpine meadows, glacier lakes, rivers, magnificent national parks and the 3937-m-Kaçkar Peak is declared one of the 200 natural places in the world which should be intensely protected.
