The Black Sea Turkey: An Off the Beaten Path Adventure Worth Having

When people think of Turkiye, they often picture Istanbul, the 7 churches of Revelation, or one of the popular beach towns like Antalya, Fethiye, or Bodrum.

After living in Turkey for over five years and traveling to six of its seven regions, I’ve found that one of the most under-visited areas is the Black Sea region, or the Karadeniz (kara = black and deniz = sea).

This region stands out with its thick accents and delicious cuisine. Its lush greenery, misty mountains, and serene coastline reveal a side of Turkey that many tourists overlook.

On a week-long road trip with a close Turkish friend, we explored hidden gems and places only accessible by car. This gave us the freedom to fully enjoy the local culture and stunning landscapes.

Along with cultural highlights, in this article, I’ll share practical tips for making the most of your trip, including the best routes to take, local customs to know, and the ideal time of year to visit.

Plus, I will explain why I think the best way to explore this area, particularly by car instead of relying on public transportation.

This region is just one of many unique places worth visiting in Turkey. If you’re looking for other off-the-beaten-path trips this is a great list as well.

Samsun

We broke up the long drive from Istanbul to Trabzon with a night in Samsun, the largest city in the region.

While it isn’t a “hoppin’ city”, it was the perfect place to grab a bite to eat, rest up, and explore a bit before heading on our way.

We had Iskender Kebap at Hastat Restaurant and it was delicious. My friend was given the recommendation by another friend and it didn’t disappoint.

After sleeping through the night, we woke up to do some exploring before hitting the road.

But first…coffee. Always coffee.

We made sure to visit the Gazi Museum (official website). This beautiful building is where Ataturk stayed when he first visited Samsun on May 19, 1919.

Later the building was given to him by the city and after he passed, it was converted into a museum in his honor.

One thing to note about Turks is they absolutely love Ataturk. He is their national hero and founder. Ataturk, not even his real last name but one given to him by Parliament in 1934, means “father of the Turks.”

Just by seeing some of the monuments and museums that celebrate him, you will show great honor to the lovely people of this country.

We also got to check out the epic Ataturk Monument and of course, we had to take our pictures with the giant city sign!

Trabzon

I have always heard that it is all about “location, location, location” when it comes to real estate. That has never felt more true than when we were in Trabzon.

As we drove to our Airbnb, I was a bit skeptical of the road because it was a bit tricky and hard to find. But once we got there, it felt like the find of a century.

The flat was large and beautiful but even better yet, it was right on the water. Turkey has some incredible views but this was one of my favorites.

We stayed there for three nights and each morning I walked out the back door with my coffee in hand and sat on the porch swing.

I rocked while I listened to the music of the water lapping the side and sipping my liquid energy. It was heavenly.

Okay so let’s talk about a few places in town that are worth seeing!

Wander old town

After a lovely Turkish breakfast at the Green Corner Cafe & Restaurant, we checked out the Little Hagia Sophia. This was a fun place to explore.

It was a surprisingly lovely find. I didn’t know it was there before I went.

What’s interesting is that half of it is used as a mosque while the other half is a church/museum where you can see all the old frescoes.

PRO TIP: If you go into downtown, park outside of downtown, and take public transportation in or walk in.

Random fact: this church was used as a weapon depot during WWI.

You can also check out the Trabzon Castle. It doesn’t have much castle and is pretty much a wall but you will get a great view from said wall.

You can just drive by it if you’re short on time.

From there you could drive to Ataturk’s Pavilion, which has been operating as a museum since 1943. It is really interesting to see.

It is a house that the city gave to Ataturk as a gift which returned to the people after his death.

While he didn’t live in the house full time, it is a house built at the turn of the last century and most of its furniture is from before 1940. It is worth seeing life as you step back in time as it is so well preserved.

Visit Rize

If you’re into teas, checking out one of their tea plantations is definitely worth seeing.

You can enjoy incredible views and take a tour where you can pretend to cut tea leaves with the locals.

There are also plenty of quiet, quaint mountain villages which are some of the best places to visit. A popular one for tourists is Aydar Village.

In many of them, you will see restaurants, local handmade goods, and cute mountain homes. It is like you’re stepping into another culture.

For the outdoorsy peeps out there, you can see beautiful waterfalls like Bulut, Palovit, Agaran, and Gelin Tulu as well as beautiful forests.

You can also check the Ziraat Botanical Garden (check out their Instagram) if you want a good view and a light snack. You will be able to see the sea, the city, and Rize Castle.

Wonder at SÜmela Monastery, Hamsiköy & Altindere Valley

Sumela Monastery is this incredible monastery that is believed to have been built in the 300s.

Because of its age, there is often construction happening so make sure that you check to see if it is open the day you want to go.

I have some friends of friends there and just the month before they had visited so I just assumed it would be fine…but when we got there, it was closed. We were so bummed to not be able to go inside.

If it isn’t open but you still want to go up it is still an incredible view and there is a really old church up at the top that you can see and a great lookout point for photos.

If you get to go in, enjoy it in all its glory.

Legend says that the Virgin Mary appeared to the Athenian priests named Barnabas and Sophronios in a dream. She told them to find her icon which was painted by Saint Luke.

So they set out on a journey, led by Virgin Mary, and when they arrived at Mela Mountain, they built a monastery around the icon.

It was expanded in the 6th, 7th, 18th, and 19th centuries.

Within there are 10 chapels of various sizes, a holy spring, a bell tower, a library, a two-storied kitchen, a fountain, administrative areas, dwellings for the monks as well as guest rooms.

One of my favorite parts of being here was definitely the sütlaç (rice pudding).

There is something about it up there on the mountain slopes and in the small town of Hamsiköy. The flavor is so rich!

When we asked the restaurant owner why it had such an incredible flavor he described how the cows were free to roam and thus had a much richer diet.

The result was a delicious rice pudding. It was only missing a little bit of cinnamon sprinkled on top, IMO.

You can have the same type of flavor in Trabzon but there was a nostalgic feeling of eating the sütlaç in the small village overlooking the green pastures and village houses while drinking tea.

I loved the juxtaposition of the animals roaming freely and cars cramped on a narrow road. Layered still with the sweet moment of stillness.

Finally, for the outdoorsy people, you can hike all through the Altindere Valley National Park (official website). People camp, fish, hike and so much more here. It is 11,040 acres big and is gorgeous.

Drive the coastline

Not everyone will get to do this but I really enjoyed this part of our trip. The reason I really loved this part of the trip is because it affords you the ability to stop wherever you want, whenever you want.

You can stop and see things you wouldn’t normally see if you’re on tours and excursions. You can enjoy small towns like Fatsa, Ordu, Bafra, and more all along Turkey’s Black Sea coast.

I also love seeing how locals live. I love to see what they eat and what is important to them. I love to see the scenery and just a slow day sometimes. This gives you the freedom to do just that.

If you have even some basic Turkish, it will take you quite far here. Everyone will love you and want to talk to you!

Along the Northern coast of Turkey, tourists are few and far between which is quite different from other places like Istanbul and Cappadocia.

Enjoy the slower day and the beautiful scenery along the way.

Sinop

Sinop is a small peninsula that sits on the Western coast of the Black Sea and is on the Northwestern edge of Turkey.

While you’re here, there are two things I want to recommend food-wise.

1. Sinop Mantı – this is my favorite version of mantı. Usually, mantı is covered in a yogurt sauce or if you’re in Kayseri, it is more soup-like. This mantı, however, has some crushed walnuts and butter. The flavor is so delicious and rich.
   
2. Fish – anything in season really. We had a couple of types of fish and a fish soup. It was all so fresh! If you want to try something very Turkish, two drinks are typically paired when eating fish.
   • Rakı – it has long been the national drink of Turkey. It is a liquor of twice distilled grapes and anise. It is a clear liquor that turns white when water is added.
   • Şalgam – this is a pickled carrot juice. It comes in a normal and spicy version so make sure you pick the appropriate one. If you like pickles, you may quite enjoy it! It was an acquired taste for me. Definitely worth trying though.

Beyond the yummy food, there are a few places to see like the Sinop Ethnography Museum. This was fascinating because it was like we stepped back in time. It is an old house that was built in 1890 and then restored in 1996.

The goal was for it to be restored to how it originally looked. There are places where they left the original paint so you can see the comparison like in the photo above. We saw scenes of what life would have been like in those days.

We also visited the Sinop Museum. My favorite thing in there was this replica furnace. They recreated a life-size version of the style of furnace that would have been used back in time.

There were so many fascinating artifacts and it was an interesting peek back in time. They even had these panels of groundwork that had been recovered in archeological digs. There was such amazing craftsmanship.

The Sinop Castle had a great view of the sea and the city. As the wind whipped our hair, with smiles on our faces, we took in the view and wondered…

What would they think of it now?

An Itinerary for your visit

by way of a Road Trip

If you want to do a road trip like we did, I recommend at least 9 days. You can get some thoughts on driving in Turkey here. These tips will make it muuuuch less stressful. Learn from my mistakes!

Below is a little different than how we did our trip but I have added in Ankara to be able to also see the capital without adding much time to the trip. You could also follow our itinerary like the above.

• Istanbul -> Bolu – 250 km / 3 hrs – There are many quaint places to stay on the lake. It is such a lovely area. We stayed at an all-inclusive and enjoyed the hamam on site and the lovely greenery outside. The next morning we got on our way. 1 Night in Bolu
  
• Bolu -> Sinop – 425 km / 5 hrs – If you leave after breakfast and make it to Sinop by early afternoon you could take a nice drive around the peninsula. It is lovely to see and there are some incredible viewpoints worth seeing.
  
  On the second day, you can check out the day from above. If you have a little extra time, you could route your trip through Kastamonu and check out the epic old Ottoman houses. 2 Nights
  
• Sinop -> Trabzon – 481 km / 6.75 hrs – This will be a longer more road-trippy day but I love this day because you can stop at so many places along the way.
  
  While you could stop in Samsun on the way I would recommend saving it for the way back to help break up the day. Obviously, you could have a really long day if you prefer. 2-3 Nights – 2 if you don’t go to Rize, 3 if you do.
  
• Trabzon -> Samsun – 324 km / 4.5 hrs – Here as you can see above is a great town for a stop-through. You can spend as long as you want but really 1 night is sufficient in my opinion. 1 Night
  
• Samsun -> Ankara – 400 km / 5 hrs – While Ankara isn’t technically part of the Black Sea Region, it makes for a nice rounded road trip out there.
  
  You will find some great things to see there like Ataturk’s Mausoleum, beautiful parks, and the capital of the country. If you get in the afternoon on the first day, give yourself a full day to check out the city and leave on the third day. 2 Nights
  
• Ankara -> Istanbul – 440 km / 6 hrs – Finally you head back to Istanbul. I would definitely recommend returning the car upon arrival instead of trying to deal with driving while in town.
  
  If you get it from SAW airport, you can easily hop on the M4 metro and head back towards Kadikoy or connect with a ferry if you want to go to the other side.

There are also many other cute cities that you can add to your itinerary if you’re taking a coastal drive. Cities like Amasra, Giresun and Zonguldak.

by way of Flying

The hard part of discovering Turkey via flights is the limited direct flights that can be found. There are some that are available but many of the flights will connect through Istanbul. Because of this, you will lose a lot of time.

While it may be a little more expensive to take a road trip, you will get to see the country instead of waiting for a long layover in Istanbul. If you really don’t want to drive though, I would recommend:

• Fly to Trabzon – Rent a car to get around town – 3 Nights
• Fly to Ankara – See above for recommendations – 2 Nights
• Fly to Samsun – See above but also you could rent a car while in town, especially if you wanted to head over to Sinop for a day trip. 2-3 Nights
• Fly to Istanbul – Enjoy at least 3 Nights in Istanbul. You can see my recommendations for what to do in Istanbul here.

Where should i Stay

If you have read any of my posts, I am a huge fan of booking.com for reservations.

Recently the police have been cracking down on unregistered AirBnBs so unless it has a registration number, I recommend you don’t stay there.

The hotel industry is always changing. Smaller, local places open and close regularly so it is nearly impossible to keep up with them.

If you’re looking for a bit more luxury or softer beds, I would recommend the more expensive, western places like Hilton, Holiday Inn, etc.

Also, keep in mind this is a different country. What is included and valued is different. Typically beds are quite firm throughout this part of the world. The further east you go, the harder they get.

Washcloths aren’t a thing provided, so bring your own if you use one. Tissues are typically not hotel rooms and if they are, they can be quite rough on the nose…I do miss my Puffs Plus from the States whenever I have to blow my nose.

FAQs about the Karadeniz Region

Final thoughts on Turkey’s Black Sea Region

I hope you have enjoyed this walkthrough of Turkey’s Karadeniz (Black Sea) Region and have a better understanding of not only what to see but also how to navigate the journey.

There is so much more in the region to see that I was even able to cover. I mostly stayed on the coast but there are also cities like Kastamonu and Tokat. There is Gümüşhane and Giresun.

If these places aren’t enough to entice you perhaps this list of reasons to visit Turkey will do the trick.

Regardless of where you go, you will see a side of Turkey that you simply won’t encounter in touristy places like Istanbul or Fethiye.

You will absolutely love it when you get to visit.