Kaçkar Mountains National Park

Kaçkar Mountains National Park sits in northeastern Turkey in Rize Province, squeezed between the humid Black Sea coast and the dry Anatolian plateau. The range peaks at Kaçkar Dağı (3,937 m) and shelters glacial lakes, dense rhododendron forests, and high summer pastures known as yayla. The area is the ancestral homeland of the Hemşin and Laz peoples, whose distinctive wooden architecture and centuries-old tea cultivation still define the surrounding valleys. Multi-day traverse treks cross the range, passing through a compressed landscape where lush cloud forest gives way to bare alpine terrain within just a few kilometres — making it one of the most ecologically varied hiking destinations in the Middle East.