The six arches
116 metres of stone across a gorge some sixty metres deep, with no railing along the top.
Ahmet KAYNARPUNAR — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Damien Halleux Radermecker — CC BY-SA 2.0 · Muhammet Dilmaç — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wolfgang Kuhoff — Public domain
Six stone arches leap a gorge some sixty metres deep, and along the top runs a walkway with no railing, no parapet, not even a rope: a strip of stone that narrows in places to a metre and ten centimetres, with air on both sides. This is the İncekaya Aqueduct, 116 metres of rubble masonry rebuilt in the 1790s on older foundations by Grand Vizier İzzet Mehmet Paşa, a Safranbolu boy made good, to bring water to his home town. The water stopped long ago; the arches remain among the finest things ever built in these hills. The aqueduct sits about four kilometres north of the old bazaar, ten minutes by car or taxi. There is no regular dolmuş, so driving is the realistic option. The road ends at a car park on the canyon rim beside the Kristal Teras, a glass-floored platform cantilevered roughly eighty metres above the stream and limited to thirty people at a time. In 2026 the municipality charges around 100 TL per adult, a figure that rises most years; it closes in wind and rain, and its glass is scratched and misted after years of shoes, so anyone who has stood on a glass skywalk elsewhere may leave a little underwhelmed. The real view, to our mind, is not through the glass but from the steps that drop into the canyon, where the whole aqueduct appears on your left. Below the arches the Tokatlı trail begins: a near-level dirt path following the stream between limestone walls, past small waterfalls and wooden footbridges, ending after about nine kilometres in the Gümüş quarter on the edge of the old town. The full walk takes an unhurried two hours or so and needs nothing more than trainers. Children over six enjoy it; pushchairs manage neither the path nor the steps. If you do not want the whole route, simply descend to the aqueduct and climb back, or enter the canyon free from the old-town end and walk two or three kilometres. Spring, when the stream runs hard, and autumn, when the trees turn, are the seasons to come. In August the canyon stays cooler than town but the water thins to a trickle, and after rain the path turns to mud. In winter the aqueduct under snow is a superb sight, but the trail is slippery and the terrace often shut. Walking across the top of the aqueduct is technically possible and nobody will stop you, but it is not for anyone uneasy with heights, and never for children.
116 metres of stone across a gorge some sixty metres deep, with no railing along the top.
A near-level path following the stream past limestone walls and small waterfalls into the old town.
A glass platform over the canyon for around 100 TL; the view is good, the glass is scratched.
İncekaya Köyü, Safranbolu, Karabük
The aqueduct alone is enough, and it is free. The terrace gives a higher view over the gorge, but its glass is misted and scratched and it shuts in wind or rain; if you have stood on a glass skywalk before, save the fee and take the steps down into the canyon instead.
Yes from about age six: the path is nearly flat and needs only trainers. Pushchairs will not cope, the steps from the car park down to the aqueduct are long, and after rain the trail turns to mud. Never let children walk along the top of the aqueduct.