Trabzon Itinerary 7 Days 2027: Uzungöl, Ayder and Sumela

Our Trabzon itinerary for 7 days spreads the week over Uzungöl, Ayder, Sumela and Trabzon city itself, and the four tours start from $360 combined (about 1,350 Saudi riyals), without hotel and flights. Each tour is private with a car and driver, a local guide and entrance tickets, and all of them are on our Black Sea tours page. Message us your dates on WhatsApp and we confirm availability for today or tomorrow and arrange pick-up from your hotel.

Northern Turkey is not a museum trip but long days on the road between a lake, a plateau and a valley, and what visitors ask us most is the number of days and their order. We have worked in Istanbul since 2010 and our agency is licensed by the Turkish Travel Agencies Association (TÜRSAB, no. 15751); this is the order we suggest to families.

Trabzon Itinerary for 7 Days, Day by Day

Private Uzungöl tour from Trabzon, from $80

The week rests on three rules: do not combine Uzungöl and Ayder in one day, do not book an early flight on the morning of day 7, and keep one flexible day for rain. Distances below are approximate and change with traffic and stops.

• Day 1, arrival and Boztepe Hill: pick-up and hotel, then tea with a view over the sea from Boztepe Hill in the afternoon and dinner in the city centre.
• Day 2, Uzungöl: a full day of 7 to 8 hours to the lake and the Karester and Lustra highlands; the lake is about 100 kilometres from Trabzon, roughly two hours by car. You can sleep there instead of returning.
• Day 3, Ayder and Storm Valley: an 8 to 9 hour tour that starts from Rize and takes in Storm Valley, Zilkale Castle, the Gelintulu and Palovit waterfalls and then the Ayder highland. Anyone sleeping in Uzungöl or near Rize shortens the road a lot.
• Day 4, Sumela Monastery: an 8 to 9 hour tour over the Zigana Pass, the village of Hamsiköy and Karaca Cave; the monastery itself is about an hour from the city and needs a walk and steps.
• Day 5, Trabzon city: a 7 to 8 hour tour covering the Byzantine Hagia Sophia, the Atatürk Mansion, the Ortahisar quarter and the old bazaars, and the shortest drive of the four tours.
• Day 6, flexible day: tea gardens in Rize or the Haydarnebi plateau (about an hour by car), or rest and shopping; Sera Lake is an optional extra we arrange on request.
• Day 7, departure: choose an afternoon flight if you can, which leaves a calm morning for shopping and packing.

If it rains on your Uzungöl day, swap it with the city tour, which is the easiest tour to move. Route details are in our Uzungöl guide, Ayder guide and Sumela guide.

5-Day, 4-Day and 3-Day Trabzon Itineraries

Private Uzungöl tour from Trabzon, from $80

If you have fewer days, cut the flexible days before you cut a tour. The table shows what each programme holds, and the prices are the sum of the tour prices only.

The best programme for a family visiting the region for the first time is the full week, because the roads are mountainous and children tire of back-to-back tours, while the 3-day programme suits those who visit Trabzon as part of a longer trip such as one of our Turkey packages.

Prices of Our Tours in Trabzon

Sumela Monastery tour from Trabzon, from $120

The four tours are private and include hotel pick-up, a private van, a local guide and entrance fees; meals, drinks and tips are not included. Cancellation is free up to seven days before the tour.

Prices vary with season and the number of travellers, and the figure is what each tour page in Black Sea tours shows, so ask us for the price on your day. Riyals are at the official peg to the dollar (about 3.75 riyals per dollar). The Ayder tour starts from Rize, so ask about pick-up from Trabzon before booking because the day gets long.

Flights from Riyadh, Jeddah and Dammam to Trabzon

flynas lists flights to Trabzon from Riyadh, Jeddah and Dammam, and its Trabzon page shows fares from about 619 riyals, but days and fares change with the season, so check the current timetable before booking. For Saudia and flyadeal we did not verify a direct route, so check their current schedules. The sure alternative is to fly to Istanbul and then take a domestic flight to Trabzon of about 1 hour 45 minutes to 2 hours.

Visa: the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs exempts holders of an ordinary Saudi passport from a visa for tourism for up to 90 days in any 180 days (we checked the page in October 2026), and advises a passport valid for at least 6 months. More for travellers from the Kingdom is in Turkey packages from Saudi Arabia.

Where to Stay: Trabzon or Uzungöl?

Ayder and Storm Valley tour, from $85

Stay in Trabzon if you want restaurants, shops, a short ride from the airport and tours that all leave from the same hotel. Stay in Uzungöl for a night or two if you prefer quiet and a lake morning before the visitors arrive; it relies on small hotels and wooden chalets, and summer evenings are crowded at weekends.

The most comfortable plan for families is to split the week: 3 nights in Trabzon and two near Uzungöl or Rize. Trabzon hotels are not on our booking lists, so book them yourself or ask us for one quote that combines hotel and tours; we name no hotels here.

Best Time to Visit Trabzon

Ayder and Storm Valley tour, from $85

June to September is the season when most visitors come, many of them Gulf families, so Uzungöl and Ayder are at their busiest. The green here comes from frequent rain, even in summer, and fog is common over the plateaus in the morning, so carry a warm layer.

Late spring and early autumn are quieter, and in winter some plateau roads and high villages are hard to reach. Do not expect a sea beach like the Mediterranean, because the Black Sea coast here is for the mountains, not for swimming.

Family Tips: Private Car, Prayer and Halal Food

Trabzon city tour, from $75

A private car means the route, the stops and the pace are yours, and children and grandparents do not share a coach with strangers. There is a mosque in every town and village, and one on the shore at Uzungöl, and you can ask the driver to plan stops around prayer times.

Meat in Turkey is generally halal, and restaurants here are known for fish, dairy and bread. For language we request a licensed Arabic-speaking guide for your dates and confirm availability in writing before payment; guides are local and drivers speak Turkish and a little English, and we do not promise an Arabic-speaking driver. Sumela involves a walk and steps, so tell us if anyone in your party finds climbing hard.

Trabzon with Istanbul: How to Combine the Two Trips

Sumela Monastery tour from Trabzon, from $120

We do not have a ready package that combines Istanbul and Trabzon at one price, but we join an Istanbul package with our northern tours, and the usual order is 4 days in Istanbul and 3 in Trabzon with a domestic flight between them. The full steps are in Istanbul and Trabzon, and Istanbul packages are in Turkey packages and Turkey packages for families.

Send us your dates and number of travellers on WhatsApp or through the contact page and we reply with the programme and price.

Frequently Asked Questions