Historic site · Kemaliye, Erzincan
Historic Town of Kemaliye
Kemaliye
A historic Euphrates gorge town in Erzincan province, on Türkiye's UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List, at the head of the Karanlık Kanyon and its tunnelled Taş Yol road.
Where it is
39.2621, 38.4965
Why go
Kemaliye sits in south-west Erzincan province on the Euphrates, above the Karanlık Kanyon. The Ministry of Culture and Tourism describes a town notable for its urban fabric and original houses, and it has been on Türkiye's UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List since 2021 — listed as a candidate, not inscribed. Below the town runs the Karanlık Kanyon (Dark Canyon), up to 1,000 m deep according to the Ministry, and along its wall the Taş Yol, a 7 km road cut through 38 tunnels. The municipality recommends high-clearance 4x4 vehicles on the unpaved canyon road and names spring and summer as the best time to visit. Boat tours in the canyon, which the municipality says take 45–60 minutes, are another way to see it. Check the road's current state before driving it.
Getting there
The municipality says Kemaliye is usually reached via Malatya (about 175 km), Elazığ (about 145 km) or Erzincan (about 164 km), roughly 2–2.5 hours by car. The map point is the town centre. The canyon road and Taş Yol are unpaved, and the municipality recommends high-clearance 4x4 vehicles; XTOUR has not confirmed the road's current state.
Through the year
The municipality names spring and summer as the best time to visit.
Safety
The Taş Yol is a narrow tunnelled road on a canyon wall; check its current state before driving it.
Accessibility
A hillside town; step-free routes are not described.
Near Historic Town of Kemaliye
Monastery
Sümela Monastery
A Greek Orthodox monastery built into a sheer cliff face about 300 m above the Altındere valley floor, in Trabzon Province, reached by road and then on foot along a forest path and a long staircase. On UNESCO's Tentative List.
187 km · straight-line distance; driving distance and time differ
Lake
Uzungöl
A lake-and-village resort area in Çaykara district, Trabzon Province, at about 1,100–1,150 m elevation — a lakeside boardwalk, forested mountainsides, trout restaurants and wood-chalet hotels, reached by a mountain road that real winter snow can disrupt.
215 km · straight-line distance; driving distance and time differ
Mosque
Hagia Sophia, Trabzon
A 13th-century Byzantine church-turned-mosque on Trabzon's Black Sea coast road, with surviving frescoes including a Pantocrator Christ dome fresco — not to be confused with the far more famous Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, a different building entirely.
219 km · straight-line distance; driving distance and time differ
Archaeological site
Göbekli Tepe
Göbekli Tepe is a Pre-Pottery Neolithic hilltop site north-east of Şanlıurfa, where hunter-gatherers raised monumental circular enclosures of T-shaped limestone pillars some 11,500 years ago. It is a Ministry of Culture and Tourism archaeological site and has been on the UNESCO World Heritage List since 2018.
230 km · straight-line distance; driving distance and time differ