Kars Daily Tour

Kars Daily Tour — A Private Day Trip to the Ani Ruins and Cildir Lake

Explore the remote and hauntingly beautiful far north-east of Turkey on this Kars daily tour, a full private day trip that reaches the medieval ghost city of Ani and the frozen expanses of Lake Cildir. Once a great crossroads of the Silk Road, Kars is a city of grand stone buildings, a hilltop castle and a landscape of high steppe that turns white and magical in winter. This daily excursion from Kars brings together the ruined "City of 1,001 Churches" on the Armenian border, the ancient churches and mosques of the city itself, and the celebrated winter sleigh rides on Lake Cildir — a day trip unlike any other in Turkey.

Highlights of the Kars Day Tour

• Ani Ruins — the "City of 1,001 Churches", former capital of the Armenian kingdom on the Arpacay (Akhurian) river
• The Great Cathedral (Fethiye Mosque), the Church of the Redeemer and the Church of St Gregory — Ani's masterpieces of medieval stone architecture
• The city walls, the Lion Gate, the Menucehr Mosque and the Seljuk Palace — the defences and monuments of ancient Ani
• Lake Cildir — one of Turkey's highest lakes, famous for winter sleigh rides and ice fishing
• Kars Castle — the Ottoman citadel crowning the city
• The Church of the Apostles (Kumbet Mosque) and the "Lovers' House" — landmarks in the heart of Kars

The day's great prize is Ani, spread across a windswept plateau right on the border with Armenia. Capital of the Bagratid Armenian kingdom in the 10th and 11th centuries, it was a flourishing city of churches, cathedrals and markets before earthquakes and shifting trade routes left it abandoned. Today its reddish and black volcanic stone monuments rise dramatically from the grass — the Great Cathedral, the round Church of the Redeemer, the frescoed Church of St Gregory, the city walls and the Lion Gate — gazing across the Arpacay gorge that marks the frontier. In winter, snow transforms the whole site into one of the most atmospheric places in the country.

Back toward the city, this Kars day trip continues to Lake Cildir, a vast high-altitude lake that freezes solid in winter, where you can enjoy a traditional horse-drawn sleigh ride across the ice and see how local fishermen cut through to fish beneath. In Kars itself you visit the Church of the Apostles (now the Kumbet Mosque), climb to Kars Castle for views over the rooftops, and see the much-loved "Lovers' House". Operated as a private tour with your own English-speaking guide and vehicle, this full-day Kars excursion is the ideal way to experience the history and wild scenery of Turkey's north-eastern frontier in a single day.