Kazdağı National Park: Walking on Mount Ida

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1. What is Kazdağı National Park?
2. How do you get to Kazdağı National Park?
3. When is the best time to visit Kazdağı National Park?
4. What is the history of Kazdağı National Park?
5. What is Kazdağı National Park famous for?
6. What can you do at Kazdağı National Park?
7. Frequently asked questions about Kazdağı National Park
8. What do the official records say about Kazdağı National Park?

What is Kazdağı National Park?

Kazdağı National Park covers the southern face of Kaz Dağı, the mountain range that rises steeply behind the Gulf of Edremit and separates the Aegean from the Marmara. It is the Mount Ida of antiquity, the highest mass of the Biga Peninsula, and its deep valleys and canyons run north to south down to the olive groves and the resorts of Akçay, Güre and Altınoluk.

The park is known for its plant life, its springs and its forests of the endemic Kazdağı fir. In the valleys there are day-use areas for picnics and walking, and camping is allowed at points set by the park authorities.

How do you get to Kazdağı National Park?

According to the Balıkesir Culture and Tourism Directorate, forest roads into the park start from Zeytinli, Kızılkeçili, Güre and Altınoluk on the Edremit coast (Balıkesir Culture and Tourism Directorate). The nearest airport is Balıkesir Koca Seyit Airport (EDO), south of Edremit. Buses run along the coast road between Edremit and Altınoluk, but there is no public transport into the park, so a car, taxi or organised walk is needed.

The park is 92 km from Balıkesir city and 123 km from Çanakkale.

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When is the best time to visit Kazdağı National Park?

April to June and September to October are the best months for walking: the streams run full in spring and the forests are cool in autumn. In midsummer the valleys are the coolest places on the Gulf of Edremit and fill with day-trippers at weekends. Snow covers the upper slopes in winter.

What is the history of Kazdağı National Park?

For the Greeks, Ida was a sacred mountain. Homer calls it “many-fountained Ida, mother of wild beasts”. In the myth, the Trojan prince Paris, tending flocks on Ida, gave the golden apple to Aphrodite, who promised him Helen, and so set the Trojan War in motion; in the Iliad Zeus sits on the peak of Gargaros, today’s Karataş, to watch the fighting at Troy. Timber from these forests built ancient fleets at Antandros on the coast below.

Turkish tradition attaches its own legends to the mountain: the stories of Sarıkız, after whom the Sarıkız peak area is named, and of the lovers Hasan and Emine. The national park was created in 1993, and the 2002 inventory notes the Ministry’s plans to map hiking routes on Kaz Dağı as one of Türkiye’s model walking areas.

In 2019 a gold mine being built about 40 km from Mount Ida drew large protests over tree clearing and the use of cyanide, and the mountain became a symbol of Türkiye’s environmental movement.

What is Kazdağı National Park famous for?

• Mount Ida mythology: the Judgment of Paris and Zeus watching Troy.
• The Kazdağı fir (Abies nordmanniana subsp. equi-trojani), found only on this mountain.
• Springs and clean air. Snowmelt from the mountain supplies the water of Edremit, Akçay and Altınoluk.
• Canyons such as Şahindere near Altınoluk.

What can you do at Kazdağı National Park?

Walk the valleys. The park’s day-use areas sit in valleys with streams, pools and plane trees. The inventory calls the valleys and the Sarıkız area, where the Sarıkız legend is said to take place, places that must be seen.

Head for Sarıkız. The Sarıkız area, high on the mountain, is the best-known long excursion; go with a local guide who knows the current routes, and take water.

Explore Şahindere Canyon. Close to Altınoluk, it is one of the area’s best-known canyon walks.

Look at plants and wildlife. Red pine dominates at 600–700 m, black pine, beech and fir higher up, and chestnut, oak, alder and plane trees line the streams; thyme, sage and sumac grow on the open slopes. Bear, roe deer, wild boar, wildcat, otter, eagles and falcons live in the park.

Visit the foothill villages. Zeytinli, Kızılkeçili and Güre sit at the park’s edge. Güre also has thermal springs, which the inventory says rise at 64°C.

Camp at the controlled points the park staff designate.

Frequently asked questions about Kazdağı National Park

What do the official records say about Kazdağı National Park?

Kaz Dağı, which separates the Aegean Region from the Marmara Region and was known in antiquity as “Mount Ida”, is the highest mass of the Biga Peninsula. The deep valleys and canyons that settle on Kaz Dağı and run north to south hold rich potential for flora and fauna; in particular, the biological diversity of the plant cover is its main source of value.

The valleys, with their rich vegetation, striking landscapes and abundant water, and the Sarıkız area, where the legend of Kaz Dağı and Sarıkız is said to take place, are places that must be seen. Day-use recreation services are provided in the valleys where the national park presents its plant wealth and natural landscape. Camping in tents and caravans is possible at controlled points shown by the park’s local officials. (Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Balıkesir Provincial Tourism Inventory, 2002)