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Historic site · İncekaya Köyü, Safranbolu, Karabük

İncekaya Aqueduct

İncekaya Su Kemeri · İncekaya Kemeri

An 18th-century Ottoman stone aqueduct spanning Tokatlı Canyon near Safranbolu — 116m long, six arches, up to 60m above the canyon floor, reached by private or commercial vehicle.

Why go

İncekaya Aqueduct is an 18th-century Ottoman stone aqueduct spanning Tokatlı Canyon (also called İncekaya Canyon), in İncekaya Köyü, Safranbolu district, Karabük Province. It was built 1794-1798 under Grand Vizier İzzet Mehmet Paşa, a native of Safranbolu, to supply water to the town. The structure is 116 metres long with six arches (one main plus five auxiliary), reaching up to 60 metres above the canyon floor, built from rubble stone with Horasan mortar. A separate, newer structure — Cam Teras, a glass observation terrace built in 2012 at the canyon rim, roughly 80 metres above the canyon floor — sits above the aqueduct; visitors descend into the canyon from the terrace to reach the aqueduct itself, which is then on the left, per the Ministry of Culture and Tourism's own description. The two are genuinely distinct structures, two centuries apart in age, and should not be conflated.

Getting there

Reached by private or commercial vehicle to İncekaya Köyü and Tokatlı Canyon, per the Ministry's Kültür Portalı page — no public transit route is described by any source read. No primary source (the Ministry's Kültür Portalı page or the national DÖSİMM fee schedule) states an hours or fee figure for the aqueduct; the DÖSİMM schedule does not list it at all, meaning it sits outside the Ministry's ticketed site system entirely. Cam Teras, the separate glass terrace above the canyon, is reached from the same general direction but is a distinct structure with its own access point; no government source states its fee either.

Best time to visit

No source read states a best season specifically for the aqueduct.

Through the year

No seasonal closure is described for the aqueduct by any source read. Cam Teras closed for renovation January-July 2022 (reopened around Kurban Bayramı 2022); no source found describes a current or 2025-2026 closure for either structure.

Accessibility

No source read describes a step-free route into the canyon to the aqueduct itself.