Amasya is one of those cities that shows the same view in a different light at every point in the year. The narrow valley cut by the Yeşilırmak, the steep slopes rising on either side with Mount Harşena commanding the city from the north, the Yalıboyu houses lined along the bank and the royal tombs carved into the rock make the turn of the seasons far more visible here than on an open plain. Spring brings the gardens on the slopes into blossom, summer warms and dries the valley, autumn paints the trees yellow and crimson while readying the orchards for harvest, and winter lowers a mist over the river. For this reason the question "when should one go to Amasya" has no single answer. Each season gives the city a different face, and each has its own calendar, its own harvest, its own celebrations and its own daily life.

The Climate of the Valley

Amasya lies in a transitional zone between the Black Sea climate and the continental climate of Central Anatolia. Its summers are not as arid as those of the interior, yet the city is not as rainy as the Black Sea coast either. Its winters cannot be called as mild as the coast's, but neither are they as harsh as those of the inland plateaus. The main factor that strikes this balance is the Yeşilırmak valley. The city stands at about 400 metres above sea level, wedged into a gorge between mountains, and the valley floor is both warmer and more sheltered than the uplands around it. The relatively low height of the Canik Mountains lets the influence of the sea reach far inland, while the river creates its own air current and microclimate along the length of the valley. In international classifications the city's climate is described as close to the Mediterranean type, with hot, dry summers.

Meteorological records confirm this general picture in figures. According to measurements kept since 1961, the mean temperature in January is 2.7 degrees Celsius and in July and August 23.9 degrees. Summer afternoon highs average between 31 and 32 degrees and fall to around 17 degrees at night. In January the night-time average is just below freezing and the daytime average around 7 degrees. Annual precipitation is about 460 millimetres, and it is not spread evenly across the year. The wettest months are May and December, each receiving on average more than 54 millimetres. In August rainfall drops below 10 millimetres, and on average only two or three days of the month are rainy. Hours of sunshine show the contrast between the seasons just as clearly: the 9.7 hours of daily sunshine recorded on average in July fall to 2.2 hours in December.

The extremes also tell something of the valley's character. The highest temperature ever measured in the city was 45.0 degrees, recorded on 30 July 2000, and the lowest was minus 21.0 degrees, measured on 15 January 2008. The greatest snow depth, 50 centimetres, was measured on 24 January 2022, and a day earlier the daily precipitation record had been broken with 71.2 millimetres. These figures are exceptions. In an ordinary year the city centre sees about twelve days of snow, and the snow mostly settles on the slopes and higher ground, while on the valley floor it either fails to settle or melts quickly. Humidity approaches 70 per cent in winter and falls to around 50 per cent in July. For the traveller the meaning of all this is plain: summer is dry and hot, winter short but damp and overcast, and spring and autumn mild and changeable.

The generous climate of the valley has been known since antiquity. The geographer Strabo, a native of Amasya, writes in describing his homeland that the country is well supplied with trees, that part of it affords pasturage for horses and other animals, and that the whole of it is beautifully adapted to habitation. He also mentions the fertile plain that widens out beyond the city, today's plains of Suluova and Merzifon. These lines, written two thousand years ago, point to the roots of the agricultural wealth for which Amasya is known today, with its apple orchards, okra fields and vegetable plains.

Spring: The Valley Awakens

With March the valley slowly comes back to life. The mean temperature, around 8 degrees in March, passes 13 degrees in April and 17 degrees in May. The days are mild while the nights are still cool. Melting snow on the slopes and spring rain swell the Yeşilırmak. The river has an irregular regime, and spring is the season when it runs at its fullest. In these months the river that crosses the heart of the city flows fast and muddy, and the sound of the water under the Alçak Köprü (the Low Bridge) is heard far more loudly than in summer. May is the wettest month of the year, and the showers that come and go wash the stone streets and freshen the scent of the neighbourhoods.

The best known gift of spring to Amasya is apple blossom. The trees of the misket apple open their flowers together with their leaves. The white blossoms usually look pale pink when they first open, have five petals and measure two and a half to three and a half centimetres across. The geographical indication registration gives the period of full bloom as the last ten days of April. At that time the orchards around the city, the flats opening onto the plain and the old trees in the courtyards of mansions all come into flower at once. Since open blossoms can withstand only about minus two degrees, a late frost at the end of April can endanger an entire year's harvest. This is why orchard owners follow the weather forecasts so anxiously in these weeks.

Spring is also one of the best times for exploring the city on foot. The weather is neither too hot nor too cold, and even at midday long walks are not tiring. The castle on Mount Harşena is reached, after the car park, by a climb of about three hundred steps, a climb that grows hard under the scorching midday sun of summer but can be made comfortably in spring. From the castle one sees at once the gardens greening on the valley floor, the houses lined along both banks of the river and the fresh green of the opposite slope. The path to the royal tombs climbs the hillside between the Yalıboyu houses and beneath the railway line. After spring rain the rock face darkens and the carved façades of the tombs stand out in sharper shadow.

Spring also opens up the natural sites outside the city. The Baraklı Waterfall, in the village of Yukarı Baraklı near Taşova, takes the water that falls from a height of about 35 metres from the snow that gathers through the winter. Swelling with the snowmelt from March onwards, the waterfall keeps flowing until the end of summer. Lake Boraboy, also within the bounds of Taşova, is a natural barrier lake formed when a landslide blocked the valley. Thanks to a five-metre weir later built at its outlet, the surface of the lake widens in spring with meltwater and rain. Sluices in the weir are used to release surplus water when sudden snowmelt raises the level too far. Coniferous forest dominated by Scots pine covers the northern slopes of the lake, and broadleaved forest dominated by hornbeam and beech its southern slopes. In spring the greens of these two forests are clearly distinct from each other.

Within the city, one of the quietest corners in spring is the darüşşifa (hospital), now used as the Sabuncuoğlu Şerefeddin Museum of the History of Medicine and Surgery. This building from the Ilkhanid period was converted into a museum in 2011. In its garden, medicinal plants are grown with notes on the ailments they were thought to cure, and the garden is at its liveliest in the spring months when the plants awaken. The darüşşifa takes its name from Sabuncuoğlu Şerefeddin, who practised medicine here for many years in the reign of Mehmed II (the Conqueror) and is said to have used music and the sound of water in treatment.

Summer: Long Days and the June Celebrations

The months from June to September are Amasya's busiest period. The mean temperature approaches 21 degrees in June and 24 degrees in July and August. On most afternoons the thermometer climbs above 30 degrees, and in heatwaves it can pass 40. Humidity, on the other hand, is low, and in the valley the evening cool sets in early. Summer days are long, the sun sets late, and the city's illuminations can be enjoyed through long evenings. When night falls the royal tombs, the façades of the Yalıboyu houses and the towers of the castle are lit up. Seen from the opposite bank, the houses lined just below the rock-cut tombs and the outline of the castle at the top appear layer upon layer in the darkness of the valley. This is the image of Amasya that stays in the memory of most visitors.

The summer heat changes the rhythm of daily life. The early morning hours are the time when light enters the valley from the side and the streets are still cool. Those who want to take photographs and walk about before the crowds choose these hours. The midday heat, by contrast, is spent inside buildings with thick stone walls. The shaded courtyard of the darüşşifa, the Mustafa Bey Hamam built in 1436 by Mustafa Bey, son of Yörgüç Pasha, and still in use, the cool halls of the museums and the courtyard of the Bayezid II Mosque Complex are the refuges of these hours. The two great plane trees in front of the complex, built between 1485 and 1486, are said to be as old as the building itself, and in summer their shade is the most sought-after spot in the courtyard. When the evening cool arrives the city returns to the street. The riverside cafés fill up, more people stroll along the Şehzadeler Gezi Yolu (Princes' Promenade), and boat trips on the river are at their liveliest.

The second half of June is devoted to Amasya's most important celebration of the year. Mustafa Kemal Pasha arrived in Amasya on 12 June 1919 and was welcomed at Cülüs Tepe, at the entrance to the city. The Mufti of Amasya, Hacı Hafız Tevfik Efendi, who headed the welcoming party, is said to have greeted him with the words "Pasha, all of Amasya is at your command". Ten days later, on 22 June 1919, the Amasya Circular, regarded as the first open declaration of the Turkish War of Independence, was issued here. Both dates are commemorated every year by the International Atatürk Culture and Art Festival held from 12 to 22 June. The festival opens with a re-enactment of the welcome at Cülüs Tepe. The walk of Mufti Tevfik Efendi and Mustafa Kemal towards the city centre is performed again, followed by a procession to Yavuz Selim Square. In the square, after a moment of silence and the national anthem, the speech Atatürk addressed to the people on his arrival in Amasya is read aloud. A display flight by fighter jets from the air base at Merzifon, folk dances, concerts and exhibitions continue for ten days on Yavuz Selim Square and along the Princes' Promenade.

Summer is also the season of Amasya's most laborious harvest. Amasya flower okra is sown at the beginning of May, harvesting begins once the plant reaches a handspan in height, and it continues every day until the weather turns cold. According to the registration document the harvest begins in the second half of June, is at its most intense in July and August, and can last until the end of October. The okra is called "flower okra" because the pod is picked before it is fully developed, just after the flower opens. The pale green pods, about one centimetre long on average, are picked one by one early every morning. If one is a day late the flower closes and the pod hardens. Known locally also as "red leg" because its stem is green with red streaks, this okra has bristles that prick the hands of those who gather it. In the past cloth was wrapped around the fingers; today gloves are used. The gathered okra is threaded onto string with a needle and dried in the shade. These strings, which turn golden yellow as they dry, are stored to be cooked in winter.

The history of flower okra in Amasya can be traced in documents. An Ottoman work written in 1893 records that 975 okka, or about 1,250 kilograms, of okra were produced in Amasya, and in 1901 Amasya okra is documented as having been sent to Istanbul, to the palace kitchen. The product received geographical indication registration in 2018, with the Merkez, Taşova and Göynücek districts and neighbouring districts of Tokat and Çorum designated as its area of production. The Taşova Flower Okra Culture and Art Festival, first held in Taşova in 1994 to promote the okra, has taken place every year since then. The dish of flower okra with meat, cooked with lamb, tomato, onion, butter and lemon, was also registered separately in 2021. The lemon juice added during cooking keeps the okra from turning slimy and keeps the broth clear.

For those who want to escape the summer heat there are high, cool places around the city. The Tavşan Dağı plateau in Merzifon lies at about 1,600 metres and in the warm months is a gathering place where local people come for picnics and barbecues. Paragliding takes place on the plateau, and fairs and festivities are held there from time to time. The wooded surroundings of Lake Boraboy have long been a cool refuge for the people of the villages on the plain wilting in the summer heat. The area, where the first simple facilities were built in the 1970s, received seventy thousand visitors in 2017. The Yedikuğular Bird Sanctuary, about 33 kilometres from the city centre, is an 800-hectare wetland. Home to more than a hundred bird species, among them cormorant, crane, mallard, ruddy shelduck, coot and pintail, the area is protected as a nature park. On summer evenings it is visited for birdwatching and fishing.

Autumn: Colours and the Apple Harvest

Autumn is Amasya's most photographed season. In September the mean temperature stays around 20 degrees, and the dry heat of summer gives way to mild, clear days. In October the mean falls to 15 degrees and in November to 8. From October onwards the trees along the Yeşilırmak and the orchards on the slopes turn yellow, orange and crimson. When these colours combine with the pale façades of the Yalıboyu houses and their reflections on the water, the valley offers the richest palette of the year. The autumn light, too, is lower and softer than in summer. The afternoon sun strikes the rock faces of Harşena from the side, and the hollowed façades of the royal tombs stand out in deep shadow. The surroundings of Lake Boraboy offer a scene of their own in this season. While the pine forest on the northern slope stays green, the beech and hornbeam on the southern slope turn yellow and brown, and the surface of the lake reflects both colours at once. Autumn is also the season most often recommended for seeing the lake.

Autumn is likewise the season of the misket apple, the symbol of Amasya. Bright red on one side and pale green on the other, this apple is known for its thin but firm, waxy skin, its juicy, crisp, near-white flesh and its strong fragrance. The star shape of the core when the fruit is cut across the middle is also counted among its distinctive features. According to the registration document, the period in which the fruit's colour and firmness become pronounced runs from 15 September to 30 October. The dew that falls in this period plays a decisive role. Morning dew settling on the apple, followed by sunshine, gives the misket apple its characteristic bright red colour. For this reason the apples on the outer side of the tree take on a crimson hue while those on the inner side stay green. The fruit is picked from the second half of September onwards, and mostly in October. The misket is a late-ripening variety, and one of its known traits is periodicity: a tree that bears heavily one year bears less the next.

The apple is a very old crop in Amasya. In 2013 a rescue excavation at a site near the village of Yavru, where illicit digging had taken place, uncovered a Roman-period building and a mosaic floor of twenty square metres. The medallion at the centre of the mosaic, about one and a half metres across, depicts an apple tree bearing four fruits with three partridges beneath it. Displayed in the Amasya Museum, this mosaic is cited as evidence that apple growing in the city has a history of at least two thousand years. Following an application made in 2016, the misket apple received geographical indication registration as a designation of origin on 14 March 2019. Today some thirty-five thousand tonnes of various apples are produced across the province each year, of which around six thousand tonnes are misket apples. The harvest is the busiest time of the year in the orchards and villages. Throughout October fresh misket apples are found in the city's market and bazaars, and the air of the market fills with the scent of apples.

Autumn is the season when the crops gathered in summer are prepared for winter. The last strings of flower okra dry towards the end of October, and the apples are carried into storage. The misket apple keeps well, and when stored in good conditions it can last unspoiled until May. In cold stores it is not placed in the same rooms as other apples but kept in rooms set aside for it. In the villages farmers keep their apples in cool chambers on the lower floors of their houses known as "kara depo" (dark store). Over time the skin of the apple oils itself naturally, and the waxy layer that forms extends the fruit's shelf life. Drying apple slices is another way of eating the fruit all year round. Dried apple is eaten as a snack through the winter and also goes into apple tea.

Winter: Mist, Snow and Hot Springs

Winter in Amasya is a short but distinctive season. In December and January the days shorten, sunshine falls to about two hours a day, and the sky is overcast on most days. Humidity rises, and mist lifts off the river, especially in the mornings. Because of the narrowness of the valley the mist is slow to clear. On such mornings the royal tombs, the castle and the houses on the opposite slope are only half visible, and the city remains under a hazy veil until midday. Although snow is common on the slopes and in the higher villages, on the valley floor it is usually short-lived. The days when a snowfall of a day or two whitens the roofs of the Yalıboyu houses and the ledges of the cliffs are among the city's rarest and most sought-after sights. Snow half a metre deep, as in January 2022, is an exception.

Winter cold is a necessity for Amasya's orchards. Misket apple trees need a winter rest, that is, a certain period of exposure to cold. In trees that have not completed their chilling period the leaf buds fail to break in spring and the tree remains bare. The registration document gives the chilling requirement of the misket apple as 2,536 hours. The fact that the average chilling period in Amasya between 1970 and 2014 was 2,526 hours is one of the factors that explain why the apple grows so well in this valley. The woody parts of the tree can withstand temperatures down to minus 40 degrees. The real danger to the orchards is therefore not the winter cold but the late frost that strikes at the end of April when the blossoms are open.

In the winter months, once the tourist crowds have gone, the city belongs to its residents. The museums can be visited more comfortably in this season. The Miniature Amasya Museum, in the imaret (public kitchen) building of the Bayezid II Mosque Complex, brings the city as it was in 1914 to life with day and night presentations. The Hazeranlar Mansion, built in 1865 by the provincial treasurer Hasan Talat Efendi, displays the daily life of a nineteenth-century Amasya house. The Ilkhanid mummies in the archaeological museum, the bronze statue of the Hittite storm god and the apple mosaic can be studied at leisure in the short light of winter days. The historic hamams, too, are among the most popular places in winter. The steam of the domed hot room, after the damp cold outside, keeps alive an old winter habit of the city.

Another attraction of the winter months is the hot springs. The Terziköy Hot Springs, on the Gediksaray road about 40 kilometres from the city, are among the most visited spas in the region. The water, with a bicarbonate, calcium and sodium composition and partly carbonated, is about 39.5 degrees in the pools. Beside the spa are the remains of a Roman bath. Bathing in the hot water while snow falls draws crowds to the area, especially on public holidays and at weekends. The healing hot waters of the Amasya area have long been known. Strabo, too, records that in the district of Phazemonitis, just beyond the territory of Amaseia, there were hot springs extremely good for the health.

The winter table also bears the character of the season. Flower okra, threaded on string and dried in summer, becomes okra with meat in winter. Before cooking, the bristles of the dried okra are removed by rubbing the strings in a clean cloth. Apples kept in the dark store come to the table all winter, and hot apple tea made from dried apples becomes the drink of cold evenings. Well-known dishes of the local cuisine such as toyga soup, keşkek and Amasya çörek also find their place on the winter table.

Choosing When to Visit

The best season to visit Amasya depends on what the traveller is looking for. For colour and photography the most rewarding period is October and early November, when the trees turn and the apple harvest is under way. For those who want to see the city at its liveliest and busiest, June is the time, especially the festival days between 12 and 22 June. In this period, however, accommodation fills up early and middays are hot. April and May are the most comfortable months for long walks, the climb to the castle and trips to the waterfall and the lake. Those who wish to see the apple blossom should aim for the last week of April. For those seeking quiet, mist and hot springs, the winter months are ideal. In this season the museums and historic buildings can be visited away from the crowds. Whatever the season, the narrow valley of the city makes it possible to see a great deal within a short distance. Most of the buildings in the centre are within walking distance, while places such as Boraboy, Baraklı, Tavşan Dağı and Terziköy can be added to the programme as day trips, according to what the season has to offer.

Chronology

1893: An Ottoman work records that 975 okka (about 1,250 kg) of okra were produced in Amasya.

1901: Amasya okra is documented as having been sent to the Ottoman palace in Istanbul.

12 June 1919: Mustafa Kemal Pasha arrives in Amasya and is welcomed at Cülüs Tepe by the Mufti Hacı Hafız Tevfik Efendi.

22 June 1919: The Amasya Circular is issued.

1994: The Taşova Flower Okra Culture and Art Festival is held for the first time.

30 July 2000: The highest temperature ever measured in Amasya, 45.0 degrees, is recorded.

15 January 2008: The lowest temperature ever measured, minus 21.0 degrees, is recorded.

2013: A Roman-period mosaic with an apple tree motif is found in a rescue excavation near the village of Yavru.

8 January 2016: An application is made for geographical indication registration of the Amasya misket apple.

2018: Amasya flower okra receives geographical indication registration.

14 March 2019: The Amasya misket apple is registered as a designation of origin.

2021: The Amasya dish of flower okra with meat receives geographical indication registration.

23-24 January 2022: The daily precipitation record (71.2 mm) and the greatest snow depth (50 cm) are measured.

March 2025: An application is made for European Union geographical indication registration of the misket apple and flower okra.

Bibliography

Primary sources

  • Strabo, Geography, Book XII, chapter 3 (translated by H. L. Jones, Loeb Classical Library)

Academic studies

  • Yüzüncüyıl, K. S., "Amasya Çiçek Bamyası'nın Peşinde", Sofra (2025); Elmacı, S., "Amasya'da Bamya (Okra) Tarımının Coğrafi Esasları", Doğu Coğrafya Dergisi 15/24 (2011)
  • Şenol, E., "Boraboy Gölü (Amasya) ve Çevresinin Rekreasyon Amaçlı Kullanımdan Kaynaklanan Başlıca Sorunları", Doğu Coğrafya Dergisi

Books

  • Press reports on the harvest of Amasya's geographically registered misket apple (September 2026)

Other sources

  • Turkish State Meteorological Service, Resmî İklim İstatistikleri: Amasya (measurement period 1961-2025) and İllere Ait Mevsim Normalleri (1991-2020)
  • Turkish Patent and Trademark Office, Amasya Misket Elması geographical indication registration certificate, No. 424 (14.03.2019)
  • Turkish Patent and Trademark Office, Amasya Çiçek Bamyası geographical indication registration certificate, No. 352 (2018)
  • General Directorate of Forestry, Amasya Regional Directorate of Forestry, "Amasya'da 12-22 Haziran Uluslararası Atatürk, Kültür ve Sanat Festivali Başladı"
  • Amasya (Wikipedia, Turkish and English articles); Boraboy Gölü; Terziköy Kaplıcaları; Yeşilırmak (Wikipedia)
  • Etstur Let's Go, "Amasya'da Gezilecek Yerler: Amasya'nın Tarihi ve Turistik Rotaları" (2025); Gezmek Güzel Şey, "Şehzadeler Şehri: Amasya" (2021); NeredenNereye Blog, "Büyüleyen Şehir: Amasya" etstur.com

Online sources