Amasya sits in a narrow valley squeezed between two mountain ranges, and this geography means residents rarely need to travel far to catch their breath. From the foot of the castle rock to the banks of the Yeşilırmak, from the plane-tree groves along the Taşova road to the reservoir lakes of the Suluova plain, every corner of the province has places where people spend their weekends and holidays. Most are simple rest areas, laid out by the forestry administration, the municipalities or the State Hydraulic Works, with tables, grills and a fountain. Some grew up spontaneously around shrines, springs and old pilgrimage sites and were organized only later.

Much of the information on locations and distances comes from inventory lists that have circulated in the provincial tourism records for years. Because the operators, entrances and fees of these facilities change over time, what matters below is the geography and history of each area. Çamlık, the Derinöz Dam and the Taşova routes are covered in separate articles on this site, so they appear here only as part of the broader picture.

The Recreation Tradition and Amasya

In Turkish, a mesire is a place, usually wooded and beside water, where the people of a town or village gather in the open air on certain days. In Amasya the most distinctive moments of this tradition are Hıdırellez, which celebrates the arrival of spring, and the ninth of March. On these days the castle road is remembered as the place where townspeople have their day-long picnics. That the castle itself counts as a recreation ground shows that the tradition began in Amasya at the very centre of the city.

In the countryside the same tradition merges with places of pilgrimage. Gathering at a spring, under a venerable tree or around the grave of a saint has long been seen as an occasion for both prayer and conversation. Many of today's recreation areas are facilities built by the state on top of this older habit. That is why the lists place a lakeside social facility and a shrine courtyard side by side, and call both of them picnic grounds.

Within the City and on Its Slopes

The recreation areas of the city centre are spread over the slopes that climb the edges of the valley. Çakallar lies south of the city on the foot of Mount Ferhat, about two hundred and fifty metres above the settlement, and is known for its wide viewing terrace. From here the city centre and the valley can be seen from above. The area consists of open and enclosed eating places and picnic corners, and because it is close to the centre it is one of the places most often chosen for a short outing in the early evening.

Pirler Park is a green space laid out in the middle of the city around the Tomb of Pir Sücaeddin İlyas. The tomb, also known as the Upper Pirler Tomb, was built in 1486 by Gümüşlüzade Ahmet Bey for Sheikh Sücaeddin Pir İlyas of the Gümüşlüzade family. Besides Pir İlyas, it holds the graves of his son-in-law Pir Celaleddin Abdurrahman, his grandson Pir Hayreddin Hızır Çelebi and their families. The building was renovated in 1688 by Gümüşlüzade İbrahim Pasha, collapsed in the earthquake of 1895, and was later rebuilt into its present form. Above the entrance door are both the original foundation inscription and one recording the repair carried out in the reign of Abdülhamid II. The park's artificial waterfall and its outdoor seating areas show how a place of visitation has become an everyday leisure space for the city.

On the western side of the city, inside Atatürk Forest next to the vocational college, lies Çamlık. With its picnic areas, walking trail, viewing terrace and eating facilities it is one of the most heavily used recreation areas in the city. Çamlık is treated in more detail in a separate article on this site.

Areas along the Taşova Road

As the Amasya-Taşova highway runs northeast out of the city, it lines up one recreation area after another along its edge. At the third kilometre a road branching to the left leads to Ziyaret. At the entrance of this settlement, also known as Gölbaşı, there are a pool, green areas and a restaurant with both open and closed seating.

Yeşil Yenice is a rest area in the shade of a venerable plane tree, reached by a road that branches to the right at the thirteenth kilometre. Some sources give the turning as the fifteenth kilometre. The emblem of the place is the old plane tree standing in the municipality's lakehead park, about twelve metres in circumference and about fifteen metres tall. Its trunk is round and divides upward into three forks. Tourism records present the tree as a monumental plane some eight hundred years old, while the cultural inventory gives no information about its age. The eight hundred years is therefore an approximation resting on local and tourism accounts rather than on a document. East of the tree are a pool and open resting places. The cold spring water has made this one of the easiest escapes from the summer heat of the city.

Yassıçal branches off to the right at the seventh kilometre of the same road, about sixteen kilometres from the city centre, at an altitude of one thousand and fifty metres. Also known as the Yaylagöl Social Facilities, it is laid out for broad use, with wooden pavilions beside a pool, an artificial waterfall, a children's playground, picnic and camping areas, and football and volleyball pitches. The older inventory also lists a one-star investment-certified hotel and a covered restaurant seating a hundred and fifty as part of the same facility. The Yassıçal Pond, built in the area for irrigation, also appears in the provincial inventory of dams and ponds.

The High Lakes of Taşova

Beyond the forty-fourth kilometre the road continues to Taşova, then toward Samsun and the forested highlands. This stretch holds the best-known lake recreation areas in the province. Lake Boraboy comes first among them. At an altitude of one thousand and fifty metres, surrounded by beech, Scots pine and chestnut forest, the lake lies about sixty-two to sixty-three kilometres from the provincial centre. Sources give the distance to Taşova variously, between fifteen and twenty-two kilometres.

The origin of the lake was long described incorrectly. Tourist brochures and some encyclopaedias from before the 1990s presented Boraboy as a crater lake, and this claim is still repeated in some publications today. Geomorphological studies, however, show that it is a landslide-dammed lake, formed when the mass around Kaleboynu Hill slid downslope and blocked the bed of the Çatağın Stream. The passage of the North Anatolian Fault through the region fractured the rock and let water seep deep, preparing this slide. The lake is about seven hundred and fifty metres long, reaches one hundred metres in width in the east and two hundred in the west, and covers about eleven hectares. Some publications give its area as two or three square kilometres, which is more than twenty times the real value. A roughly five-metre embankment built at the eastern end to irrigate farmland also contributes to the lake's present appearance. In spring this embankment lets the lake expand by a hectare or two, covering the delta in the west. The water level peaks in late May and early June, falls through the summer, and the surface often freezes in January and February.

The name of the settlement that gave the lake its name has itself been in flux. The village was renamed Gölbeyli in 1961 and given back the name Boraboy by a Council of Ministers decision in 1995. In the literature the lake is often called Borabay, on some road maps it appears as Kocagöl, and on satellite maps as Kocabey. The form used by local people is Boraboy.

The tourist facilities around the lake were built in the 1970s. At first there was a warden's hut, a country restaurant and nine bungalow-type country houses for lodging. Because the area then had first-degree natural site status, no new buildings could be added for years. The area was declared a tourism centre in 1992, reclassified as a third-degree natural site in 1996, and placed under protection as a nature park on 3 September 2013. Since then the facilities have been clad in wood to blend with the surroundings, overhead power lines have been buried, a sewage network has been built and ten more comfortable bungalows have been added. The park is divided into three zones: sensitive protection, controlled use and sustainable use. Visitor numbers passed seventy thousand in 2017. The problems created by such crowds have also become a subject for researchers: waste left by picnickers, behaviour that harms vegetation such as picking flowers and stripping bark, and slippage on walking paths caused by heavy use. On the northern slopes of the lake Scots pine dominates, while on the southern slopes beech and hornbeam do.

Along roads heading the same way there are smaller and lesser-known lake recreation areas too. Tekke Lake takes its name from the village of Tekke, lies about fifty kilometres from the provincial centre, has free entry, and since it is crowded at weekends a weekday visit is recommended. At the tenth kilometre of the road that branches right from the fortieth kilometre lie the lake and restaurant of Akınoğlu, and at its sixth kilometre the trout lake of Belevi Akpınar. The Esençay Şahin Plateau, about seven kilometres from the village of Esençay, is a highland recreation area with gazebos around its lake. The details of the Taşova routes are in a separate article on this site.

The Suluova Plain: Reservoir Lakes and a Shrine

On the Suluova plain a recreation area is often a by-product of an irrigation structure. The Yedikır Dam is the best-known example. Built at the Yedikır locality by diverting the Tersakan Stream, a tributary of the Yeşilırmak, through a canal, the dam was completed in 1985 and became the largest irrigation dam in the area. Of the roughly nine hundred hectares of the site, six hundred are lake. Soon after the dam was built, migratory birds adopted the lake as a stopover, and in 1989 the area was declared a first-degree natural site and a wildlife protection area. It was at this time that the Amasya Governorate gave the lake the name Yedikuğular Bird Paradise.

The number of bird species recorded at the lake varies from source to source. An older inventory counts more than thirty-four species belonging to sixteen families, the culture portal reports more than a hundred, and a university zoologist says that about two hundred and fifty species have been observed across Amasya and that most of them have been recorded around Yedikır. Species seen at the lake include the white pelican, ruddy shelduck, cormorant, grey heron, greylag goose and pintail. The white pelican is cited as one of Turkey's two breeding sites. In 2021 teams from the Nature Conservation and National Parks directorate found a pair of demoiselle cranes in the area and placed them under protection. These figures are observations from different years and methods. The picnic side of the area is rich as well: around the lake there are a walking trail, a pine forest, the fish-production facilities of the State Hydraulic Works and a lakeshore where amateur angling is permitted. The Suluova Municipality later laid out the area as the Yedi Kuğular National Garden. It lies about thirty-five kilometres from the provincial centre, eight from Suluova and seventeen from Merzifon.

The Derinöz Dam stands on the Derinöz Stream, a tributary of the Tersakan, within the borders of Suluova, and was built to irrigate an area of six thousand five hundred hectares. The date of construction is given differently in the sources: one record places the building between 1991 and 2000, another gives completion as 2003. The dam is also used today as a picnic spot. It is covered in detail in a separate article on this site.

Another recreation area on the plain is Gani Baba. About ten kilometres from Suluova, within the boundaries of Saygılı village and beside the Tersakan River, the area takes its name from the saint's grave there. According to local tradition, Gani Baba was a saint who came from Khorasan to spread Islam and fell as a martyr fighting the Rum, the Anatolian Greeks. His original name is given as Abdülgani El-Halveti. This account has not been verified by historical documents. The tomb consists of an open marble grave and a one-storey place of worship. Visitors come for the healing of illnesses and for various wishes. For illness, prayers are recited while circling the tomb, a deer antler kept at the tomb is rubbed on the aching spot as a charm, and a votive offering of a sacrifice, an object or a candle is then made. The green space around the tomb has been arranged with children's play groups, picnic and rest areas, and it is visited on special days such as Hıdırellez and by young people preparing for marriage. Here recreation and pilgrimage meet in one place.

On the Amasya side of the plain, on the Suluova road about thirty-six kilometres from the provincial centre, Kapaklı is a forest rest area with the forestry administration's social facilities, picnic tables and grills. Local people prefer it especially at weekends.

The Forest Areas on the Merzifon and Gümüşhacıköy Side

In the west of the province, around Merzifon and Gümüşhacıköy, the recreation areas are mostly sites laid out by the forestry administration, made up of fountains, tables and grills. Şarlayık is reached by a road that branches right at the twelfth kilometre of the Merzifon-Gümüşhacıköy road. It is recorded as a place visited by both local and foreign visitors for its natural beauty, eating facility and picnic opportunities. Omarca is a forest rest area on a hilltop at the twelfth kilometre of the Gümüşhacıköy-Hamamözü road. With the drinking water, grills and tables arranged by the Forestry Directorate it has become a weekend choice of local people. Gökoluk lies about seven kilometres northwest of Merzifon and fifty-nine kilometres from the provincial centre. With its rain shelter, village-style café, children's play area and picnic tables it serves a similar function. Çamlıtepe is another recreation area known for its picnic tables and gazebos.

Areas along the Tokat Road

The road southeast of Amasya toward Tokat also has a string of recreation areas. Sarılık, thirteen kilometres from the central district, is recorded as a day-use recreation area. To the right of the fourteenth kilometre of the road lies Kaynar Lake, where fish live, with an eating facility around it. At the thirty-fifth kilometre, the Çamlıgöl Social Facilities in the town of Uygur offer an eating unit, a pool, a children's playground and ten gazebos within two thousand square metres of green space at an altitude of seven hundred and forty-five metres. The Terziköy Hot Spring, at about thirty-six kilometres, combines accommodation facilities, covered pools and picnic areas, a place where recreation and thermal tourism come together.

Use, Protection and Recreation Culture

Reading the province's recreation areas together, three different types stand out. The first are areas within or at the edge of the city, reached on foot or by a short drive, used in the evenings and at weekends. The second are stops along the highway, usually given meaning by a water source or a venerable tree. The third are large areas such as Boraboy and Yedikır that carry protection status and are therefore managed for both recreation and ecology. In managing the third group one has to pursue two opposing aims at once: increasing visitor numbers while limiting the damage that crowds do to nature. Research on Boraboy lists determining visitor capacity, opening alternative routes and environmental education as the main ways of striking this balance.

For some of the areas named in the provincial tourism records, up-to-date information is lacking today. Because operating arrangements, entrance fees and opening periods have changed over the years, it is necessary to ask the relevant municipality or directorate for the current situation before going to an area. Distances are approximate because they are taken from older inventories.

Chronology

1486: The Tomb of Pir Sücaeddin İlyas is built by Gümüşlüzade Ahmet Bey.

1688: The tomb is renovated by Gümüşlüzade İbrahim Pasha.

1895: The tomb collapses in an earthquake and is later rebuilt.

1961: The village of Boraboy is renamed Gölbeyli. The name is changed back to Boraboy in 1995.

1970s: The first tourist facilities and nine bungalows are built around Lake Boraboy.

1985: The Yedikır Dam is completed for irrigation.

1989: The Yedikır reservoir is declared a first-degree natural site and wildlife protection area, and the site is named Yedikuğular Bird Paradise.

1992: The area around Lake Boraboy is declared a tourism centre.

1996: Lake Boraboy is reclassified as a third-degree natural site.

2013 (3 September): Lake Boraboy is placed under protection as a nature park.

Sources

Academic studies

  • Şenol, Eren. "Boraboy Gölü (Amasya) ve Çevresinin, Rekreasyon Amaçlı Kullanımdan Kaynaklanan Başlıca Sorunları". Doğu Coğrafya Dergisi, 23/39 (June 2018), pp. 95-112.

Official sources

  • Republic of Turkey Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Culture Portal: Boraboy Gölü; Yedikuğular Kuş Cenneti; Pir Sücaeddin İlyas Türbesi; Çınar Ağacı (Yeşil Yenice). Records of the Amasya Provincial Directorate of Culture and Tourism.

Other sources

  • Anadolu Ajansı, "Sulama barajı olarak yapılan Yedikır Barajı 230 kuş türüne ev sahipliği yapıyor" (10 December 2022). aa.com.tr
  • Amasya Governorate and provincial tourism inventory: "Turizm Mesire Yerleri" list (Çakallar, Pirler Parkı, Yassıçal, Yeşil Yenice, Şarlayık, Omarca, Gökoluk, Kapaklı, Uygur, Terziköy and others).
  • Inventory of the dams and ponds of Amasya (Derinöz and Yedikır dams).
  • Milli Gazete, "Amasya'daki en güzel 10 piknik alanı" (2024); Objektif Amasya, "Gani Baba Türbe ve Mesire Alanı Hıdırellez'e Hazır" (5 May 2025). objektifamasya.com

Online sources