TOURIST ATTRACTIONS IN YALOVA
1. ATATÜRK MANSION
Yalova has a number of tourist attractions, such as
the "Yalova Atatürk Mansion" which is an OttomanTurkish style mansion that used by Mustafa Kemal
Atatürk, the founder of the modern Turkey, during
his visits to the city. This mansion has a legend
connected to it. It is often referred to as the
‘’Yürüyen Köşk’’(walking house) because, as the
legend goes, Atatürk believed the mansion was too
close to a beautiful tree, so he ordered the mansion to
walk. The house did just that, and moved 3 km down
the waterfront to its current resting place (of course,
with the help of rail system built underneath the
building, not metaphysically).
2. THERMAL SPRINGS
The city is famous for its hot springs in
Termal district, which gets its name from
the Latin word thermae. Termal is a
beautiful area in the hills outside of Yalova.
There are (as the name suggests) thermal
hotsprings here—accompanied by
hammams, a large public swimming pool
and hotels galore. The worldwide famous
Thermal springs had become the health,
cure and resting place of both Turkey and
Middle East.
3. THE KARACA ARBORETUM
One of the major properties of Yalova is the commonness of the production of the ornamental
plants. The Karaca Arboretum is located in Samanlý village, which is on Yalova-Termal
highway 5km away from the city centrum. Arboretums are living plant museums in which
mostly a collection of rare trees and shrubs whose origin is well-known and that are carefully
classified, is cultivated for scientific, observational or educational purposes in suitable habitats
for exhibition. The living plant gardens where every tree, bush, shrub and herbaceous plants are
gathered together and correctly and carefully labelled for scientific and display purposes, are also
called the Botanic Gardens. Karaca Arboretum is the first private Arboretum of Turkey. It
includes rock plants, iris and rose gardens, miniature plants and Turkish eastern bonsai plant
collections. It also involves the kinds of essential type and culture forms of the significant
collections such as Acer, Prunus, Malus, Magnolia, Quercus, Betula, Pinus, Abies, and Picea.
4. WATERFALLS
Yalova also has a beautiful set of
waterfalls. There are three big and
important waterfalls in Yalova borders.
These are Çaldere Waterfalls, Erikli
Waterfalls and Sudüşen Waterfalls.
The Çaldere is the biggest waterfall on
the west of city (Yalova) located on
Çaldere Brook, flowing along the
borderline of Armutlu. The Erikli
Waterfalls is located on Erikli Brook
in Erikli, in Çınarcık. The Sudüşen
Waterfall is located to the south of
Termal – Uvezpınar village and the
waterfall and its environment provides
rare natural beauties for visitors. Flowing curly towards
the Marmara Region, the different kinds of streams
sourced (sprung) from Mount Samanlı, falling over high
cliffs or rock they reach at, form interesting, spectacular
sights. Sudusen Waterfalls are near Thermal Springs
accessed by a relaxing hiking gait through Uvezpinar
Village. To get here, take a mini-bus from Yalova city
center to the village Uvezpinar. Then hire a taxi to drive
you the 7 km to the waterfall site. Though beautiful, it is a very rigorous hike from the village to
the falls.
5. ÇINARCIK
Çınarcık is a town and district of Yalova Province in the Marmara region of Turkey. Çınarcık is
located on a small strip of flat land on the coast with mountains rising sharply in back of it. This
environment is very common among cities on the northern coast of Turkey. Çınarcık provides a
number of vacation activities including camping, hiking, and beaches. Most of the coastline of
Çınarcık is rocky but the western end has sand beaches with several restaurants. The beaches are
not of high quality by Turkish standards as there is a considerable amount of seaweed and
jellyfish in the surf, though the jellyfish do not sting. The nightlife can be lively during the
summer, due to the large number of İstanbulites staying there.