Sapanca a prime spot for weekend get-away relaxation

 Sapanca is also accessible from many Turkish towns and cities. It is only about an hour from İstanbul, and not too far from Ankara, Kocaeli or Eskişehir. People who are sick and tired of big-city stress and who want to find serenity somewhere near now flock to Sapanca just to get away. It is a whole different world there.

 If your holiday time is for less than a week, Sapanca is the perfect spot being close by, but don't look for the seaside there; this is lake country. But with its lake and relaxing atmosphere, Sapanca is like a sort of therapy center for people who want to swim, walk around and just take time to relax away from the hustle and bustle of the city. There are all sorts of hotels and pensions waiting for you, up above in the mountains or by the side of the lake catering to varying budgets. Of course, if you really want to treat yourself, head towards the Güral Sapanca and Dedeman Hotels -- five star oases of luxury.

 One of the most beautiful districts Sapanca has to offer is the residential area of Kırkpınar, which is just next to Sapanca Lake, with mountain ranges right behind it. The weather here is wonderful with breezes from the lake, and the natural beauty compliments the clean streets, the luxurious housing compounds, the villas and all the different places there are to see. It looks like a kind of modern holiday village.

The lakeside atmosphere offers a rich variety of ways to rid oneself of stress and fatigue from the week. Weekends are full of people rising to the sound of birdsong, spending their morning hours in beautifully designed gardens before going out to greet the rest of the weekend. In Kırkpınar there is Bağdat Boulevard, lined with restaurants, shops and cafes, where you can enjoy time just sitting and watching or walking or even biking.

The most attractive aspect of Kırkpınar is undoubtedly the enormous gardens adjoining the cafes and restaurants. These gardens have been designed so that people can spend entire days in them, just relaxing. You can enjoy a delicious village-style breakfast in these gardens, and then go on to use the hammocks, chaises longues, comfy chairs and even mini football and basketball fields that mark these wonderful gardens. And you will find whatever fruit you are looking for in these gardens, too. Plums, peaches, apricots… pick and eat them freely. Or just hang back with a book and spend the day reading, whatever you want. It's the perfect place to come with children, too.

Thanks to the humidity and oxygen levels in the air around Sapanca, there really is a truly rich mix of flora, and a greener, denser forest than in many other parts of Turkey. This, of course, means that visitors have a wonderful opportunity for walking. Many of the residents of this area actually make their living from nurseries, tending and selling young saplings and plants, thanks to the perfect weather for this work.

How long is it since you’ve had breakfast accompanied by birdsong?

The botanical gardens are a place in which you are guaranteed to feel wonderful. You can start your day with a buffet breakfast at this facility along the shore of the lake. The gardens were originally designed by architect Kenan Hürel as a place where ornamental plants would be grown, and later it turned into a restaurant and relaxation spot. People can also have weddings and meetings here. There is green grass as far as the eye can see and a rich selection of flora. At Gölpark you can have breakfast accompanied by the sounds of birds as you look out at the water lilies floating next to you on the water.

Fly, swim or just catch some fish

Kırkpınar boasts a small airport that offers flight training courses using parachutes, paramotors and “micro-lights” along the shores of Sapanca Lake. The choices here are ample; you can get some exciting flight training from an expert or just enjoy one of the pleasure tours in the air over the lake. Or, if swimming is more your speed, throw on your swimsuit and go for a swim from the Kırkpınar shoreline, a perfect place from which to plunge into the lake's beautiful waters. There are beaches along Sapanca at the spots where rowing crews train and also in a municipality-sponsored area. The Fenerbahçe rowing team trains on this lake, and there are also activities like canoeing, jet-skiing, sailing and duck boating. And, of course, you can always just bring or rent a fishing rod to use here.

Fill up on crystal-clear water

Interestingly, there are no villages way up high in the Samandağ mountain range behind Kırkpınar. There are just a few trout-breeding facilities in the valleys that run down from the top of the range, where natural waterfalls make perfect trout-breeding locales. These spots up high are the perfect places for family picnics and trail walks of varying difficulty. You might even want to bring along your fishing rod, as there is always the chance to catch yourself a delicious trout from one of the streams running through the mountains here. There are many natural water sources in this region, and in fact, they say that when you get used to the water from here, you'll have a hard time drinking water from anywhere else later. There are lots of places to fill up any empty bottles and jugs you may bring with you. So bring empty containers, and avail yourselves of the Kristal, Sırma and Mahmudiye natural waters that flow down from the peak of Samandağ.

How to get there

You can reach Sapanca's Kırkpınar village by way of trains that leave the Haydarpaşa train station for Adapazarı; the trip takes less than two hours this way. You get off the train at Sapanca and then hop into a taxi to Kırkpınar, which only takes five minutes. In fact, some trains even go directly to Kırkpınar. If you have your own car, the trip from İstanbul to Kırkpınar takes about an hour.