The Most Beautiful Rize Highlands: Ayder Highlands and Çamlıhemşin Highlands

My Eastern Black Sea trip, for which I reserved the two-week part of my Caucasian trip, has just ended. Many questions were asked about the Rize plateaus, Ayder plateaus and Camlihemsin plateaus, from transportation to accommodation, from the best routes to the most beautiful views. I wanted to collect the answers to these questions as much as possible in this article.

Trip Plan for Rize Highlands

Rize highlands are the most popular and touristic highlands in the Eastern Black Sea Region. Before coming to Rize, it will be very useful to learn briefly about the valleys here and which plateau is in which valley. Even if you are going to center a certain place, determining the center according to the places you will go allows you to plan your trip better. When you come to Rize, I am sharing the most popular places that I would recommend you to see, by grouping the plateaus in the same direction below. You can decide which ones you want to go and make your plan;

Çamlı Hemşin Side Springs:

Pokut, Sal Highlands: These two plateaus are very close to each other and the other can be seen. You can see these plateaus in most of the Black Sea photographs. On my last visit, I chose not to go here because of the cloudy weather and heavy fog. There are daily vehicles from Ayder. I do not recommend you to go with your own passenger car, the road is very bad. On the way to these plateaus, you can see Palovit Waterfall, Şimşir Forests and Zilkale on the way.
Gito, Badara Highlands: This is a highland duo that has recently become famous for their swing photos on Instagram. Gito Plateau; Along with Huser Plateau, it is one of the highest plateaus in this region, so you can see a sea of clouds below you if the weather is clear. Badara is also a plateau where you can walk from Gito. There are daily vehicles from Ayder. I do not recommend you to go with your own passenger car, the road is very bad. On the way to these plateaus, you can see Palovit Waterfall, Şimşir Forests and Zilkale on the way. I went to Gito very early to be able to see it before the fog descended (we were there at around 07:00 in the morning), by 10:00 the fog had already settled, so I did not go to Badara. If you go when the weather is clear, you can see both plateaus.
Çinçiva Stream, Ortan Village, Palovit Waterfall, Boxwood Forests and Zilkale: The Çinçiva Stream, which is famous for its Sevdaluk TV series, and the Şenyuva Bridge over it are one of the most popular places in this region. There are photo queues on the weekend or during the day. If you go very early in the morning, it is possible to catch it empty. The "china souvenir" sign that you see a lot on Instagram belongs to a restaurant on the road. Just across from that restaurant is the Zua cafe, which is also very popular on Instagram. If you don't take a photo here, your Instagram membership will be invalid 🙂 When you continue to Çat Valley, you can easily see Palovit Waterfall, Ortan Village, which is famous for its old mansions, Boxwood Forests that are on the verge of extinction, and Zilkale, the most impressive castle of the region, on a single line. As far as I know, daily tours do not stop at Ortan Village, you can arrange a taxi to get there.
Elevit Plateau: If you pass Çat Village and continue upwards, Elevit Plateau greets you. According to the places I wrote above, this is a very beautiful highland where the real highland life is still lived, where two enthusiastic streams merge and merge into the other stream. Along with Huser Plateau, I can say that this is my favorite plateau. The road is worse than the highlands above, so it has not been a frequent destination yet, but the green road project is here as well as in all the highlands, it will probably lose its virginity quickly when the road is finished. There are many high plateaus and exits from here, a paradise for those who want to take a walk.

Ayder Side Springs:

Avusor Plateau, Kemerli Kaçkar Glacial Lake and Huser Plateau: Although Avusor Plateau is not very interesting as a plateau, it is on the list due to its proximity to places such as Huser Plateau and Kemerli Kaçkar Glacial Lake. You reach Kemerli Kaçkar Glacier Lake with an easy 1-hour walk from Avusor Plateau, which I think is one of the must-see places. It would be great if you could see the beautiful glacial lake under the view of Kemerli Kaçkar Mountain when the weather is clear. Huser Plateau, on the other hand, is one of the places where you can see the sea of clouds best, since it is as high as Gito and the plateau after Avusor Plateau. If you can come here at sunset and the weather is clear, one of the most beautiful sunsets you will see will be waiting for you. There are also daily vehicles from Ayder. I do not recommend you to go with your own passenger car, the road is very bad. There are also vehicles that go to Huser only for the sunset. If you are not going to Avusor, you can only go to Huser for the sunset. It is also possible to reach Hazindag Plateau from Huser or Avusor.
Wales Plain, Lower Kavrun and Upper Kavrun Plateaus and Glacial Lakes: Galler Flat Plateau, which is within walking distance of Ayder Plateau, is one of the endangered places after Ayder, plenty of cafes have opened, I did not see the end well 🙂 Kavrun Plateaus, especially Upper Kavrun, is an important point of the Kaçkar Summit climbs. There is also the opportunity to exit to glacial lakes such as Büyük Deniz Lake and Küçük Deniz Lake from here. You can reach the glacial lakes by easy way, not via Seldar Pass (3400 meters) like me. You can also reach many plateaus such as Samistal from here. There were ancient Armenian settlements and ancient roads in Kavrun and even Ayder Highlands, I was only able to get the information that a ruin remained from that time in Upper Kavrun. However, those who know the region can still find these roads by following the old paths.

This is the list of plateaus in my notes that I saw and wanted to see. If you have any additions, if you add them as a comment, I will include them in my plans for my next Black Sea trip.

Transportation to Rize Highlands

There are many options to come to this region, I will have different solutions for each option. To come to Rize, you can come by plane or bus via Trabzon airline. The construction of Rize-Artvin Airport continues, and when it is finished, access to the highlands will become much easier. Evaluate whether it is good or bad, unfortunately, when transportation to a place becomes easier in our country, the value of that place is not known. Anyway, back to our topic 🙂

If you are coming to Rize with a tour; tours will take you to the most popular Pokut, Sal plateau, Zilkale, Palovit Waterfall, perhaps Gito and Badara plateaus. If you have a free day, the suggestions in this article may be useful for you.
If you are coming to Rize with your own vehicle or a rental car; You can be more flexible about accommodation, but remember that you should have a high vehicle (SUV style, 4×4 or 4×2 would be fine) and a good driving experience when going to high plateaus, the best thing is to leave your vehicle at your accommodation and leave yourself in safe hands.
If you are coming to Rize without a car or tour for me; You have options such as daily tours, car rental or taxi rental. You will find the details in the rest of the article.

If I need to give information about plateau transportation;

🎈Ayder Plateau is the most popular spot here, minibuses run from Rize, Pazar and Ardeşen all the time.

🎈 If it's not a 4×4, it's useless to come here with your own car. Highland roads are very bad, pity your car 🙂

🎈 There is a minibus departing from Ayder on the route of Galler Düzü, Aşağı Kavrun and Yukarı Kavrun and departs as it fills up. One way 15 TL. We used this vehicle to get to the Glacial Lakes.

🎈Huser Plateau is one of the famous plateaus with sunset and sea of fog, there are daily tours that go here in the evening and return after sunset. You can contact @gezdurici.

🎈Pokut and Sal are two of the most famous plateaus, and you can go on daily tours to these. They also stop by Palovit Waterfall and Zilkale as part of the tour. I did not go because the weather was not clear and I had seen these places before.

🎈 Gito and Badara are plateaus where you can go on daily tours.

🎈 I really wanted to see Elevit Plateau, together with my friends camping at @aydercamping, Uncle Ali, the owner of the camp, took us to Elevit. We also shared the cost of the vehicle. If there are certain places you want to go for a day, you can make a plan by getting help from your accommodation.

🎈 Another option is to rent a car with a driver, taxis usually do this in Ayder and Çamlıhemşin. You can tell someone where to go and negotiate.

Accommodation in Rize Highlands

Let's talk about accommodation in Rize Highlands. There are many accommodation options in Rize Highlands, you can choose according to your budget and taste. Accommodation prices in this region are mostly given to the person, not the room, pay attention to it.

🎈You can stay in one of the old mansions operated as a hostel/hotel in the Konaklar District of Çamlıhemşin, but if you come with your own vehicle, you can consider this option as transportation to these is a bit difficult. @makrevis pension is a very nice option where I stayed. 150TL per person including breakfast and dinner.

🎈There are dozens of hotels in Ayder. Choose from the internet and get likes. But if you are going to stay in Ayder, choose the top places so that you stay away from the crowd and noise. Could be @smailoberjayder.

🎈 Many highland houses in the highlands are open to tourism, accommodation + breakfast varies between 130-200 per person. I heard a price of 500TL in a slightly more luxurious facility in Gito.

🎈 you can set up a tent where you find safe in the highlands, it's free. That's what we did in Upper Kavrun. Moreover, we also benefited from Şahin Cafe's toilet, water, stove and food.

🎈There is only one place as a regular camping area for tent accommodation in Ayder @aydercamping 25TL tent fee per person. There are also bungalow type places if you don't want a tent.

🎈 I prefer teachers' houses for cheap accommodation in cities, there is one in Çamlıhemşin.

Although there are many accommodation options in this region, it is useful to make your reservation early. Finding a seat can be a problem in high season.

Best Time to Go to Rize Highlands

If you are planning a trip to the Black Sea, August, September and October will be the best times. The least precipitation is between 15 August and 15 September. However, you can also choose the end of October to see the color transitions in autumn.

If you have questions, you can add them as a comment to the article.

You can find other notes of my Black Sea trip from the links below:

Stay tuned, stay on track 😉