Zonguldak: Coal, Caves and the Black Sea Coast

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1. What is Zonguldak?
2. How do you get to Zonguldak?
3. Where should you stay in Zonguldak?
4. What type of climate does Zonguldak have?
5. When is the best time to visit Zonguldak?
6. What is the history of Zonguldak?
7. What is Zonguldak famous for?
8. What are the historical places of Zonguldak?
9. What are the best things to do in Zonguldak?
10. What are the best places to visit in Zonguldak?
11. What is the traditional food of Zonguldak?
12. What should you buy in Zonguldak?
13. Frequently asked questions about Zonguldak
14. What do the official records say about Zonguldak?

What is Zonguldak?

Zonguldak is a province on Türkiye’s western Black Sea coast, and also the name of its capital, a port city built on steep hills above the harbour. The city exists because of coal. It was established in the mid-19th century as the loading port for the mines of the Ereğli coal basin, and until 1896 official correspondence still referred to it as a mere locality under the sanjak of Ereğli (Zonguldak Culture and Tourism Directorate).

Mining shaped everything here: the pithead towers and workers’ districts in the valleys, the railway that runs inland, the monument to miners killed at work, and a museum devoted entirely to mining. It is rarely on foreign travellers’ itineraries.

The rest of the province is quieter. Around 80 km of coastline is broken by sandy coves and river mouths, the hills behind are covered in beech, hornbeam and hazel, and the limestone under them is full of caves. The two places most visitors come for are Gökgöl Cave, just outside the city, and the coastal town of Karadeniz Ereğli, the ancient Herakleia Pontike, with its museum and the Cehennemağzı Caves.

Places to visit in Zonguldak

Gökgöl Cave

Gökgöl Cave near Zonguldak: 3,350 m long with an 875 m lit…

Cehennemağzı Caves

The Cehennemağzı Caves of Karadeniz Ereğli, where Greek myth sent Herakles into…

Karadeniz Ereğli

Karadeniz Ereğli, ancient Herakleia Pontike: the Herakles caves, Ereğli Museum in the…

Tios

Tios (Tieion) at Filyos, Zonguldak: a 7th-century BC Milesian colony, birthplace of…

How do you get to Zonguldak?

By air: Zonguldak Airport (ONQ) is near Saltukova in the Çaycuma district, east of the city along the coast. Turkish Airlines flies there from Istanbul Airport, and SunExpress and Corendon have operated flights from Düsseldorf and Dortmund, so check the current schedule before planning around them. Overseas visitors usually connect in Istanbul or come by road from Sabiha Gökçen.

By road: Intercity coaches connect Zonguldak and Ereğli with Istanbul, Ankara and the neighbouring Black Sea towns. From Istanbul, most drivers follow the motorway east towards Düzce and then turn north to the coast. Ereğli has no airport and no railway station, so it is reached by bus or car.

By rail: Zonguldak is the terminus of a railway line that runs inland to Irmak on the Ankara main line; the city station dates from 1937. Passenger services on the line change from year to year, so check with TCDD before relying on it.

Where should you stay in Zonguldak?

Zonguldak city has business hotels near the centre and the harbour, practical for Gökgöl Cave, the Mining Museum and Kapuz beach. Karadeniz Ereğli, about 50 km west along the coast, is the better base for a slower visit: it has hotels near the harbour and the seafront park, its museum and the Cehennemağzı Caves are within walking distance or a short taxi ride, and the beaches west of town are close.

In summer, small pensions and seasonal places open around the beaches at Filyos, Alaplı and elsewhere along the coast.

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What type of climate does Zonguldak have?

Zonguldak has the mild, humid climate of the western Black Sea. Rain falls in every season, with the wettest weather in autumn and winter, which is why the hills stay green and forested. Summers are warm and humid rather than hot, and winters are cool and damp along the coast, with snow more likely on the high ground inland.

When is the best time to visit Zonguldak?

June to September is the season for the beaches and for walking on the plateaus (yayla) inland. June is strawberry time in Ereğli; the 2002 inventory placed the town’s strawberry festival in the first two weeks of the month. Gökgöl Cave is a show cave with lit walkways, so it can be visited outside the beach season too. The unlit wild caves are another matter: the 2002 inventory warns that heavy rain can flood them suddenly, and recommends summer and autumn for any visit.

What is the history of Zonguldak?

The province’s ancient history is the history of two coastal cities. Herakleia Pontike, today’s Karadeniz Ereğli, was the larger. It was founded in the 6th century BC, took its name from the hero Herakles, and served as an important trading port (emporion). Greek writers placed the entrance to the underworld nearby, at the cave where Herakles went down to fetch the hound Kerberos. The city kept its importance through the Roman, Byzantine, Seljuk and Ottoman periods.

The second city was Tios (Tieion), at today’s Filyos, founded as a colony of Miletus in the 7th century BC and best known as the birthplace of Philetaerus, founder of the Attalid dynasty of Pergamon (Wikipedia). The 2002 inventory notes that its remains carry traces of the Roman, Byzantine and Genoese periods.

Both cities passed to Rome after the Bithynian kingdom was bequeathed to it in 74 BC; Herakleia was besieged by the Roman commander Cotta for two years, from 72 to 70 BC, and then sacked. In the Byzantine centuries the coast changed hands between Byzantium, the Empire of Trebizond and Nicaea, and from 1261 the Genoese held trading rights and colonies here. Ottoman forces took Ereğli in the 14th century, although the Genoese held on along the coast for some time afterwards (Kdz. Ereğli Municipality).

The modern province begins in 1829, when Uzun Mehmet, a villager from Kestaneci near Ereğli, found coal and the discovery was reported to the palace (Kdz. Ereğli Municipality). Regular mining in the Ereğli basin began in 1841, and the port of Zonguldak was built to ship the coal. Mines opened at Kozlu, Karadon and Armutçuk, drawing domestic and foreign investment, and new settlements grew up around them; by 1920 the harbour was controlled by the Heraclea Coal Company. The work has always been dangerous: a gas explosion at Kozlu in 1992 killed more than 260 miners.

The coast also played a part in the War of Independence. On 18 June 1920 people in Ereğli seized the French commanders and soldiers stationed there, and in January 1921 nationalists sailed the steamer Alemdar out of Istanbul to Ereğli and then retook her after she was captured by a French warship. A replica of the ship is now a museum on the Ereğli waterfront.

What is Zonguldak famous for?

• Coal. The Zonguldak basin is Türkiye’s hard-coal field, and coal built the city, its port and its railway.
• The Herakles legend. The Cehennemağzı (“Mouth of Hell”) Caves in Ereğli are where ancient tradition placed Herakles’ descent to the underworld.
• Caves. The province is riddled with active karst caves, among them Kızılelma (6,630 m), Gökgöl (3,350 m), Çayırköy and Cumayanı (Zonguldak Culture and Tourism Directorate).
• Steel. Ereğli is home to Erdemir, a major Turkish steelworks, beside one of the few good natural harbours on this stretch of coast.
• Strawberries, hazelnuts and walking sticks. Ereğli’s “Osmanlı” strawberries, Alaplı’s hazelnuts and Devrek’s walking sticks all had festivals of their own in the 2002 inventory.

What are the historical places of Zonguldak?

Karadeniz Ereğli. The 2002 inventory lists the town’s main historical remains: the Acheron Valley with the Cehennemağzı Caves, city walls of the Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman periods, Ereğli Castle, the palace of Herakles (the municipality now calls it the Heraclius Palace), the lighthouse tower on Çeştepe, a Byzantine cistern, the monumental tomb of Krispos, a Byzantine church, the Ayasofya Church and the Halil Paşa Mansion. The mansion now houses the Ereğli Museum. See our Karadeniz Ereğli guide.

Cehennemağzı Caves. A row of caves on the slope of the old Ayazma valley in Ereğli, used for worship from antiquity into the Christian era. One of them was fitted out as a church.

Tios (Filyos). The province’s second ancient city, at the mouth of the Filyos river. The inventory lists an ancient harbour, a castle, aqueducts, an open-air theatre and church remains from the Roman, Byzantine and Genoese periods.

Zonguldak Mining Museum. Opened on 9 December 2016 in the Çınartepe district of the city, it tells the story of coal and the city, from how coal forms to occupational safety and miners’ health, and is a member of the European Route of Industrial Heritage (Zonguldak Culture and Tourism Directorate). The Uzun Mehmet Monument in the city remembers the man credited with finding the coal.

Gazi Alemdar museum ship. Moored in the 18 June Park in Ereğli, opened in 2008 (Kdz. Ereğli Municipality).

What are the best things to do in Zonguldak?

• Walk through Gökgöl Cave. 875 m of lit walkways through stalactite galleries, a few minutes’ drive from the city centre.
• Spend a day in Ereğli. The museum, the Cehennemağzı Caves, the Alemdar ship and the castle can all be seen in a day.
• Swim at the Black Sea beaches. The inventory lists the beaches local people flock to all summer, from east to west: Sazköy, Filyos, Türkali, Göbü, Hisararkası, Uzunkum, Kapuz, Karakum, Değirmenağzı, Ilıksu, Kireçlik, Armutçuk, Karadeniz Ereğli, Mevreke, Alaplı and Kocaman. Kapuz is the city beach of Zonguldak.
• Walk on the plateaus. Bacaklı, Bölüklü and Kız Kulağı above Alaplı, Göldağı, Esenlik and Beycuma near the city, Bostandüzü and the Dirgine valley near Devrek, and Pamukdüzü near Gökçebey are the walkers’ favourites. The inventory also recommends the route past the Harmankaya, Güneşli and Değirmenağzı waterfalls, and mentions birdwatching and plant-spotting on the Bacaklı, Bölüklü, Ardahan and Çetiören plateaus.
• Cycle the Ereğli coast. The road from Ereğli towards Armutçuk and Gökçeler has gradients suited to cycling, with historic sites and coastal views along the way.
• Fish. Anglers use the Black Sea shore, the Ulutan and Kızılcapınar reservoirs and the Filyos, Devrek, Gülüç and Alaplı rivers. In the sea the catch includes horse mackerel, anchovy, whiting, bonito and red mullet.
• Time a visit to a festival. The 2002 inventory listed an Ottoman strawberry festival in Ereğli in early June, the Karaelmas culture and arts festival in Zonguldak in late June, Devrek’s walking-stick festival in July, oil wrestling and a hazelnut festival in Alaplı in early September, and commemorations of Uzun Mehmet in Ereğli on 8 November. Dates and names change, so check locally.

What are the best places to visit in Zonguldak?

Gökgöl Cave is the province’s show cave: 3,350 m long, with the first 875 m lit and fitted with walkways, about 5 km southeast of the city centre.

Cehennemağzı Caves in Ereğli are the caves where Greek myth sent Herakles down to the underworld, later used by early Christians as a church.

Karadeniz Ereğli, ancient Herakleia Pontike, is the oldest town on this coast, with a museum in an Ottoman mansion, castle ruins and a museum ship.

Tios, at Filyos, is the ancient city where Philetaerus of Pergamon was born, on a headland above a river mouth and a long sandy beach.

Also worth your time: the Zonguldak Mining Museum, Kapuz beach, and the Harmankaya and Madencioğlu waterfalls. The wild caves, Kızılelma and Cumayanı among them, are for experienced cavers only. To the east, Bartın and the Roman-Genoese harbour town of Amasra are an easy drive, and Safranbolu is in neighbouring Karabük.

What is the traditional food of Zonguldak?

Zonguldak cooking is the cooking of a forested, rainy coast: maize, beans, leeks, cabbage, hazelnuts, walnuts and wild greens. The provincial culture directorate lists the local dishes (Zonguldak Culture and Tourism Directorate), including:

• Uğmaç çorbası, a soup of flour stirred into boiling water and finished with milk and mint.
• Pırasalı mancar, leeks and beans thickened with bulgur and pepper paste, and pırasa çorbası, a leek soup with beans and cornmeal.
• Gartlaç, cornmeal dough cooked on a griddle, torn up and served with meat and broth.
• Höttürme, small boiled dumplings with browned butter and ground hazelnuts.
• Yumurtalı zılbıt, a wild forest herb sautéed with onion and minced meat and cooked with eggs. Zılbıt is a staple of the local kitchen.
• Kızılcık (kiren) çorbası, a sour soup of cornelian cherries.
• Cevizli kömeç, a coiled walnut pastry, beyaz baklava and malay, cornmeal topped with sugar, walnuts and butter or molasses.

On the coast, fish follows the season: anchovy (hamsi) in winter, bonito in autumn.

What should you buy in Zonguldak?

Ereğli strawberries. The small, fragrant “Osmanlı” strawberry of Ereğli is the town’s early-summer speciality.

Hazelnuts and walnuts, especially around Alaplı, and chestnuts in autumn.

Devrek walking sticks. Devrek is known for carved and decorated wooden walking sticks (baston), which the 2002 inventory celebrated with a festival in July.

Frequently asked questions about Zonguldak

What do the official records say about Zonguldak?

With its rich past, green as far as the eye can see, thousand-year-old caves and natural and historical beauties, Zonguldak is a province worth seeing. There are many natural beaches and sandy shores along its 80 km coastline.

The most important ancient cities within the province are Ereğli (Herakleia Pontike) and Filyos (Teion). Ereğli, founded in the 6th century BC by the Mariandynians, a people of Phrygian descent, and an important commercial port (emporion), took its name from Hercules (Herakles), the famous hero of mythology. The city kept its importance in the Roman, Byzantine, Seljuk and Ottoman periods. (Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Zonguldak Provincial Tourism Inventory, 2002)