Giresun
On Turkey's Black Sea coast, Giresun blends mountainous green landscapes with a working port city, rooted in ancient Greek heritage and famed for hazelnut production.
Turkey's northeastern Black Sea coast is distinguished by a particular geography: steep, heavily forested mountains that fall directly into the sea, creating a landscape of extraordinary green intensity. Giresun sits squarely within this terrain, a city where the hills come down to meet the waterfront, giving the centre a compact, vertical quality uncommon along this shore.
Ancient Roots and a Historic Name
The city traces its heritage to antiquity. Ancient sources record a settlement here called Cerasus, a Greek colony active during the period when this coastline was colonised by settlers from Miletus. The Romans later used the same name. The modern name is thought to derive from these older forms. Throughout subsequent centuries, the city passed through Byzantine hands and later Ottoman control, accumulating layers of history that remain visible in the urban fabric and surrounding countryside.
The Hazelnut Heartland
Giresun is one of the principal production zones for Turkey's most famous agricultural export. The surrounding hinterland of coastal lowlands and lower slopes is planted with hazelnut orchards that extend inland along river valleys, and the city processes and ships a significant portion of the national crop. Visiting in late summer, when the harvest takes place, gives a sense of how completely the local economy and landscape revolve around this small, flavourful nut. Alongside hazelnuts, the broader Black Sea region around Giresun is also known for its tea cultivation, with neat terraced fields climbing the hillsides.
The City and Its Setting
Walking through Giresun, you move quickly from the seafront promenade through the market streets and up into the older quarters where the land begins to rise. The city has a Giresun Castle, a Byzantine-era fortress whose remains occupy a hilltop position above the urban area. Giresun Island lies just offshore, a heavily wooded outcrop that is one of the few significant islands along this stretch of the Black Sea coast. The city's position at the mouth of a river, with mountains rising immediately behind it, creates a natural setting that shapes both the layout of the streets and the character of daily life, which revolves around fishing boats, market trade, and the movement of goods between coast and highland villages. The surrounding region, including protected forest areas, supports a rich variety of plant life and draws visitors who come for the combination of coastal walking and mountain trails accessible from the same base.
Find it on the map
- Giresun City
Tours that visit Giresun
No tours visit this place just yet — tell us where you want to go and we'll build one. See all tours
Before you book you should know
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Is this trip right for you?
Our groups are capped at eight travellers, which is about a third of what the industry calls a small group. Eight people share one vehicle, one table at dinner and one guide's attention, and the day can change on the road without anybody being left behind. If you are looking for a coach, a fixed script and a microphone, this is not that.
Most days involve real walking, often on ground that was laid two thousand years before walking shoes: marble worn smooth, cobbles, uneven steps and long site paths with little shade. Bring shoes you can spend a morning in.
Some days move between regions and are largely a drive, with stops along the way. Summers are hot — well over 35°C inland — and winters are colder than most people expect, so layers, a hat and sunscreen earn their place in the bag whatever the month.
How demanding a particular trip is, is written on the trip itself: the physical rating in the header, and the day-by-day itinerary above.
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Rooms, and travelling on your own
Trip prices are per person, sharing a twin room. Each traveller picks their own room while booking, so a party can mix the three:
- Twin share — two single beds, shared with someone you are travelling with or with a traveller of the same gender.
- Travelling as a couple — one double room.
- Individual room — a room of your own, for a single supplement on top of the trip price. Availability is limited, and the supplement for a given date is shown next to the option when you book.
Solo travellers are welcome on every departure, and most of our groups have one or two aboard.
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Accommodation
The hotels named in an itinerary are a guideline rather than a guarantee. Where one is full, or has dropped below the standard we booked it for, we substitute a property of a similar standard in the same area — we would rather change the hotel than the trip.
Check-in is usually mid-afternoon. If you arrive early we will ask for the room, but no hotel can promise one before its own check-in time; luggage can normally be left at reception in the meantime. If you want the room from the night before, ask us and we will add the extra night to your booking.
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Passports, visas and insurance
Entry requirements depend on your nationality and change without much notice, so the only reliable source is the official one: the government of the country you are travelling to, and your own foreign ministry's travel advice. Check both before you book a flight.
Many countries ask for a passport valid for at least six months beyond your travel dates, and for blank pages. It is worth looking at yours now rather than at the airport.
We ask every traveller to carry travel insurance covering medical treatment and repatriation, and we would strongly encourage cover for cancellation and for your luggage as well.
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Your departure is guaranteed — the day can change
Once a departure is on the calendar it runs. We do not cancel a trip for want of a minimum number of bookings, so a booked date is one you can plan flights and leave around.
What can move is the shape of a day. Museums and archaeological sites change their hours, roads close, weather turns, a local holiday lands in the middle of the week. Where that happens your guide reorders the day, or swaps a stop for one of the same weight, and tells you why. Changes to a booked itinerary are covered by our Booking Terms & Conditions.
