Central Karadeniz Voyage Tips and guide

Contents

41°0′0″N 36°18′0″E

Map of Central Karadeniz

• 41.28666736.331 Samsun is the biggest resort on the Black Sea, with plenty to amuse the visitor.
• 41.12737.2882 Ünye is a beach resort and agricultural town.
• 40.98333337.8833333 Ordu is a smaller resort.
• 40.6535.8333334 Amasya in the hills is the region's most attractive town, for its whitewashed Ottoman architecture.
• 40.54888934.9533335 Çorum is a modern provincial city.
• 40.30972236.5541676 Tokat has a collection of historical buildings.
• 40.02111134.6097227 Boğazkale is by Hattuşaş, once capital of the Hittite Empire.

• 41.70624135.9385111 Kızılırmak Delta Bird Reserve is a wetland nature reserve.

Samsun-Çarşamba (SZF ^IATA) and Ordu-Giresun (OGU  ^IATA) airports are both on the coast, with daily flights from Istanbul.

Ankara (ESB ^IATA) might be just as convenient for inland cities such as Çorum. It has hourly flights from Istanbul.

Istanbul is 600-700 km west so you'd only disembark there for a specific reason. The Asia-side airport SAW lies closer to Black Sea cities than the main airport IST.

As Samsun is the largest city, roads and bus routes through the mountains converge there. (Actually it's the other way round, as the feasibility of those routes meant Samsun outgrew other ports.) Driving from Istanbul follow E80, and from Ankara follow E88 onto D785; the routes join near Havsa. Buses from Istanbul run every two hours to Samsun, taking 13 hours, and one a day continues to Trabzon then Batumi and Tbilisi in Georgia.

A ponderous train lumbers daily from Sivas via Amasya and Havza to Samsun, taking 8 hours. Sivas has high-speed trains from Ankara and slow trains east to Kars, Diyarbakır and Tatvan.

Ferries no longer ply the Black Sea coast, though the ports still ship freight.

The towns sprawl, although their old centres with the majority of sights may be compact and walkable. Dolmuşes serve the main boulevards and the bus stations, which are often several km from downtown.

You need wheels for out-of-town sights such as Kızılırmak Delta Bird Reserve, and to move between towns not on the radial routes to Samsun. Car hire is best arranged at your arrival airport.

• Ottoman architecture, with half-timbered houses with protruding upper stories, is best preserved in Amasya.
• Samsun has the most heritage from the early days of the Republic. This was where Atatürk launched the fightback that repulsed Greek invasion and led to independence.
• Ancient sites: Hattuşaş at the edge of Boğazkale is the most extensive. Tokat has an old castle perched on a crag.

• Beaches: Samsun, Ünye and Ordu all have sandy beaches.