The Kaçkar Mountains are Turkey's most northerly range and they feel like a different world from the rest of the country. High, wonderfully green alpine meadows sit beneath towering granite peaks that stay snow covered for most of the year and are often wrapped in cloud.

This is our favourite alpine range. It has a real sense of remoteness and exploration, and the riding can be as tough or as easy as the group chooses. Most of our routes follow forestry trails and dirt roads between the villages, and wherever we can we take rough tracks and old singletrack mule trails too. With long climbs and passes above 3000m this is perfect country for an E-MTB, and our hop on, hop off support vehicle means you can ride as much or as little as you like.

The whole area is a protected environmental zone, so there is a real chance of seeing raptors, gamebirds, wild goats and even bears. Early in the season the snow melt brings out Turkey's finest wildflowers. Along the way we visit beautiful old Georgian and Armenian churches and monasteries, look down on the glacial Seven Lakes from a high pass and follow the stunning Çoruh river valley.

The people here are some of the friendliest in Turkey. We stay in small, family run pensions and village houses, where legendary local hospitality and traditional home cooking are all part of the experience.

The high passes are under snow for up to ten months of the year, so late June, July and August are the best months to visit. This is big mountain country and the weather can change quickly even in midsummer, so bring warm, windproof and waterproof clothing. Erzurum is the nearest airport, with Turkish Airlines flights via Istanbul.

Tours