Ayder Plateau Day Trip from Trabzon or Rize: Route, Zilkale, Season

An Ayder plateau day trip is easy from Rize and long but doable from Trabzon. Ayder is about 88 km from Rize town, and roughly 160 km by road from Trabzon, about 2.5 to 3 hours of driving each way before any stops. Our Ayder plateau and Storm Valley day tour from Rize, with Zilkale castle, runs 8 to 9 hours and starts from $85 per person.

What makes the day is not only Ayder itself but the road up to it: the Fırtına valley with its Ottoman stone bridges, the castle on its rock above the river, and the tea gardens of Rize on the way. This page covers distances, the route, what to see in what order, the weather, and the new road works that are shortening the last stretch. For the wider region, see our Black Sea Turkey guide.

How far is Ayder from Trabzon and Rize?

Ayder is a highland village (yayla) in Çamlıhemşin district, Rize province, at about 1,350 m in the Kaçkar Mountains. The road there follows the coast east and then turns inland near Ardeşen, up the Fırtına valley to Çamlıhemşin and on to Ayder.

Distances vary a little between sources, and summer weekend traffic in the valley can add a lot to the times above.

From Trabzon or from Rize? From Trabzon, the trip means five hours or more in the car for the round trip, so leave early and accept a long day. Staying a night in Rize, or in Ayder itself, turns it into a relaxed day. Our Ayder tour is listed from Rize; if you are staying in Trabzon, confirm the pickup point when you book.

Flying in. Rize-Artvin Airport opened on 14 May 2022 at Pazar, about 34 km east of Rize, on land reclaimed from the sea. It is the closest airport to Ayder. Wikipedia lists flights to Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir, and seasonal flights from Jeddah, Riyadh, Kuwait City and Muscat; routes change from year to year, so check current schedules. Flying into Trabzon and out of Rize-Artvin saves the drive back along the coast.

The new Ayder road

The road from the coast is being rebuilt. The 36.5 km Pazar to Ardeşen junction to Çamlıhemşin to Ayder road gets three tunnels and five bridges. On 15 August 2026 the transport minister announced that a 2 km section including the 955 m Çamlıhemşin Tunnel would open the following Monday, bringing the finished part to 10 km; work continues on the roughly 7 km between the tunnel and Ayder. When the whole project is done, the drive on this road is expected to fall from 55 to 35 minutes. Until then, expect roadworks on the last stretch.

Rize and its tea gardens

Rize is best known in Turkey for its black tea. Tea came to the region in the 1940s and 1950s, the local tea research institute was founded in 1958, and Çaykur, the state tea company, is based in the town.

The easiest tea stop is the Ziraat Botanical Garden, founded in 1924 about 2 km south-west of the town centre. South-west of the centre is also Rize Castle, a partly ruined medieval castle. On a day tour, a glass of fresh tea in Rize is the natural first stop of the morning, and the town is the place to buy loose tea to take home.

The Fırtına valley and its stone bridges

The Fırtına (Storm) valley runs from the coast at Ardeşen up past Çamlıhemşin towards the Kaçkar Mountains, and its river is lined with Ottoman-era stone arch bridges, more than 20 of them by one count. Among them:

• Şenyuva Bridge: a single-arch bridge near Çamlıhemşin, dated 1696 or 1699 from an inscription lost in a flood in 1946. It has appeared in Turkish TV series and films, and you can walk out to the middle of the arch for the view up the river.
• Mikron Bridge: from the mid-19th century, with its arches, side walls and fill repaired in 1998.
• Kaptanpaşa and Köprüköy bridges: their dates are unknown or unreadable, but their style points to the 18th or 19th century.

Rafting and ziplining are offered on the river near Çamlıhemşin. A driver can stop at two or three bridges on the way up without making the day longer than it needs to be.

Zil Castle (Zilkale)

Zilkale is the castle in many photos of the Fırtına valley: a stone castle with a tall square tower on a rocky outcrop, surrounded by forest above the river. It dates from the 14th or 15th century and is about 12 km from Çamlıhemşin, further up the Fırtına valley, while the Ayder road climbs a side valley along the Hala stream. So it is a detour, not a stop on the way. It can be visited all year, though spring and summer are the busiest seasons.

Kure Ansiklopedi notes that the Fırtına valley is one of the 200 ecological regions WWF lists as priorities for protection, and that the castle offers photographers a fine view. Low cloud around the tower is part of its look, so a cloudy day is not a wasted one.

What to do in Ayder

Ayder is a yayla with no settled population: a highland resort of wooden guesthouses, hotels and restaurants among forest and waterfalls, busiest in summer. The name is the Hemshin word for "fields", and the government declared the area a tourist centre in 1987.

• The hot springs. Ayder's thermal springs were first noted in official records in 1871. Hot water rises into bathing pools in the village; a soak is the classic end to a wet day.
• Waterfalls. The forest around the village has a number of waterfalls within easy reach.
• Honey and trout. Ayder is known for rhododendron honey from hives hung in the trees, and trout is farmed in the valley between Ayder and Çamlıhemşin. Trout makes the obvious lunch, often with muhlama, the Black Sea dish of cheese melted with cornmeal and butter.
• Higher plateaus. In the mountains of Çamlıhemşin are higher pastures such as Pokut, at about 2,050 m, known for the sea of cloud it looks down on at sunrise and sunset. These are a separate outing, easier with a car and driver.

On summer weekends, especially Sundays, Ayder fills up with Turkish day visitors; book a room ahead if you plan to stay.

Best season, weather and the road in winter

Rize is very wet. Its long-term average rainfall is about 2,290 mm a year, with precipitation on about 172 days. Rain is spread through the year but peaks in autumn.

These are coastal figures from Rize's weather station; Ayder, at about 1,350 m, is cooler.

• May and June are the driest months of the main season, with the valley at its greenest. This is the best time for the day trip.
• July and August are the warmest months and among the busiest, with more rain than early summer.
• September and October bring autumn colour but the heaviest rain of the year.
• Winter: Ayder still receives visitors; in January 2023 there was about 40 cm of snow in the village while businesses prepared for school-holiday crowds. In winter, check the road and your guesthouse the evening before.

Whatever the month, bring a rain jacket, a warm layer and shoes that can get wet.

A sample day from Rize

1. 08:30: Pickup in Rize, tea stop in town
2. 09:00: Drive east along the coast, turn inland at Ardeşen
3. 10:15: Fırtına valley: Şenyuva and one or two other bridges
4. 11:15: Detour to Zilkale castle
5. 13:00: Up to Ayder, lunch of trout and muhlama
6. 14:15: Waterfalls, walk in the village, optional hot spring soak
7. 15:30: Drive back down the valley, arriving in Rize around 17:15

From Trabzon, add the coast road at both ends and start earlier. Times depend on traffic, weather and the roadworks above Çamlıhemşin.

Ayder with Uzungöl and the rest of the Black Sea

Ayder and Uzungöl are the two great highland stops of this coast, and they are best done on different days: Uzungöl is inland from Of, west of Rize, while Ayder is inland from Ardeşen, to the east. Uzungöl has the lake; Ayder is higher and has the hot springs, with the Fırtına valley on the way.

A good order for four or five days: Trabzon city and Sumela Monastery first, then Uzungöl, then east to Rize and Ayder, and fly out of Rize-Artvin. Our 7-day Trabzon itinerary sets this out day by day, and the page on hiring a private driver in Trabzon compares day routes and cars. If you are combining the region with Istanbul, read our Istanbul and Trabzon trip guide, and for longer routes towards eastern Turkey see the Black Sea tour overview and the Eastern Turkey guide.

Tours that cover this

• Ayder plateau and Storm Valley day tour from Rize: with Zilkale castle, 8 to 9 hours, from $85 per person.
• Uzungöl private day trip from Trabzon: the lake, Karester and Lustra, from $80 per person.
• Eastern Turkey and Black Sea tour, 7 days: flies from Istanbul to Rize, with Ayder and Zilkale on day 2, and back to Istanbul from Van, from $2,480 per person.
• Black Sea and Eastern Turkey private tour, 7 days: a private version, also flying to Rize, with Ayder and Zilkale on day 2 and the flight back from Van, from $2,440 per person.

All our tours in the region are listed under Black Sea tours. Our Ayder and Uzungöl day tours are private, with a local guide and a private van from your hotel; museum tickets and attraction fees are included.

Frequently Asked Questions