National Parks in Turkey

The park is the landscape rather than the museum inside it: the valleys around Goreme where volcanic tuff has weathered into fairy chimneys, with Rose, Red, Pigeon, Zemi and Meskendir all walkable from the village. The Open Air Museum and its rock-cut churches sit within the boundary and are the busiest part of it. The whole area is inscribed as Goreme National Park and the Rock Sites of Cappadocia, UNESCO 1985. The balloons fly over this park at dawn, which is the view most people picture.

Where the Menderes river reaches the Aegean south of Kusadasi, and the river that gave English the word meander. Around 27,600 hectares of lagoon, reedbed and salt flat, and one of the better wetland bird sites in Turkey, with flamingos and pelicans through the migration seasons. The delta is also the reason the ancient harbour at Miletus is now several kilometres inland: the silt filled it in. Bring binoculars and expect no shade at all.

The high limestone core of the central Taurus, with Demirkazik at about 3,756 metres and the serious trekking and climbing that goes with it. The Kapuzbasi waterfalls on the far side are the other draw. It is usually reached from Camardi, roughly two hours south of the Cappadocian valleys, so treating it as a Cappadocia day trip understates what it is. Weather turns fast above the treeline and the routes are not casual walks.

The mountain above Bursa, about 2,543 metres, and Turkey's best known ski resort in winter. In summer it is a different park: alpine meadow, glacial lakes on the upper plateau and a treeline walk that is one of the easiest high altitude days in the country. The cable car from Bursa is among the longest anywhere and is the reason a visit needs no car. The classical name was Mysian Olympus, which is not the Olympos further south on this list.

The Kopruçay river runs through roughly fourteen kilometres of canyon, and the Roman bridge that gives the park its name is still standing and still carrying traffic. This is Turkey's main whitewater rafting run and most visitors come as part of a day trip out of Antalya or Side. Above the canyon are the ruins of Selge, which almost nobody walks up to. Water is cold year round and the operators vary, so check what safety equipment is included.

Mediterranean red pine and oriental sweetgum forest wrapped around the Marmaris peninsula, with cliffs, coves and a coastline best seen from the water. The sweetgum is the point for anyone interested in plants: it grows wild almost nowhere outside southwest Turkey. Wild boar and a good range of forest birds are what you are likely to see. There are designated camping areas inside the park, so overnight stays are provided for rather than banned.

A long coastal strip running southwest from Antalya, and the most varied park in the country. Inside it are the ruins of ancient Olympos in a river valley behind the beach, the Chimaera flames at Yanartas where methane seeps burn on the hillside after dark, the pebble beach at Cirali, and the Beydaglari peaks behind. The Lycian Way threads through the whole thing. Cirali is a loggerhead turtle nesting beach, so keep off the marked nests and use no lights on the sand at night.

Seven lakes formed when landslides dammed a valley, linked to each other by underground seepage rather than by streams, which is why the water levels move independently. It is small, well under two thousand hectares, and the reason to go is autumn: late October into early November, when the beech and oak turn and the lakes hold the reflection. The access road is rough and long, and in winter it can close entirely. Weekends in colour season are very busy.

At 88,750 hectares this is the largest national park in Turkey, built around Lake Beysehir, which is the country's largest freshwater lake. It is a birding park more than a hiking one: pelicans, herons and large winter wildfowl numbers, with reedbeds and islands rather than trails. On the shore are the ruins of Kubad Abad, a Seljuk summer palace, and in the town the Esrefoglu Mosque, one of the largest wooden-columned mosques left in Anatolia. Distances are big, so drive.

A cave in the Ibradi district inland from Antalya, and the visit is a boat trip on an underground lake rather than a walk. The lower gallery is flooded, so how far you can get depends entirely on the water level: in spring the snowmelt fills it and the boats do not run, and late summer into autumn is when the trip is reliably open. The road up from the coast is winding and the drive is most of the day. Take a layer, because it is cold inside.

The Commagene tumulus and its colossal stone heads at about 2,134 metres, built by Antiochus I in the first century BC as his own funerary sanctuary, and inscribed by UNESCO in 1987. The east and west terraces are set up for sunrise and sunset respectively, and those are the two visits worth making. The summit road is normally closed by snow from roughly November to April, so treat this as a May to October park. It is a long way from anywhere else on this list.

This is the Mount Ida of the Iliad, where Paris was made to judge between the goddesses, and that classical association is the reason most Turkish visitors come. The forest is the other reason: the Kazdagi fir grows wild here and nowhere else. Walking centres on the Sarikiz area, with springs and waterfalls along the way and a shuttle from the park gate for part of it. Local marketing makes strong claims about the air here; treat those as marketing.