Best Day Trips from Ordu 2026

Giresun City & Giresun Island

Giresun is a mid-sized Black Sea coastal city built around a wooded headland, with the region's hazelnut economy visible in the warehouses and drying yards along the coast road. Just offshore sits Giresun Adası, the only island in the entire Black Sea, associated in Greek mythology with the Amazons and with Jason's voyage for the Golden Fleece. A short boat ride out to the island and a walk up to the castle hill above the city make a full but unhurried day.

Highlights: Giresun Adası - the sole island in the Black Sea, reachable by short boat trip, with a walking loop around its low summit · Giresun Kalesi - the hilltop castle above the city center with a view down over the harbor and coastline in both directions · Giresun Limanı - the working harbor where island boats depart and fishing boats unload

Ünye & Ünye Castle

Ünye is the largest town on this stretch of coast west of Ordu, with an old town core near the harbor and a Byzantine-era hilltop castle, Ünye Kalesi, three kilometers above it. The town is also known for a huge old hollowed plane tree in the center with a small tea house built into its trunk, one of the more unusual sights on this coast. It's an easy half-day-to-full-day trip combining a coastal walk with a short uphill drive.

Highlights: Ünye Kalesi - the ruined hilltop castle above town, with views over the Black Sea coastline and the Ünye rooftops below · The hollow plane tree in Ünye's town center, with a small tea house built inside the trunk · Ünye's old harbor and seafront promenade, good for a slow walk before or after the castle

Perşembe Fishing Port & Hoynat Island

Perşembe is a working fishing town just west of Ordu, built around a harbor that is one of the busier anchovy (hamsi) landing points on this coast. Hoynat Adası sits just offshore, a small rocky island visible from the port that gives the town's waterfront its shape. It's a short trip best suited to a morning or early afternoon rather than a full day, ideal to pair with another stop further along the coast.

Highlights: Perşembe Limanı - the fishing harbor, at its most active when boats come in with the catch · Hoynat Adası - the small island just off the port, visible along the whole waterfront · The fish stalls and grill stands along the harbor front selling the day's catch

Cape Jason (Yason Burnu) Lighthouse

Cape Jason is a headland west of Ordu named for the Argonauts' legendary landing here on the voyage for the Golden Fleece, with a working lighthouse and the ruins of a Byzantine church, Ayios Iason, built on the same site. It's a small, single-focus stop rather than a destination that fills a day - worth visiting for the setting and the view along the coast rather than for a long list of things to see.

Highlights: Yason Burnu Feneri - the lighthouse at the tip of the cape, with open views along the coast in both directions · The ruins of the Ayios Iason church next to the lighthouse, tied to the cape's Jason and the Argonauts legend

Kurul Castle (Giresun Province)

Kurul Kalesi is a restored fortress on a forested hilltop in Giresun province, just east of Ordu, rebuilt in recent years with a glass-floored viewing terrace cantilevered off the walls that looks straight down over the tree canopy and out to the Black Sea. It draws visitors specifically for that view and the walk around the restored ramparts, making it a compact but rewarding half-day trip.

Highlights: Kurul Kalesi's restored ramparts and towers, rebuilt in recent years and open to walk around · The glass skywalk terrace projecting from the castle walls, with a straight drop view over the forest below

Ulugöl Nature Park

Ulugöl is a small forest lake in Ordu's Korgan district, ringed by a walking path through pine and beech woods, and it functions as a straightforward nature escape rather than a sightseeing destination with monuments. The appeal is the walk around the water and the picnic spots along the shore, which makes it a good choice for a slower, quieter day away from the coast.

Highlights: The lake itself, with a walking path circling the full shoreline through forest · The picnic areas set among the trees along the lakeside path

Fatsa Town & Coastline

Çambaşı Yaylası Highland Plateau

Çambaşı Yaylası is a highland plateau south of Ordu, reached by a winding mountain road up through pine and fir forest into cooler air than the coast below. It's a yayla in the traditional sense - a summer grazing plateau dotted with wooden highland houses - and the appeal is the change of scenery and temperature rather than any single sight, making it a good escape from Black Sea coastal humidity in the warmer months.

Highlights: The pine and fir forest lining the mountain road up to the plateau, with pull-offs for coastal views on clear days · The scattered traditional yayla houses across the plateau, still used seasonally

Gaga Lake (Crater Lake)

Gaga Gölü is a crater lake formed by a landslide that dammed a valley, leaving dead tree trunks still standing in parts of the water and a dense pine forest closing in around the shoreline. It is a stop for scenery and quiet rather than activities: a walk around the shore, a look at the still water, and a picnic. The setting is remote enough that the drive itself, climbing through forested hills, is part of the appeal.

Highlights: The lake surface itself - flat, dark water with drowned tree trunks still visible near the banks from the original landslide event · The surrounding pine forest - a shaded walking path traces sections of the shoreline · Picnic areas at the lake edge - simple tables used by day visitors from Ordu and Ünye

Mesudiye Traditional Village