Black Sea Turkey (Turkish: Karadeniz Bölgesi) in northern Turkey, is a humid and verdant region renowned for its natural beauty thanks to the high precipitation levels distributed evenly throughout the year. The region is very mountainous and is heavily forested, while the highest parts of the mountains are covered with alpine meadows, glacier lakes, and glaciers.
The region covers much of the country's northern coast, but the western stretch of the Black Sea coast is a part of the Marmara Region.
This region boasts astounding natural beauty, colorfully dressed Hemşin women, many Georgian ruins hidden in the mountains, and perhaps the world's most spectacularly situated monastery.
Central Karadeniz is home to the Turkish Black Sea coast's largest city, Samsun, beautiful riverside Ottoman architecture in Amasya, and Hittite ruins galore.
The western third of Turkey's Black Sea coast is its most remote and beautiful (having been spared the indignities of the coastal highway), home to the ancient fortified port city of Sinop, and the beautiful resort town of Amasra.
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The climate is oceanic on the coasts; warm, showery summers (around 25-27°C during the day, 10-15 days of rain a month), mild transitional seasons, and cool, wet winters (around 6-10°C during the day, 15-20 days of precipitation a month). Snow is occasional in winter, and melts quickly. One important rule of thumb is that east-facing cities, such as Samsun and Sinop, are often better protected from storms than their west-facing counterparts, such as Zonguldak or Rize.
Mountainous regions have a colder and much snowier variant of the coastal climate; while lowlands far from the coasts are continental, with very warm, somewhat dry summers, and cold, snowy winters.
The 350 km road from Amasra to Sinop is beautiful and breathtaking as it winds its way along the rugged coast. If you are depending on public transport, however, it is likely to take two days. Expect to spend a night in one of the small towns along the coast, such as Inebolu, as bus service is town-to-town, and you are likely to arrive at some town after the last dolmus has left. While the towns along the way are unspoilt and unpretentious, they are a bit run down. If you have your own car or motorcycle, you can do the journey in one day (start early).
As the Black Sea Region spreads over most of northern Turkey elongatedly, getting out of the region involves heading for destinations hugely different in character: