Skip to main content

Lake · Uzungöl, Çaykara, Trabzon · Turkey

Uzungöl

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.

Where it is

Explore on XTOUR Map
Open Uzungöl on the XTOUR map. Directions are available there.

40.6193, 40.2949

Why go

Uzungöl is a lake-and-village resort area in Çaykara district, Trabzon Province. According to the Trabzon provincial culture and tourism directorate it is 99 km from Trabzon and 19 km from Çaykara by asphalt road, at about 1,150 m; the regional nature-conservation directorate gives the elevation as 1,100 m and describes the lake as a landslide-dammed lake about 1,000 m long, 500 m wide and 15 m deep, protected as a nature park (1,625 ha) since 1989, with a visitor centre and a viewing terrace. The standalone Uzungöl municipality was abolished in 2014 and folded into Çaykara Belediyesi as a mahalle, so Çaykara Belediyesi is the local governing authority today, with Trabzon Büyükşehir Belediyesi (the metropolitan municipality) handling regional roads. Visitors come for the lakeside walk/boardwalk, mountain and forest scenery, trout restaurants and boutique wood-chalet hotels; a winter festival has run in recent years. There is no single ticketed entrance to the lake or village — the weight of available evidence (a regional nature-conservation directorate's own page, plus a secondary source's explicit FAQ-style statement) favours free access to the town-centre and lake-surrounds area, though a conflicting aggregator-sourced fee figure for the wider nature park has not been fully reconciled. Winter brings real access risk: heavy snow has been reported requiring winter tires and continuous road-clearing, and the wider area has seen at least one weather-driven road closure.

Getting there

99 km from Trabzon and 19 km from Çaykara by asphalt road, per the Trabzon provincial culture and tourism directorate and the regional nature-conservation directorate, reached by road (regional minibus/shuttle services exist, e.g. a Çaykara-based operator's posted schedule) or private car; no single gated entrance to the lake/village. The 12th Regional Directorate of Nature Conservation and National Parks' own page for Uzungöl Tabiat Parkı describes visitor facilities with no fee mentioned, and a secondary source explicitly states no per-person or vehicle fee applies to the town-centre/lake-surrounds area — the weight of evidence favours free access, though a conflicting aggregator-sourced nature-park fee figure (₺25–30/₺15, 2024-dated, and not internally consistent across sources) has not been fully reconciled against a directly-read primary tariff document. Duration-based parking charges are reported by a secondary source, amount unconfirmed.

Best time to visit

No official closure calendar exists, but real winter snow (reported exceeding 1 m in February 2026) can require winter tires and trigger continuous road-clearing; a separate 2026 report describes a landslide/flood event cutting off road access to tourist facilities elsewhere in the wider area. A recurring winter festival has also run in recent years, so winter is not purely a deterrent, but real access risk should be planned around, not assumed away.

Through the year

Open year-round in principle — there is even a winter festival — but access can be materially disrupted by snow or, less often, landslide/flood, and winter tires are effectively required in season. This is a genuine access risk, not a scheduled seasonal closure.

Accessibility

No source read describes specific step-free or accessibility facilities for the lakeside boardwalk.

Base yourself nearby

City

Trabzon

Trabzon is the main city of Türkiye's eastern Black Sea coast and the base for Sümela Monastery and Uzungöl. In the city itself are the 13th-century Hagia Sophia of Trabzon, the Ministry's Trabzon Museum in the Kostaki Mansion, the small St Anna church, and the Boztepe viewing terrace above the harbour.

Near Uzungöl