Outdoors · Planning Guide

National Parks in Türkiye

Which of the 54 official parks to plan around, what landscape each protects, and which famous sites are protected under a different status.

Show Me Türkiye October 2026 8 min read

Field notes

National parks: what we tell friends.

01 Check the status, not the brochure. Many places sold as "national parks" are nature parks, special protection areas or historical sites. The official list is published by DKMP (General Directorate of Nature Conservation and National Parks).
02 Mountain parks run on a short season. In Kaçkar, Aladağlar and Cilo-Sat, the high trails are realistically a summer-to-early-autumn proposition. Snow can linger on passes into early summer.
03 Wetlands reward dawn. At Sultan Sazlığı and Kuşcenneti, birdlife is most active early in the day, and spring and autumn migration are the peak periods.
04 Autumn belongs to the north. The forest parks of Artvin, Bolu and Kastamonu turn colour from late September; the south is better for spring.
05 Fees and rules change. Entry fees, camping rules and vehicle access are set per park. Check with the park directorate or DKMP before you go.
06 Drones. Check current DGCA (SHGM) and local protected-area restrictions before flying.

In this guide

8 chapters, one country.

01What counts as a national park, and what doesn't1 min
02High mountains: Kaçkar, Aladağlar and Cilo-Sat1 min
03Forests, lakes and the Black Sea hinterland1 min
04Canyons and the Mediterranean coast1 min
05Wetlands and wildlife1 min
06Geology, volcanoes and heritage parks1 min
07Which park is for me?1 min
08Before you go1 min

This guide helps you pick the one or two national parks in Türkiye that fit your trip, by the landscape you want: high mountains, northern forest, Mediterranean canyon, wetland or volcanic and heritage ground. Türkiye has 54 national parks (milli park) on the official list of DKMP, part of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry. This guide focuses on the parks that fit an international itinerary best; many of the others make good stops on a road you are already driving.

The first thing to understand is that the landscape decides the season. Mountain parks open properly in summer, forest parks peak in autumn, wetlands peak during spring and autumn migration, and the coastal canyons are best when the coast is not at its hottest.

The list is not static. In 2026 Türkiye gained its first marine national parks, off Fethiye-Kaş and in the North Aegean, plus two eastern parks: Nemrut Kalderası in Bitlis and the Deveboynu Peninsula on Lake Van. Some famous names have gone the other way, which the next chapter explains.

If you want	Go to	Best time	Base
Multi-day trekking with villages	Kaçkar	Summer	Ayder or Yusufeli
Rock, altitude, climbing	Aladağlar	Summer to early autumn	Çamardı
Nature day from a beach holiday	Köprülü Kanyon or Beydağları	Spring, autumn	Antalya or Kemer
Autumn forest and lakes	Karagöl-Sahara or Yedigöller	October	Şavşat or Bolu
Birds with a volcano behind	Sultan Sazlığı	Spring, autumn, dawn	Kayseri or Cappadocia
Sunrise on ancient stone	Nemrut Dağı	Late spring to early autumn	Kahta or Malatya

01What counts as a park

What counts as a national park, and what doesn't.

1 min read

Travel copy calls almost everything in Türkiye a "national park". Officially there are several categories, and the difference matters if you are planning around park rules, permits or a parks-only itinerary.

National park (milli park): the category this guide covers, managed by DKMP.

Historical national park: still on the DKMP list but declared for a battle or site, such as Troya (Troy). Visit them as heritage, not nature.

Nature park (tabiat parkı): a smaller category. The Ayvalık Islands are a nature park, not a national park.

Göreme and Gallipoli: outside the national-park system. Göreme lost national-park status in 2019 and is now run by the Cappadocia Area Administration (Law 7174); Gallipoli is managed as a Historical Site.

UNESCO still lists "Göreme National Park and the Rock Sites of Cappadocia", which is why the old label survives. None of this makes Cappadocia less worth the trip: read our Cappadocia story and the Nevşehir and Cappadocia guide.

Episode 1 of our national parks series, filmed with the General Directorate of Nature Conservation and National Parks.

Demirkazık at sunset, Aladağlar National Park.

02High mountains

High mountains: Kaçkar, Aladağlar and Cilo-Sat.

1 min read

These are the three parks serious hikers build a whole trip around, and they suit very different people. Kaçkar is green, inhabited and social; Aladağlar is bare rock and altitude; Cilo-Sat is remote and demands the most planning.

Hiker below the Cilo-Sat peaks in Hakkari — Cilo-Sat: Türkiye’s most dramatic limestone peaks, for experienced trekkers only.

Kaçkar Mountains National Park rises above the eastern Black Sea, reached from Rize (Ayder, Çamlıhemşin) and from Yusufeli in Artvin. Glacial lakes and granite ridges sit above forested valleys that fill with mist, and the summer pastures (yayla) keep the range lived-in.

Best for: Multi-day trekking with villages, yayla culture and cloud-sea mornings
Best season: Summer for the high passes; valleys are green from late spring

The Fırtına valley side is covered in our Rize guide and Rize story.

Aladağlar National Park sits in the central Taurus where Niğde, Kayseri and Adana meet, with the climbing side reached from Çamardı. It is steep limestone and dolomite cut by deep valleys such as Emli, with almost no forest.

Choose Aladağlar over Kaçkar if you want rock, altitude and technical routes rather than villages, or if you want a mountain park that combines easily with Cappadocia. Our Aladağlar guide covers the valleys and access.

Hakkari Cilo and Sat Mountains National Park in the far south-east holds Türkiye's most dramatic high limestone peaks and remnant glaciers. It suits experienced trekkers in mid-summer only, with a local guide and a check on current access conditions. Read the Hakkari story and Hakkari guide first.

Kaçkar is a mountain you walk through villages; Aladağlar is a mountain you climb.

Two more high parks need a different mindset. Ağrı Dağı National Park protects Mount Ararat, Türkiye's highest summit; climbing it is regulated, so treat it as an expedition and confirm current permit requirements with an authorised operator. Uludağ above Bursa is the easiest high mountain to reach from Istanbul and is better known for skiing than wilderness; see our Bursa guide.

Our film from the Aladağlar and the Bolkar Mountains.

03Forests and lakes

Forests, lakes and the Black Sea hinterland.

1 min read

The northern parks are the greenest in the country, and autumn is their strongest season. None needs serious fitness; most are road-trip parks.

Aerial view of Karagöl lake ringed by forest in Şavşat, Artvin — Karagöl-Sahara: the northern forest park to prioritise in October.

Karagöl-Sahara National Park in Şavşat, Artvin, is the one to prioritise: a forest lake that turns gold and red from late September into October, easy to reach and easy to walk around. It pairs naturally with Macahel and Borçka; our Artvin guide covers the province.

Küre Mountains and Ilgaz Mountain national parks, both centred on Kastamonu, are an underrated forest pairing in the north. Küre has karst canyons such as Horma and Valla; Ilgaz has fir and beech forest, summer walking and a small winter ski area. Our Kastamonu guide covers both.

The rest of the north works best as one strong line each:

Yedigöller (Bolu): a chain of small forest lakes, an easy autumn escape from Istanbul or Ankara, crowded on October weekends.

Hatila Valley (Artvin): a half-day canyon-and-forest drive from Artvin city, not a destination on its own; see the Artvin story.

Altındere Valley (Trabzon): the forested setting of Sumela Monastery at Maçka, visited for the monastery rather than for hiking; see our Trabzon guide.

04Canyons and the Mediterranean

Canyons and the Mediterranean coast.

1 min read

If you are already on the Antalya or Fethiye coast, these are the parks that cost you the least time.

Köprülü Kanyon National Park, inland from Antalya across the Antalya-Isparta line, is the strongest single nature day from the coast. The Köprüçay gorge brings rafting in the warmer months, Roman bridges still cross the river, and the ruins of Selge sit above the valley. Walking is best in spring and autumn. Start from our Antalya guide.

Beydağları Coastal National Park runs between Kemer and Olympos, where pine-covered mountains drop straight to the sea around Phaselis and Olympos. Choose Beydağları over Köprülü if you want to walk a section of the coast rather than spend a day inland; it is one of the easiest national parks to fold into a beach holiday. Walkers should read our Lycian Way guide; for Mount Tahtalı and the Kemer side, read the Kemer story.

Saklıkent, inland from Fethiye, is a narrow cold-water gorge you wade into, best in summer when the water is low; see our Muğla guide. Güllük Dağı-Termessos, just inland from Antalya, suits history-minded walkers: a mountaintop ancient city in forest.

05Wetlands and wildlife

Wetlands and wildlife.

1 min read

Wetland parks are about timing more than distance: spring and autumn migration, and the first hours after dawn.

Reeds and birds at Sultan Sazlığı with Mount Erciyes behind — Sultan Sazlığı at migration time, below Erciyes.

Sultan Sazlığı National Park, south of Kayseri, is the wetland to prioritise. Flamingos and waders gather in season below the cone of Mount Erciyes, and the park is an easy add-on to Cappadocia or Kayseri for non-specialists. See our Kayseri guide.

Best season: Spring and autumn migration
Best time of day: Dawn
When to skip: Midday in high summer, when activity and light both flatten

Dilek Peninsula-Büyük Menderes Delta, south of Kuşadası in Aydın, combines clean coves, forest walks and delta birdlife in one park; late spring and early autumn are best, and it is the strongest nature break on the central Aegean. Kuşcenneti on Lake Manyas in Balıkesir is a compact bird reserve worth a stop between Istanbul or Bursa and the Aegean; see our Balıkesir guide.

For specialists, İğneada Longoz Forests in Kırklareli protects rare flooded coastal forest near the Bulgarian border. Beyşehir Gölü (Konya) and Kovada Gölü (Isparta) are quieter lake parks for a road trip through the Lakes District.

06Geology, volcanoes and heritage

Geology, volcanoes and heritage parks.

1 min read

Nemrut Dağı National Park in Adıyaman and Malatya is the one geology-and-heritage park worth a long detour. The colossal statue heads on the summit tumulus, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, are seen at sunrise or sunset, between late spring and early autumn; winter snow affects the summit road. Combine it with our Şanlıurfa guide.

Do not confuse it with Nemrut Kalderası National Park, the crater lakes of a different Nemrut, a volcano near Tatvan in Bitlis, added in 2026 alongside the nearby Deveboynu Peninsula on Lake Van.

Kazdağı (Mount Ida), Balıkesir: forest walks and springs on a mountain that rises almost from the sea; pair it with Ayvalık via our Balıkesir guide.

Munzur Valley, Tunceli: a wild river valley with springs and wildlife, for travellers already in the east.

Troya and Boğazköy-Alacahöyük: historical national parks visited as archaeological sites; for Troy and Gallipoli, see our Çanakkale guide.

The Lycian coast, where the Taurus Mountains drop straight to the sea.

07Which park is for me?

Which park is for me?

1 min read

Choose Kaçkar if you want several days on foot with villages and hospitality. Choose Aladağlar if you want rock and altitude and are combining it with Cappadocia. Choose Cilo-Sat only if you are an experienced trekker with a guide.

Choose Köprülü Kanyon or Beydağları if you have one free day on the Antalya coast. Choose Sultan Sazlığı if you are in Cappadocia and can be up at dawn.

Choose Karagöl-Sahara, Yedigöller or Küre-Ilgaz if you are travelling in October and want colour without hard hiking.

To combine parks, the Black Sea highlands from Trabzon to Artvin link Altındere, Kaçkar, Karagöl-Sahara and Hatila in one road trip; our Black Sea Highlands route follows that line, and the Photographers' Türkiye route helps if light is the priority. For timing, see when to visit Türkiye; for transport, see getting around Türkiye.

08Before you go

Before you go.

1 min read

Each national park has its own directorate. Fees, camping, fire and vehicle rules differ between parks and can change, and mountain areas close or become impassable in winter. Check the official DKMP national-park pages (tarimorman.gov.tr/DKMP) and the local directorate before travelling, especially for Ağrı Dağı, Cilo-Sat and the new marine parks, whose visitor rules are still being set out. Stay on marked paths and carry out your rubbish. Never light a fire unless it is explicitly permitted: seasonal fire bans are common, especially in forest areas, so check current DKMP and local rules.

Plan the route

Link the parks into one road trip.

The Black Sea Highlands route strings Altındere, Kaçkar, Karagöl-Sahara and Hatila into a single drive.

See the route →

National parks: what we tell friends.

8 chapters, one country.

Link the parks into one road trip.

Plan the rest of the trip.

Hiking in Türkiye: which trail or region suits you.

Aladağlar: Demirkazık, Emli Valley and the Bolkar Mountains.

Kastamonu: konaks, canyons and the Küre Mountains.