Trabzon: what to see, where to stay and how to get around
Trabzon is ancient Trapezus, named for the table-shaped rock it stood on, and from 1204 to 1461 it was the capital of the Empire of Trebizond, a Byzantine state that outlived Constantinople by eight years. Its walled old town sits between two ravines above the Black Sea. Two hours on foot, with some hills.
A short history of Trabzon
Greek settlers from Sinope founded Trapezus around 756 BC, and its name comes from the flat-topped hill on which it was built. In 400 BC Xenophon's Ten Thousand reached it, having shouted "The sea, the sea!" when they caught sight of the Black Sea coast. In 1204 members of the Komnenos family established the Empire of Trebizond here, which lasted until 1461, when it was conquered by Mehmed the Conqueror. Suleiman the Magnificent was born in the city in 1494. In the mountains to the south stands Sumela Monastery, carved into a cliff.
The ten best sights in Trabzon
1Atatürk SquareThe Meydan, the park at the heart of the city
2Trabzon MuseumA banker’s mansion of 1913 with a bronze Hermes
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3Ortahisar Fatih Mosque
The former cathedral of the Golden-headed Virgin
4City WallsThe walls of the Byzantine city on its table of rock
5Hagia SophiaA thirteenth-century church with frescoes over the sea
6BoztepeThe hill of tea gardens over the city and sea
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7Atatürk Mansion
A white villa in pines given to Atatürk
8Kaymaklı MonasteryAn Armenian monastery with frescoes, now a farmyard
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9Sera Lake
A lake made by a landslide, with a walking path
10MaçkaThe valley town on the road to Sümela
Scan with your phone camera to open the map there
What is an audio walk?
Tours in Trabzon →A guide in your headphones: open the walk on our site, walk from stop to stop, and at each one your phone tells its story. No guide, no group, and free. This is the first walk in Trabzon:
Free walking tours in Trabzon
The last Byzantine empire
Trabzon is ancient Trapezus, named for the table-shaped rock it stood on, and from 1204 to 1461 it was the capital of the Empire of Trebizond, a Byzantine state that outlived Constantinople by eight years. Its walled old town sits between two ravines above the Black Sea. Two hours on foot, with some hills.
- Atatürk Square · The Meydan, a park of plane trees and tea gardens, is where the city meets; around it are the hotels and the shopping streets of the modern centre, which grew up outside the walls of the Byzantine town.
- Trabzon Museum · An Italian-style mansion built in 1913 for a Greek banker of the city, Kostaki Teophylaktos, who lost it within a few years in the upheavals of the war. It now holds the city museum, including a Roman bronze Hermes found in the region.
- Bedesten · The Ottoman covered market of the merchants, in the bazaar quarter below the old town. Trabzon was the Black Sea end of a caravan road to Tabriz and Persia, and silk, spices and carpets passed through here.
- City Walls · The walls of the medieval city run along the edges of the rock table, with deep ravines on both sides crossed by bridges. In 1461 the last emperor, David, surrendered here to Mehmed the Conqueror after a siege, and was later executed with his sons.
- Ortahisar Fatih Mosque · In the middle citadel stands the former cathedral of the Panagia Chrysokephalos, the Golden-headed Virgin, named for its gilded dome, where the emperors of Trebizond were crowned. Mehmed turned it into a mosque after the conquest.
- Hagia Sophia · A thirteenth-century church on a hill over the sea west of the old city, built by the emperor Manuel I, with some of the finest late Byzantine frescoes anywhere, of Christ, the apostles and the Gospel stories. It became a mosque, then a museum, and a mosque again in 2013.
Sümela in the cloud forest
An hour south of Trabzon the road climbs a valley of dense forest, often in cloud, to a monastery built into a vertical cliff high above a river. On the way are a sultan’s birthplace, an Armenian monastery and a village famous for one dessert. A full day by car.
- Boztepe · The hill above the city has tea gardens on its edge, and from them the whole old town, the harbour and the Black Sea lie below. Turkey grows its tea on these slopes to the east, and here it is drunk in small tulip glasses, all day.
- Kaymaklı Monastery · An Armenian monastery on the edge of the city whose church is covered inside with seventeenth-century frescoes of the Last Judgment. After 1915 a Turkish family took over the site as a farm, and the church stood for decades as a barn.
- Maçka · The valley town on the road to the monastery, where the old caravan road to Persia began its climb into the mountains. The river below runs green through hazelnut groves; this coast grows much of the world’s hazelnuts.
- Sümela Monastery · Tradition says two Athenian monks founded the monastery in the fourth century in a cave three hundred metres up the cliff, around an icon of the Virgin said to be painted by Saint Luke. Its Greek monks left in 1923, taking the icon to Greece. Since 2010 the Orthodox Patriarch has been allowed to hold a service here once a year, on the fifteenth of August.
- Hamsiköy · A village in the high pastures whose rice pudding, sütlaç, made with the milk of mountain cows and topped with crushed hazelnuts, is known across Turkey. Every café on its one street serves it.
- Zigana · The high pass over the Pontic mountains on the old road to Persia. Xenophon wrote that his ten thousand Greek soldiers, retreating from Persia in 401 BC, cried The sea! The sea! when they first saw the Black Sea from a mountain near here; Zigana is one of the places proposed.
Köfte, lakes and caves
West of Trabzon the coast and hills hold a town famous for one dish, a lake made by a landslide, a cave with a river and a mountain town of butter. A full day by car; east, much further, lies the lake of Uzungöl.
- Atatürk Mansion · A white villa in a pine wood above the city, built in the 1890s for a Greek banker and given by the city to Atatürk in 1924. He stayed here on his visit of 1937; the rooms are kept as they were.
- Sera Lake · A small lake in a wooded valley near the sea, formed when a landslide blocked the stream. A wooden path runs around it, and the city comes here for breakfast on weekends.
- Akçaabat · A coastal town whose köfte — small grilled meatballs of beef and lamb with garlic and bread — are copied all over Turkey. The town is also home of the horon, the fast line dance of the Black Sea played on the kemençe fiddle.
- Çal Cave · One of the longest caves in Turkey, about eight kilometres, with a river running through it and a waterfall inside; a stretch is lit and open to visitors.
- Tonya · A mountain town whose families take their cows up to the high pastures, the yayla, every summer, as their ancestors did; its butter is prized across the region.
- Uzungöl · Far to the east, about two hours’ drive, a long lake formed by a landslide in a forested valley under high mountains, with a mosque on its shore. It has become a resort of wooden hotels, popular with visitors from the Gulf.
Getting to Trabzon and getting around
- Trabzon Airport · Ten minutes from the centre, on the shore
Cheap eats in Trabzon
The Black Sea kitchen is its own world. In winter everything is hamsi, the small anchovy — fried, baked with rice, even in bread. Kuymak is cornmeal melted with mountain butter and stringy cheese into a fondue eaten from the pan; Trabzon pide is a long boat of dough with butter and egg; Akçaabat köfte and Hamsiköy rice pudding are names across Turkey. Tea comes from the slopes to the east, hazelnuts from the hills. Kuymak and tea cost a few euro.
- Uzun Sokak · Trabzon pide and kuymak
- Akçaabat · Köfte in the town that named it
- Hamsiköy · Rice pudding with hazelnuts
- Bedesten · Fried hamsi in the fish lanes in winter
- Boztepe · Black Sea tea over the view
- Tonya · Mountain butter and cheese
Museums in Trabzon
Trabzon’s past is Greek, Byzantine, Armenian and Ottoman: churches turned to mosques, a banker’s mansion, and a monastery in a cliff.
- Hagia Sophia · Late Byzantine frescoes
- Trabzon Museum · The banker’s mansion
- Atatürk Mansion · The villa in the pines
- Sümela Monastery · The cliff monastery and its frescoes
- Kaymaklı Monastery · Armenian frescoes in a farmyard
Nature and day trips near Trabzon
The eastern Black Sea is the wettest corner of Turkey: steep green mountains of forest, tea and hazelnut, high summer pastures called yayla, and lakes made by landslides.
- Uzungöl · The mountain lake
- Sera Lake · A walk around the landslide lake
- Çal Cave · A river inside the mountain
- Zigana · The high pass and its forests
- Sümela Monastery · The cloud forest of the Altındere valley
Things to do in Trabzon with kids
With children: a monastery stuck to a cliff, a cave with a river, a lake to walk round and a rice pudding village.
- Sümela Monastery · The monastery in the cliff
- Çal Cave · A cave with a waterfall
- Sera Lake · Boats and a lakeside path
- Hamsiköy · Rice pudding stop
- Atatürk Square · The city park
Holy places in Trabzon
Trabzon’s mosques were churches of the Byzantine empire, and the mountains hold Greek and Armenian monasteries left empty after 1915 and 1923.
- Ortahisar Fatih Mosque · The coronation church of the emperors
- Hagia Sophia · Church, museum and mosque
- Sümela Monastery · The Orthodox service of 15 August
- Kaymaklı Monastery · An Armenian church
Nightlife in Trabzon
Trabzon is a conservative city and its nights are tea gardens and football — Trabzonspor is the pride of the coast — with the kemençe fiddle and the horon dance at weddings and festivals.
- Atatürk Square · Tea gardens in the evening
- Boztepe · The city lights from the hill
- Uzun Sokak · The evening walk on the long street
Frequently asked questions about Trabzon
What is there to see in Trabzon?
The top sights in Trabzon are Atatürk Square, Trabzon Museum and Ortahisar Fatih Mosque. The full list on this page has 10 sights, each with a photo and a short note.
How many days do you need in Trabzon?
Three to four days are enough to see the best of Trabzon without rushing, including at least one walking tour.
Is there a free walking tour in Trabzon?
Yes. sleepntrip has 3 free audio walks in Trabzon, with no guide and no group: your phone tells the story at every stop. The first one: The last Byzantine empire.
How do you get to Trabzon and get around?
The main ways are Trabzon Airport. Full details are in the transport section on this page.
Where to stay in Trabzon, and for how much?
sleepntrip shows only rooms in Trabzon that meet nine conditions: a good location, high guest scores, cleanliness, and a price of up to $80 a night for two. Pick your dates and see what is free.
Looking for a hotel in Trabzon for your dates?
Only rooms that meet nine conditions, up to $80 a night.