Erzurum is a historic city at 1,890 metres elevation in northeastern Turkey, commanding the high plateau where ancient Silk Road caravans once crossed. The city holds one of Turkey's finest concentrations of Seljuk and Mongol architecture — the Çifte Minareli Medrese, Yakutiye Medresesi and Üç Kümbetler tombs stand beside an Ottoman castle with sweeping panoramas. Fifteen kilometres from the centre, Palandöken mountain hosts one of the Middle East's premier ski resorts. Erzurum is the birthplace of cağ kebabı, the horizontally-spit-roasted lamb unique to the region, and the origin of oltu taşı jet-stone jewellery.
Top day trips
Handpicked excursions within easy reach.
Tortum Lake and Waterfall
Tortum Gölü is Turkey's largest natural lake formed by a landslide, and a few kilometres downstream the Çoruh's outflow drops over Tortum Şelalesi, one of the country's tallest waterfalls. The combination of a long, narrow mountain lake and a genuinely dramatic single-drop waterfall makes this the easiest big-scenery day trip out of Erzurum. Most of the day is spent driving and stopping at viewpoints rather than walking, so it suits travellers who want scenery without a hike.
Highlights: Tortum Gölü - a long, landslide-dammed lake you drive alongside for much of the route · Tortum Şelalesi - a high single-drop waterfall with a signed viewing terrace and walkway · Roadside teahouses on the lake shore - simple stops for tea and grilled trout looking over the water
Narman Fairy Chimneys
Narman's fairy chimneys are a field of volcanic tuff pinnacles carved by erosion, similar in geology to Cappadocia but with almost none of the tourist infrastructure - no balloon flights, cave hotels, or paved walkways. What you get instead is a quiet canyon of cone and pillar formations you can walk among largely on your own. It's a half-day stop rather than a full one, best paired with another destination on the same road.
Highlights: The fairy chimney valley itself - clusters of tuff cones and pillars visible from informal viewpoints along the canyon edge
İspir Fortress Town
İspir is a small town on the upper Çoruh river with an unrestored hilltop castle - İspir Kalesi - looking down over the gorge, and an old quarter of stone houses that has kept its layout since Ottoman times. It's a slower, more workaday destination than the big-name stops on this list: there's no visitor centre or ticket booth, just a town to walk through and a ruin to climb up to. Worth it for the river-gorge setting more than for any single sight.
Highlights: İspir Kalesi - unrestored castle ruins on a rock outcrop above the town, reached on foot · The old town's stone houses - narrow streets of older building stock largely untouched by rebuilding · The Çoruh river gorge below the town, visible from the castle approach
Uzundere Canyon Drive
This is less a single site than a scenic drive through the Çoruh valley around Uzundere, where the road runs between orchard terraces and canyon walls and passes two genuinely notable Georgian-period churches, Öşvank and Haho (in the village now called Bağbaşı). The appeal is the drive itself - the valley opens and narrows repeatedly - punctuated by stops at churches most visitors to Turkey never reach. Best done slowly with a car you can pull over in often.
Highlights: Öşvank Church - a large 10th-century Georgian church with carved stone reliefs on its exterior walls · Haho Church (Bağbaşı village) - another Georgian-period church, smaller and still partly in use as a mosque · The Uzundere valley itself - apple and pear orchards terraced along the canyon between the two churches
Kars — Historic City and Ani Ruins
Kars pairs a town centre built by Russian planners in the late 19th century, with wide grid streets and stone facades unlike anywhere else in eastern Turkey, with Ani, the ruined medieval capital of the Bagratid Armenian kingdom standing alone on the steppe near the Armenian border. Ani alone is worth the drive: a walled city of collapsed churches and a cathedral, now empty but for grass and wind. Combined with a look around Kars itself and its castle, this is the most substantial day trip on this list and pushes into a very long day from Erzurum.
Highlights: Ani Ruins - the walled medieval city with the Cathedral of Ani and the Church of the Holy Redeemer among its standing ruins · Kars Kalesi (Kars Castle) - a hilltop fortress overlooking the old town and the river · Kars's Russian-era streets - stone buildings and a grid layout dating from the Tsarist administration of the city · Kars kashar cheese - a firm cow's-milk cheese the region is known for, sold in shops around the town
Ağrı and Mount Ararat View
Mount Ararat is Turkey's highest peak, a dormant volcano whose snow-capped double summit is visible for a long stretch of the highway east of Erzurum. This is a viewing trip, not a climbing one - reaching the summit requires a multi-day permitted expedition, so what a day trip actually delivers is the drive out toward Ağrı with the mountain filling more and more of the windscreen, and time at roadside viewpoints to take it in. It's a long day mostly spent in the car for a single, large view.
Highlights: Mount Ararat (Ağrı Dağı) - the volcano's twin peaks, snow-covered most of the year, seen from highway viewpoints as you approach
Çoruh River Rafting Corridor (Yusufeli)
The Çoruh is one of Turkey's fastest rivers, and the stretch around Yusufeli has long been one of the country's main whitewater rafting corridors, with rapids ranging from manageable to genuinely demanding depending on the season and section run. The town of Yusufeli itself was relocated and largely rebuilt after the completion of the Yusufeli Dam flooded much of the old valley, so operators now run trips on the sections of river still free-flowing above or below the reservoir - confirm with a local operator which stretch is currently running before you commit to the trip.
Highlights: Çoruh Nehri whitewater rapids - graded sections run by local rafting operators out of Yusufeli · The Çoruh gorge - steep valley walls along the river corridor, seen both from the raft and the approach road
Trips by distance
How far you can go in a day.
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Getting there
Transport options for day trips.
Multi-day tours from Erzurum
If you have longer than a day, these are organised multi-day trips that start here.
Browse multi-day tours from ErzurumWe may earn a commission from bookings made through this link.
Day trip tips
Make the most of your excursions.
Start early — most popular day-trip destinations get crowded by mid-morning.
Check return transport times before you leave — missing the last train or bus can be costly.
Carry water, snacks, and layers — weather and food options can be limited at smaller destinations.