Walls over 300 metres
The boat glides between two vertical rock faces close enough to touch.
Assyrtiko — CC BY-SA 4.0 · sami yılmaz — CC BY 3.0 · sami yılmaz — CC BY 3.0 · Assyrtiko — CC BY-SA 4.0
This canyon did not look like this before 1988. The Kızılırmak, Turkey's longest river, had spent millennia sawing a narrow gorge through the hills of Vezirköprü; then the Altınkaya Dam backed water up into it and turned a rough river passage into a long, still, turquoise lake hemmed in by vertical rock walls more than 300 metres high. The result looks more like a Norwegian fjord than anything else on Turkey's Black Sea coast, and it is usually ranked as the country's second-largest canyon after Ulubey. There is no way to see it except by boat, and the boat is the whole point. Tour boats leave from the jetty at Türkmen Mahallesi, about 17 km from Vezirköprü town, and take roughly 40 to 45 minutes there and back; some are big roofed municipal boats, others small speedboats you charter outright. The ride runs between the two walls close enough to touch, and the silence inside is startling after the bustle of the jetty. Boats have no fixed timetable, they leave when full, so on a summer weekend aim to arrive before ten in the morning or you may wait an hour or more with little shade. This is a full day out from Samsun: around 125 km and one and a half to two hours by car via Kavak and Havza to Vezirköprü, then clear signs to the canyon and a final few kilometres of tight bends. Without a car, take a minibus from Samsun's bus station to Vezirköprü and a taxi on to the jetty, or book with one of the Samsun tour operators who pair the canyon with the Havza thermal baths in a single day. Children love the boat; a pushchair is useless on the gravel jetty and the steps down to the water. Facilities are basic: small snack kiosks, toilets and a car park, and cash is safer because the card machines drop out often. The real season is May to October; in winter boats are rare and wait for enough passengers. In August, in the years it runs, the canyon hosts Falcon Fest, an extreme-sports festival first held in 2017, where base jumpers leap off the cliff top and highliners walk ropes strung across the water, a spectacle worth shifting your dates for if you are in the region; confirm the dates before you travel.
The boat glides between two vertical rock faces close enough to touch.
The Altınkaya reservoir flooded the gorge in 1988 and gave it its colour.
August, in the years it runs: base jumping and highlining over the canyon.
Türkmen Mahallesi, Vezirköprü, Samsun
Yes if your children can handle two hours in the car each way; the boat itself is only about 45 minutes and small kids love it. Under-threes or poor car travellers are better served by the beaches and Amisos Hill closer to Samsun.
Autumn. In July and August the boats fill up and the wait on the shadeless jetty drags on. In September and October boats still run regularly, the weather is mild and the crowds are far thinner.