3 Days Tunceli City Tour: Hozat, Pertek Castle, Mazgirt & Bagin Thermal Springs Private Tour

Highlights of the 3 Days Tunceli City Tour

Tunceli, in the mountains of eastern Anatolia, is one of Turkey's least visited provinces, and this compact three-day trip is an easy way to discover its southern districts. You fly into Elazig Airport, where you are met and driven to your hotel in Tunceli. The whole of the second day is spent with a guide on the South Tunceli route through Hozat, Pertek and Mazgirt, a landscape of old churches, relocated Ottoman mosques, hilltop fortresses and the shores of the vast Keban reservoir. On the third day you have free time in town before the transfer back to Elazig for your flight.

The tour opens at the Ergen Church in Hozat, an Armenian church roughly 1,200 years old. In Pertek you see the Sungur Bey Mosque and the Celebi Ali Mosque, both dating from the 16th century, which were taken apart stone by stone and rebuilt away from the old town when the waters of Lake Keban began to rise. Nearby, Pertek Castle was raised in the 11th century by the Mengujekid beys; since the Keban Dam flooded the valley in 1974, it has stood on an island about five kilometres from the northern shore of the reservoir.

In the Mazgirt district you visit Goktepe Mound, whose finds have helped reveal the early history of the region, and the sturdy Urartian fortress of Mazgirt Castle, crowned by centuries-old windmills and offering fine views. Bagin Castle, believed to predate the Christian era, survives only in part but sits in a striking setting, and the Bagin Thermal Springs are known for waters suited to bathing. The day also takes in Fairy Water Valley, a wooded valley much loved by walkers. Two nights of hotel accommodation, two buffet breakfasts, an English-speaking guide, air-conditioned transport, airport transfers and the listed entrance fees are included.