If your mental image of Turkey is white stone, blue sea and heat, Trabzon will rearrange it. This is the Black Sea coast, the wettest region in the country, where it rains in every month of the year and the mountains behind the city are covered in tea plantations, hazelnut groves and cloud forest. It is green in a way that looks photographed somewhere else.
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The reason most people come is Sumela, a monastery founded in the fourth century and built into a sheer cliff face in the Altindere valley, about forty five kilometres south of the city and twelve hundred metres up. It clings to the rock with a drop below it and frescoes inside, and it spent years closed for restoration before reopening in stages. The other draw is Uzungol, a lake and village in the mountains a hundred kilometres away, which is genuinely beautiful and has been built up hard with hotels in the last two decades, largely for visitors from the Gulf who come for exactly the thing this post is about: rain, mist and green.
Trabzon city itself is a working Black Sea port with a thirteenth century Byzantine Hagia Sophia, a football team that the city takes extremely seriously, and a food culture built on anchovies, cornbread, butter and a great deal of tea.
What Makes Trabzon Different to Pack For
There is no dry season, at all
This is the single fact to plan around. The Black Sea coast gets rain in all twelve months, somewhere between 800mm and well over 1,000mm a year depending on where you stand, and there is no month you can treat as reliably dry. Summer runs 20°C to 27°C and humid, winter 5°C to 12°C and wet. The mountains get considerably more rain than the coast and considerably more fog.
Permanently damp and mild is the exact climate where wool beats everything else, and a merino wool base layer for women keeps insulating when it is damp, which is the condition you will actually be in rather than the one you hoped for.
The mountains are a different temperature from the coast
Uzungol sits above a thousand metres and the highland plateaus behind Rize go higher, so a 25°C day in the city is 13°C and foggy at the lake, and in winter the mountain roads have snow while the coast has rain. Every good day trip from Trabzon involves going up.
Trabzon is socially conservative, and that is worth knowing in advance
Stated plainly because the contrast catches people out. This is not the Aegean. Trabzon is one of the more religiously and socially conservative cities in Turkey, and while nobody will challenge a foreign visitor over clothing, you will feel conspicuous in shorts and a strappy top in a way you would not in Bodrum or Izmir. Covering shoulders and knees in the city is the comfortable choice rather than a requirement, and it is a requirement at any mosque, where hair is covered too and shoes come off.
The rain brings landslides and road closures
Heavy rain in this region causes landslides and flash flooding in the mountain valleys, roads to Sumela and Uzungol have been closed by them, and this happens most years. It is the reason not to build a tight itinerary around a single mountain day.
Recommended Tours and Experiences
The Trabzon Packing List
Footwear
Waterproof hiking shoes with real grip, which you will wear most days. The path and steps up to Sumela are wet stone and worn rock with a drop beside them, the highland trails are mud, and city pavements after rain are slick.
A second pair that can get soaked without ending the trip. Wool socks and more pairs than you would take to a dry destination, because nothing dries in this humidity. Leave suede and leather, which will mark and mildew.
Clothing
Layers under a genuinely waterproof shell, and the shell is the decision. A base layer, a fleece, and a proper waterproof with a hood that fastens, because a showerproof jacket is not adequate for a region that rains this consistently. A packable rain jacket works if it is a real one, and there is an affordable rain jacket if you would rather not spend.
Quick drying trousers rather than jeans, which will stay wet for two days. A warm layer for the mountains in any season, because Uzungol and the yayla plateaus are ten or more degrees cooler than the coast. A hat and light gloves from October to April.
For the city and for mosques: loose long trousers or a long skirt, tops with sleeves, and a large scarf that lives in your day bag. Given how conservative Trabzon is, packing mostly covering clothes is the practical choice and will make the trip more comfortable rather than less.
For sun
Modest but not absent. The cloud here scatters ultraviolet rather than blocking it and a long humid summer day on the coast will burn you, so sunscreen regardless of the grey. Sunglasses for the brief bright spells and for driving in glare off wet roads.
Practical
A dry bag or waterproof pouch for a phone and camera, which in this climate is genuinely necessary rather than cautious. A lens cloth you will use constantly, because lenses fog and mist in the valleys. Silica gel in the camera bag is not excessive here.
An umbrella, which unusually for this library is actually useful, because Black Sea rain is often vertical and windless rather than driven. A head torch for unlit village lanes.
Cash in Turkish lira for the dolmus minibuses, which are how you reach Sumela and Uzungol cheaply, and for village tea houses. Cards work in the city and less reliably in the mountains. The Turkish two pin plug and 230V. A power bank.
Motion sickness tablets, which sounds odd for a land trip and is not: the roads to Uzungol and up to the plateaus are long, steep and relentlessly winding, and the minibus drivers are quick. Offline maps, since signal drops in the valleys.
What to Wear at Key Places
Sumela Monastery
The cliff monastery in the Altindere valley, reached by road and then a climb, with frescoes in the rock church.
Practically: waterproofs, grippy shoes and a warm layer, because it is twelve hundred metres up, frequently in cloud, and colder and wetter than the coast you left an hour earlier. The approach is a steep walk on wet stone steps and a shuttle runs part of the way. Hard hat areas and closed sections have come and gone through the long restoration, the walkways have drops beside them, and you should expect parts of it to be fenced off. Check it is open before you travel, since it has closed at short notice for rockfall. Modest dress is appropriate to an active religious site.
Uzungol
The mountain lake and village about a hundred kilometres southeast, with a mosque on the shore and forested slopes above.
Practically: two to three hours each way on a winding road, and the village is much more developed than photographs suggest, with hotels, restaurants and a great deal of construction. Take a fleece and a waterproof whatever the coast is doing. The walk up to the Haldizen plateau above the lake is where the beauty is and it is muddy and steep. Fog sits on the lake for much of the year, which is either the point or a disappointment depending on what you came for. Go early to beat the coaches and the afternoon cloud.
Hagia Sophia of Trabzon
The thirteenth century Byzantine church on the western edge of the city, with surviving frescoes, now functioning as a mosque.
Practically: because it is an active mosque, cover shoulders, knees and hair, and remove shoes; wraps are usually available at the door. Visit outside prayer times. The frescoes are the reason to come and the lighting inside is dim, so no flash and a steady hand.
Boztepe and the city
The hill above Trabzon with the view over the city and the sea, plus Ataturk's pavilion and the bazaar below.
Practically: a taxi or minibus up and a walk down. Exposed at the top and often windy, and the view is only there when the cloud is not. The bazaar is busy and the streets are steep. Modest dress in the market area.
The highland plateaus and Ayder
The yayla country behind Rize, about two to three hours east, with Ayder, the Firtina valley and Zilkale castle.
Practically: this is proper mountain country with real weather, so full waterproofs, warm layers, boots and food, and the roads are narrow, unguarded and frequently in cloud. Landslides close them. It is also the most beautiful part of this whole region. Go with a driver or a tour rather than a hire car unless you are comfortable on that kind of road, and do not attempt it in a day from Trabzon and back.
Tea country and the coast road
The plantations on the slopes towards Rize, and the fishing harbours along the shore.
Practically: an easy half day with a car or a minibus. The plantation paths are steep, wet and slippery clay, so shoes rather than sandals. Tea is offered constantly and refusing repeatedly is harder than accepting. The coast road is busy and fast and not a place to walk.
What Not to Bring
Leave the Mediterranean wardrobe. This is the wettest region in Turkey and the one where a proper waterproof earns its space.
Leave a showerproof jacket. Leave jeans and cotton. Leave suede and leather shoes. Leave shorts and strappy tops as your main clothing, which will make you conspicuous in a conservative city. Leave the assumption that a hot coast means a hot mountain. Leave a tight one day plan for Sumela or Uzungol, because cloud and landslides both interfere. Leave a camera you cannot keep dry. Leave the expectation that laundry will dry overnight. And leave a hire car for the Ayder and Firtina valley roads unless you genuinely want that experience.
Essential Resources for Women in Trabzon
Emergency numbers in Turkey: 112 is the single national number for police, ambulance and fire. In the mountains the Jandarma is the relevant force and AFAD, the national disaster authority, handles landslide and flood response, which in this region is a live rather than theoretical service. Mobile coverage is good on the coast and unreliable in the valleys and on the plateaus.
Tourist support: Trabzon has a provincial tourism directorate and the ordinary police handle visitor problems. There is far less tourism infrastructure here than on the western coasts and much less English, so a translation app is genuinely useful and your accommodation is your most effective help. Report a theft for the insurance record.
US Consulate: the nearest consular presence is the Embassy in Ankara and the Consulate General in Istanbul, both reachable at tr.usembassy.gov, and both a flight away rather than a drive. Enrol in the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program at step.state.gov before you travel.
Main hospital or clinic: Trabzon is well served. Karadeniz Technical University's Farabi Hospital is a large teaching hospital and there are further state and private hospitals in the city, so unlike the mountain destinations elsewhere in this library you are in a provincial capital with proper emergency care. The mountains are the other story: Sumela, Uzungol and the plateaus are one to three hours from that care on winding roads that weather closes, which is the argument for insurance with evacuation cover. Turkish private healthcare is good and charged up front.
Official health authority: the Turkish Ministry of Health at saglik.gov.tr. Tap water is chlorinated and generally safe and most people drink bottled. No vaccination requirements beyond routine ones, with hepatitis A and typhoid standard advice for the region. The health risks specific to Trabzon are slips on wet stone, which is the commonest injury, and road accidents on mountain roads in fog, which is the most serious one. Ticks are present in the highland grassland and Turkey has recorded Crimean Congo haemorrhagic fever in parts of the country, so check yourself after walking in long grass and remove any tick promptly rather than crushing it. Mosquitoes are a summer nuisance without carrying local disease. Turkey is seismically active.
US State Department travel advisory for Turkey: current advisory level and detail. Read it directly rather than relying on this page.
UK FCDO travel advice for Turkey: entry requirements, safety and health guidance. The FCDO advises against all travel to within 10km of the border with Syria. Trabzon is on the Black Sea in the far northeast of the country and is nowhere near that zone. The advice also carries a regional tensions note about the wider Middle East and possible airspace disruption, which affects flights rather than ground safety, and it is worth reading the natural disasters section for this region specifically, since landslides and flooding are the local hazard.
Official tourism authority: Go Turkiye at goturkiye.com, for Sumela opening status, which has changed repeatedly through the restoration, and for the highland routes.
Solo women safety assessment: Trabzon is safe for a woman travelling alone and it is socially harder work than the Turkish coasts, which is a different thing and worth separating clearly. On safety: violent crime against foreign visitors is rare, the city is well policed, and the practical risks are the ordinary urban ones of a busy port, meaning pickpocketing in the bazaar and around the bus station, plus the usual care with taxis and agreed fares. On social texture: this is a conservative city, far fewer visitors come here than to the Aegean, very few of those are solo foreign women, and the consequence is that you will be noticed, looked at and asked questions, most of it curiosity and hospitality rather than hostility. Expect to be offered tea repeatedly and sincerely. Expect a certain amount of staring. Expect some men to address a male companion rather than you if you have one. A woman alone in a traditional tea house or a kiraathane will be an unusual sight and is generally treated with careful politeness. The practical advice is to dress covered, which reduces the attention substantially and costs nothing, to avoid walking alone late in the harbour and bus station areas, and to be aware that alcohol is less socially normal here than on the coast and that bars are male spaces in a way they are not in Istanbul. Uzungol in high season has a large Gulf tourist presence and is easy and anonymous by comparison. The genuine dangers are environmental. The roads are the first and the largest: mountain roads here are steep, narrow, frequently unguarded, wet, foggy and driven fast, and the most likely bad outcome of this trip is a vehicle one, so choose drivers and minibuses over a hire car unless you are confident. Landslides and flash floods close valleys after heavy rain and have killed people in this region, so heed local advice about a road or a valley rather than pressing on. Wet stone at Sumela beside a drop is the third. And exposure in the highlands, where cloud arrives fast and 13°C plus wet plus wind is colder than it sounds. Pack for rain, respect the roads, dress modestly, and Trabzon is a rewarding and genuinely different corner of Turkey to travel alone in.
Reading On
Trabzon has its own airport with frequent flights from Istanbul and Ankara, and it is the natural base for the eastern Black Sea. The Turkey travel guide for women is the parent for the country and the Turkey packing list for women covers a trip across it. For the Turkey most visitors know, the Istanbul packing list for women covers the city, the Cappadocia packing list for women the central plateau, and the Kas packing list for women and Fethiye packing list for women the dry southern coast, which is the climatic opposite of this one. Inland, the Pamukkale packing list for women covers the travertine terraces. For another green wet coast with the same clothing answer, the Galway packing list for women is the closest comparison on this site. The travel packing guide for women is the parent for all destinations. For why wool is the only sensible fibre when you will be damp for a week, the best merino wool base layers for women explains it, and the Roman Trail collection is where the tops themselves live.
If the outer journey is calling you, the inner one usually is too. Explore SoulMap at romantrail.com/blogs/soulmap.
