Trabzon
A historic Black Sea port where Byzantine churches stand beside Ottoman mosques, tea gardens climb the surrounding mountains, and the cliffside Sumela Monastery watches over forested valleys.
Trabzon rises steeply from the Black Sea, a city of narrow streets and terracotta rooftops pressed between sea and mountain. The air carries salt from the port and, in autumn, the sweet smell of ripening hazelnuts from the hills above. This is where the sea meets the highlands — you can swim in the morning and be among forested valleys by afternoon.
A City of Layers
The historic center unfolds around Ortahisar, a district where an Ottoman mosque occupies what was once a Byzantine church. The dome still shows its older bones beneath the minaret. Nearby, the old bazaar mixes Turkish copperware with Persian textiles, its narrow lanes shaded by overhanging balconies. Traffic moves slowly here, giving way to pedestrians and the occasional mule carrying goods from the port.
South of the old city, Boztepe hill looks out over the entire sweep of the coast. On clear days the view stretches along the water. Local men drink tea in the garden cafés below the viewpoint, and the breeze carries the call to prayer from several directions at once.
Into the Mountains
The road south climbs through tea fields — Trabzon's contribution to Turkish tea culture. The bushes cover the hillsides in orderly rows, their leaves picked by hand and dried nearby. Small roadside restaurants serve the local breakfast: white cheese, honey from the highlands, bread baked that morning, and endless small glasses of the region's tea, which runs darker and stronger than what visitors may expect from Turkey.
The drive continues through steep valleys and forested passes to the Altındere Valley National Park. The road descends into a gorge where the Sumela Monastery clings to a cliff face some 300 metres above the stream below. A network of stairs, tunnels and stone paths connects cave chapels and vaulted rooms, their walls still bearing faded frescoes in red, blue and gold. The monastery was active for centuries before its closure in 1923. The setting is dramatic — sheer rock, forest, the sound of water below.
The Land Around the Table
Trabzon's kitchen reflects the coast and the mountains together. Anchovies, called hamsi, are the regional staple — fried in cornmeal, grilled, stuffed, or pressed into loaves. In the highlands, cheese cooked tableside in a copper pan over a flame, called muhlama, is the answer to a cold morning. Hazelnuts appear at every meal. The regional black cabbages go into hearty soups, and the tea poured at the end of every meal is a ritual rather than an afterthought.
Find it on the map
- Trabzon City
Tours that visit Trabzon
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.
