Things to Do in Bayburt: Castle, Baksi Museum and the Kop Pass

What Bayburt is actually like

Bayburt is one of Turkey's smallest provinces: 83,676 people at the end of 2024, 3,746 square kilometres, and a capital at 1,550 metres. It is filed under the Black Sea region and has nothing to do with the sea. This is the dry southern side of the coastal ranges, in the upper basin of the Çoruh. Beyond the centre there are only two districts, Aydıntepe and Demirözü.

Most people meet Bayburt through a windscreen. The Erzurum to Trabzon road runs straight through town, drivers stop for tea and carry on. The centre alone is worth half a day: the Çoruh splits the two banks, a castle sits on the ridge above, and part of the old bazaar survives at its foot.

There are 11 numbered stops below, matching the pins on the map. Read distances as driving time: Baksı Museum is 45 km on paper and about an hour behind the wheel.

Quick answer

Work the province in three directions: the centre, Aydıntepe to the northwest, the Baksı and Masat line to the northeast, the Demirözü valley to the southwest.

• Castle, Ulu Mosque and the old bazaar are a half-day walk in the centre.
• Aydıntepe Underground City is 25 km from town, Baksı Museum 45 km.
• The Kop Pass tops out at 2,305 metres and can close in winter.

Things to do in Bayburt

1. Bayburt Castle

The castle occupies a long rock ridge north of town, above a bend in the Çoruh. Nobody knows who built it first or when. The earliest documented repair is attributed to Justinian I. Saltukids and Danishmendids fortified it, and the most thorough rebuild came under Tuğrul Şah against the threat from Trebizond. The Ottomans took it in 1514 and repaired it under Suleiman I and Murad III. Evliya Çelebi, visiting in 1647, described 300 households and a mosque inside the walls. The war of 1828 wrecked much of it.

The scale surprises people: the walls run over two kilometres and the masonry reaches 30 metres in places. Inside stand the remains of a building converted from church to mosque. Excavation began in 2017, so expect closed sections.

• Getting there: A steep 20 minute walk, or drive to the gate.
• Time: 1 to 1.5 hours.
• Common mistake: Climbing at midday. No shade up there.

2. Ulu Mosque and the old bazaar

Ulu Camii is dated to the reign of the Seljuk sultan Giyaseddin Mesud II, between 1282 and 1298. What you walk into was rebuilt in the 1970s on the original plan, so the stone is new and the layout old.

The point is the few hundred metres around it. Taş Han is here, a caravanserai on the Silk Road route dated to the late 15th century. A few steps away is the clock tower, its clocks started on 29 October 1924 at the request of Bayburt men who had seen such towers during the War of Independence. The same walk takes in Yakutiye, Zahit Efendi and Tuzcuzade mosques and several fountains.

This is a working bazaar, not a tourist quarter, and some doors stay locked.

• Getting there: On foot from the main square.
• Time: 1.5 to 2 hours, easy with the castle.
• Common mistake: Touring mosques during Friday prayers.

3. Bent bathhouse and the Çoruh bank

Just below the castle rock, where the Çoruh cuts through town, an old bathhouse survives. Locals call the area Bent. It is single storey and plain, its domed volumes readable from outside. The Kültür Envanteri record fixes neither a date nor a patron, so we will not invent one.

The Çoruh is narrow and quick here. It rises in the Mescit mountains in Erzurum and runs through İspir, Yusufeli and Artvin into Georgia, reaching the Black Sea after 466 kilometres. Bayburt is the largest settlement in its upper basin. A riverside path and a few parks run along the bank, where locals walk in the evening. Calibrate expectations: a building and a river inside a working town, not a heritage site.

• Getting there: North from the main square, at the foot of the castle road.
• Time: 30 to 45 minutes.
• Common mistake: Assuming the bathhouse is operating. Ask first.

4. Aydıntepe Underground City

Twenty-five kilometres from the centre, beneath the town of Aydıntepe, lies a settlement carved out of soft tuff bedrock, found in 1996 during construction work. It runs about five metres down, ceilings are around two metres, and twenty rooms have been counted in the cleared section. Narrow passages link them and niches are cut into the walls.

Dating is not settled: one reading places it in the Early Christian and Roman period, another in the Middle Ages. Three separate remains are known beneath the town, and only part of one is open.

Do not expect Cappadocia. This is small, low and tight, and if you are tall you will stoop most of the way. Little comparable is open in the eastern Black Sea, and there are no crowds here.

• Getting there: Northwest of the centre, signposted.
• Time: 45 minutes to an hour.
• Common mistake: Arriving without closed shoes.

5. Baksı Museum

Set on a hill above the Çoruh valley in Bayraktar village, 45 kilometres from Bayburt. The village was formerly called Baksı, a word meaning sage, healer or shaman in old Turkic. The painter Hüsamettin Koçan was born here and opened the museum in 2010.

Inside, contemporary art sits alongside traditional craft, with a temporary gallery beside the permanent collection. A weaving workshop staffed by village women is part of the operation, so the museum produces as well as displays. Baksı has won the Council of Europe Museum Prize, an unusual outcome for a village museum.

Do not expect a big city institution. The building is modest and quiet, and much of the effect comes from where it stands. The last stretch of road ices over in winter.

• Getting there: Northeast towards Bayraktar, about an hour's drive.
• Time: 1.5 to 2 hours.
• Prices and hours: The exhibition calendar changes, so contact the museum.

6. Kenan Yavuz Ethnography Museum

In Beşpınar village, formerly Loru, in Demirözü district, roughly 40 kilometres from Bayburt and close to the reservoir. Kenan Yavuz set it up as a culture house in 2013 and it became a private museum in 2019. It covers eight thousand square metres, and most of the stone and timber came from collapsed houses nearby.

The subject here is life rather than vitrines. Village games, storytelling, tandır baking and threshing run as communal work days, and objects are shown with their owner's story. The museum received the European Museum Forum's Silletto Prize in 2021.

Give this an afternoon. In the same valley, ask about the Ferahşad Bey mosque and medrese in Gökçedere and the Kutluğ Bey mosque and tomb in Kutlu. Neither is signposted.

• Getting there: Southwest via Demirözü, ending on a village road.
• Time: 2 to 3 hours.
• Prices and hours: The events calendar is seasonal, so confirm ahead.

7. Bayrampaşa Castle

An Ottoman-period castle ruin on a hilltop on the northern flank of the Demirözü valley. The Kültür Envanteri record names neither patron nor date, so no story here. Parts of the stone walls still stand, and the hill covers both directions of the valley.

Few castles survive in Bayburt. Apart from the big one in town there are remains at Saruhan village, Hisartepe at Sakızlı and Kitre castle, but all have come down to wall level. Bayrampaşa is the easiest to reach and the best preserved; you can pick out its silhouette from the village road.

Come prepared to look at a ruin as a ruin. No signs, no clear path, and the last stretch crosses fields. In return you get the valley from above, usually alone.

• Getting there: A short drive east of Demirözü, ending on dirt track.
• Time: 45 minutes to an hour.
• Common mistake: Driving up the slope after rain.

8. Sırakayalar Waterfall

Twenty-two kilometres from the centre, at the entrance to and inside Sırakayalar village, two separate falls sit 400 to 500 metres apart, with water dropping from roughly 20 metres. The streams feeding them rise on the Divanyurdu mountains and Kırklar hill, then join the Kopuz stream. Little has been published about how they formed; one view attributes them to subsidence along a fault line.

In summer this works as a picnic ground and locals come out at weekends. The falls freeze in winter, a separate reason for photographers. There is no protection status and no visitor infrastructure.

The scale is modest: a twenty-metre drop and a stream bed inside a village. Once the snowmelt is gone by late August the water thins, so May and June are the full months.

• Getting there: South of the centre towards Sırakayalar.
• Time: 1 to 1.5 hours.
• Common mistake: Going in late summer and expecting the photographed flow.

9. Kop Martyrs' Memorial and the Kop Pass

South of Bayburt, where the province meets Erzurum, Kop Mountain rises to 2,918 metres. This is the historic crossing between the Black Sea and eastern Anatolia; the pass sits at 2,305 metres, with the cemetery and memorial near it.

The story belongs to the First World War. The fighting against the Russian advance, known as the Kop Defence, took place here, and the area became the Kop Mountain Defence Historical National Park on 31 October 2016. Its nature is on record too: the endemic Stachys bayburtensis grows here, and 134 butterfly species have been counted.

The altitude announces itself: even in August the wind is cold and the weather turns fast. The Kop Mountain Tunnel will bypass the pass once finished.

• Getting there: South of the centre towards Aşkale.
• Time: 1 to 1.5 hours as a roadside stop.
• Common mistake: Driving up in winter without chains.

10. Dede Korkut Tomb, Masat

A small tomb by the roadside in Masat village, northeast of the centre. Locally it is also called the Korkut Ata tomb and said to hold the grave of Dede Korkut.

Honesty is needed here. Dede Korkut is a semi-legendary figure, the narrator of the Oğuz epics, whose historical identity the sources do not agree on. There is no single accepted burial place: a grave attributed to him also exists in the Syr Darya basin in Kazakhstan. Treat this as Bayburt's connection to the tradition rather than a verified grave.

The structure is small and plain, and a visit takes fifteen minutes. What gives it value is the drive up the Masat valley, and that Baksı Museum lies in the same direction.

• Getting there: Northeast of the centre by car towards Masat village.
• Time: 15 to 30 minutes.
• Common mistake: Expecting a large monument.

11. Çimağıl Cave

A dripstone cave at the eastern edge of the province, in the Masat stream valley near Aşağı Çimağıl village. It lies between 2,470 and 2,550 metres, one of the highest caves in Turkey. Villagers found it by accident, and it opened to visitors in 2007.

The measurements shift from source to source. Lengths of 110, 600 and 1,010 metres are quoted, and the distance from town as 35, 50 or 57 kilometres. The main chamber splits into the Cream Room, the Ghosts Room and the Blue Room, the last ending in a small pool.

The entrance corridor narrows below a metre in places and the floor is wet and full of rubble. Measured temperatures run 22 degrees outside and 12 inside. Skip it if enclosed spaces bother you.

• Getting there: East of the centre towards Çimağıl, ending unsealed.
• Time: Half a day.
• Prices and hours: Access and guided entry change, so ask the provincial tourism directorate.

When to go

June to September is the open season. Village roads are passable and the Kop line gives no trouble. Days can be warm in July and August, but the nights stay cool.

May and early June are best for water, when Sırakayalar runs full on snowmelt, though snow can still be lying higher up.

November to April is winter. The centre and Aydıntepe stay visitable, but Çimağıl, Masat and the Kop direction are risky.

How many days

One full day covers the centre: castle, Ulu Mosque, old bazaar, Bent and the Çoruh bank, all on foot.

A second day handles the northeast: Masat, the Dede Korkut tomb and Baksı Museum, which sit in the same direction and fit comfortably.

A third day goes southwest for the Demirözü valley, the Kenan Yavuz museum and Bayrampaşa Castle. Aydıntepe adds on as a half day, and Çimağıl and Kop each need their own. With one day, do the centre plus Aydıntepe.

Where to stay

Almost all accommodation is in the provincial capital and the choice is limited. Hotels cluster between the main square and the river bank, all within walking distance, and weekdays fill up. Guesthouses have not caught on in the villages, so plan Demirözü and Aydıntepe as day trips.

Getting around

Bayburt has no airport. The nearest are Erzurum and Trabzon, both by road, via Aşkale and the Kop Pass from the east or via Zigana and Gümüşhane from the north. There is no railway either, so coaches are the only public link.

Inside the province a car is effectively required. Minibuses reach the district centres, but Baksı, Masat, Sırakayalar, Bayrampaşa and Çimağıl are not.

What to eat

Bayburt cooking is built on milk, butter and dough. Look for lor dolması, kesme soup, evelik aşı, pulled helva and bread baked in a tandır.

Dairy is the province's best known output. Civil cheese, string cheese, curd and butter are sold in the bazaar and at village markets, and honey from the high pastures is common. Restaurant choice in the districts is thin, so do not leave lunch to chance.

Honest warnings

Bayburt does not have developed tourism infrastructure. Signage is sparse and there is no visitor centre. Asking the village headman for directions is the normal method.

Restoration is ongoing at the castle, so some sections may be closed.

The numbers published about Çimağıl Cave do not agree; three figures circulate for both length and distance.

Do not build a winter itinerary. Between November and April nothing outside the centre and Aydıntepe is guaranteed. Prices and hours change quickly, so confirm access officially.

Frequently asked questions

**Is Dede Korkut really buried in Bayburt?** It is not proven. The tomb at Masat is linked to him in local tradition, but a grave attributed to him also exists in the Syr Darya basin in Kazakhstan.

**Can you visit Bayburt without a car?** The centre is walkable and minibuses serve the district centres. Baksı, Masat, Sırakayalar and Çimağıl need a car.

**Is the Kop Pass open in winter?** It varies. The pass is at 2,305 metres and closes in blizzards. Check road conditions before setting out.

**Is Baksı Museum really in a village?** Yes, in Bayraktar, 45 kilometres from Bayburt. Hüsamettin Koçan opened it in his home village in 2010 and it has won the Council of Europe Museum Prize.