Yedigöller National Park

About this place

Yedigöller means Seven Lakes, and there really are seven. Ancient landslides dammed a forested valley at around 800 metres, trapping the water on a series of steps, so a single stream now drops from lake to lake over short wooden bridges and one small waterfall. Büyükgöl is the biggest, with the lakeside path, the benches and most of the visitors; the other six are smaller and quieter, and the smallest are not much more than ponds among the trees. None of them is large by Anatolian standards. What made this one of the most photographed autumn scenes in Turkey is the forest itself: beech, oak, fir and pine that turn all at once between mid-October and early November and mirror themselves in still water. Getting there is part of the outing. From Bolu the direct route is a narrow, twisting forest road, about 42 km north, and it takes an hour to an hour and a quarter despite the short distance. There is no dolmuş or public bus into the park; your options are a hire car, a taxi from Bolu, or an organised tour, and many Gulf visitors simply drive up from Istanbul (roughly 300 km, three and a half to four hours), which makes it a full-day trip. The forest road closes in snow; the only winter route is the longer loop via Yeniçağa, Mengen and Yazıcık, partly unpaved and an hour and a half to two hours. Phone signal disappears across most of the park, so download your map before leaving Bolu. Timing decides everything. On peak-autumn weekends the forest road becomes a queue and the car park fills; go on a weekday or be at the gate before nine. In spring and summer the park is green, cool and nearly empty, a genuine refuge from August heat if you are based in Istanbul or Bolu. It works for families: the loop around the big lake is flat and easy, but the earth trails between the lakes are no place for a pushchair, and the picnic areas sit right on the water. There is no village inside the park, only a modest restaurant, a kiosk, a campsite and a cluster of timber bungalows (18 units), so bring your own food and water. Turkey's first trout hatchery opened here in 1969 and still operates. Fees are paid at the gate; there is no advance booking. Under the official 2026 tariff a Turkish citizen pays 225 TRY per car including everyone in it, whereas foreign nationals are charged per person at a rate the park administration sets at five to ten times the 75 TRY local rate, so roughly 375 to 750 TRY each, with no additional car fee; children under seven are free. Carry cash in lira. The verdict: in autumn the place is worth every bend of the road; in summer it is a pleasant forest picnic, and Abant, much closer to Bolu, gives you a similar scene for less effort.