Explore Lake Uzungöl AKA Long Lake in Trabzon – The Most Beautiful Lake in Black Sea Region
Prelude
If you are traveling to Turkey and love nature; visiting Uzungöl is a must. This is a copybook example of what people call ‘heaven on earth’. Lake Uzungöl AKA Long Lake in Trabzon (in the local Romeyka language: Şeraho), is a lake situated to the south of the city of Trabzon, is Turkey’s most beautiful lake. Uzungöl is also the name of the village on the lake’s coast. This piece of heaven is at a distance of 99 km from Trabzon’s city center, and 19 km from Çaykara’s district center. Lake Uzungöl AKA Long Lake has emerged in recent years as a famous place for its breathtaking serene natural environment and various adventure activities.
Best Time to Go
Though Summer is always considered as the tourist season, yet if you love to see snow-clad mountains and the frozen lake, it’s better to visit Lake Uzungöl AKA Long Lake in Trabzon during winter. However, consider the difficulty of traveling as well. We have traveled in the month of June and felt like, we were witnessing the beauty of paradise. The Lake and the whole region was amazingly beautiful during this season.
Getting There
Lake Uzungöl AKA Long Lake in Trabzon is not that far from the city center. As such, it can be covered in a day if you do not want to stay a night at the lake. If you are traveling on a budget, it’s better to take a bus from Trabzon. You can book a ticket from any online service like rome2romio. Well, if you can spare a little amount of money, we recommend taking a taxi or hire a car. There are a lot of beautiful places en route, where you would feel like to stop and enjoy the scenic beauty. Driving experience from Trabzon City Center to Irfanli for 50 Km along the shoreline is stunning.
Things to Do in Uzungöl
Lake Uzungöl AKA Long Lake in Trabzon is a place to enjoy a retreat from chaos and rush of city life. We could have stayed there for weeks if we could avail really a long vacation from our work. Since this place has emerged as a busy tourist hub in the region recently, therefore, travel companies, adventure sports companies, etc have brought a lot of options for activities.
However, in our opinion, the best thing to do here is to enjoy the serenity of the place and walk around the lake and greens. In recent years various agencies have brought options of paragliding, helicopter tour, ATV tour, and many other activities. If you wish, you can enjoy those as well. While enjoying the beauty of nature, do not miss visiting Uzungöl Cami (Uzungöl Kuran Kursu).
Food to Eat
Turkish food will always dominate our list of food, which we are fond of. There are hundreds of hotels and restaurants in this small valley to meet your desire for mesmerizing Turkish food. We tried food in many restaurants. It would be a shame to mention one’s name without mentioning others. So, it’s better to preserve our stand for any single or two restaurants. 🙂
Places to Stay
Surely Agoda, booking, hostelworld, Airbnb, etc will offer you hundreds of options for staying in Lake Uzungöl AKA Long Lake in Trabzon. You can choose your hotel as per your preference and budget. However, I would recommend choosing any hotel nearer to the lake even if you need to count a few extra bucks.
Hotels and Locals’ Residences at Uzungöl 
Hotels and Locals’ Residences at Uzungöl
Photography Tips
There are no special tips for photographing in Lake Uzungöl AKA Long Lake in Trabzon. However, you may keep these points in mind if you are interested in Photography.
– We always prefer good timing for photography to synchronize with good light. For Uzungöl there is no exception.
– You may walk around the villages to try to get portraits/ environmental portraits of Turkish local. However, please be considerate and humble. Never try anything without permission.
– Language is a barrier throughout Turkey. However, in remote places like this, this is way more difficult than city centers. Learn/memorize a few basic words like greetings, introducing, etc. That would be of great help for sure.
Final Words
For traveling and for travelers there is no ‘the solution‘. There are always scopes of incorporating and customizing something maverick. Our this blog is also not ‘the solution‘ for travelers/ tourist, who intends to visit Uzungöl. Even though if you find this write-up a useful one, please refer to others and subscribe. You may also check our blog post on Cappadocia, Princes Island, and Sultanahmet Mosque in Istanbul if you are interested. Enjoy traveling.