Routes BATI KARADENİZ

Safranbolu – Amasra Yolu (D755 Bartın–Karabük yolu + D010)

Forest bends from a UNESCO town down to the Black Sea

DISTANCE: 96 km
DRIVING TIME: 1 h 36 min

Motorcycle
Car

A moderately winding forest road from UNESCO-listed Safranbolu down to Amasra on the Black Sea. In autumn, when the woods turn, it becomes a markedly better drive.

The corridor begins in the timber-framed mansion town of Safranbolu — a UNESCO World Heritage site where 1,008 of some 2,000 traditional buildings are listed — crosses Karabük, the most wooded province in Türkiye at roughly 72% forest, and the Bartın river, known as the only river in the country ever used to carry freight, and comes down to the sea. At the end stand the Roman, Byzantine and Genoese layers of Amasra castle and the two harbours on either side of its headland, Büyük Liman and Küçük Liman. Carry on east and you reach the wooden boatyards of Kurucaşile and the canyons of the Küre Dağları national park.

What to eat

Amasra salatası (27 malzemeli, bölgenin imzası)
a finely chopped salad of 27 ingredients, dressed at the table and eaten with fish — the signature dish of the town
Amasra
Taze Karadeniz balığı: hamsi, mezgit, tekir, kalkan
the Black Sea catch: hamsi (anchovy), mezgit (whiting), tekir (red mullet) and kalkan (turbot) — the small fish floured and fried, the turbot grilled
Amasra, at the fish restaurants around Büyük Liman and Küçük Liman
Amasra pidesi ve çöven ekmeği (odun ateşinde pişer, 3-4 gün bayatlamaz)
pide is a long boat-shaped flatbread baked with a topping; çöven bread is raised with soapwort root, which is why it stays soft for days
Amasra; the çöven loaf is baked over a wood fire and will not go stale for 3-4 days
Kuyu kebabı, keşkek ve Safranbolu bükmesi
lamb roasted slowly in a pit oven; keşkek, wheat pounded with meat into a thick savoury porridge; and bükme, a coiled filled pastry
Safranbolu
Pum pum çorbası, kabak burması (coğrafi işaretli tatlı), pirinçli mantı, yumurtalı ısput
pum pum is a corn and bean soup; kabak burması a coiled pumpkin pastry; the mantı here is filled with rice rather than meat; ısput is a wild green cooked with egg
Bartın; kabak burması is a registered dessert

What to buy

Safran ve safranlı lokum
saffron: the dried stigmas of a crocus, sold by the gram, and the rose-coloured lokum (Turkish delight) perfumed with it
Safranbolu; in practice saffron is grown nowhere else in Türkiye
Bakır işi, el yapımı yemeni ve demirci işi
beaten copperware, hand-stitched yemeni shoes of soft leather, and blacksmith work — all still made in the shops that sell them
The Safranbolu bazaar, a working guild market
Ahşap oyma işler (kaşık, tabak, vazo)
carved wooden spoons, plates and bowls — the local çekicilik craft, running since the 17th century
Amasra Çekiciler Çarşısı
Bartın işi telkırma ve tel sarma işlemeleri
telkırma and tel sarma: embroidery in which flattened silver or gold wire is worked into fabric
Bartın; both are registered
Köylü reçelleri ve yöresel ürünler
village jams and preserves, and whatever the season has produced
Amasra Galla Pazarı, held on Tuesday and Friday

Road notes

Amasra takes heavy tourist traffic in summer; arrive early in the morning rather than at midday on a weekend, and leave the car outside the town rather than driving in.
The Çarşı quarter of Safranbolu is narrow lanes and cobbles — park outside it and walk; wet cobblestones are very slippery on a motorcycle.
On the Bartın-Amasra road, stop at the Kuşkayası road monument (Roman, AD 41-54), 4 km before Amasra; in Safranbolu, Hıdırlık Tepesi for the view and the İncekaya aqueduct with the glass terrace beside it for the canyon, both a short detour.
If you are buying saffron, aim for October or November: flowering starts in October and runs to the third week of November, and that is when the new crop appears.
Fill up before heading east from Amasra towards Kurucaşile and Cide; fuel, service and mobile coverage all thin out along that coast road.
The Black Sea climate is wet in every season and autumn is the wettest — wet leaves and mud are normal in the forest sections, and the Karabük side can be snowy in winter.
Do not take an ordinary car into the canyons of the Küre Dağları national park on spec, least of all Valla (walls over 1,000 m, very hard to reach); in winter most guesthouses and restaurants in the coastal villages — İnkumu, Çakraz, Kapısuyu — are shut.

Along the way

Safranbolu (UNESCO)
a whole Ottoman town of timber-framed mansions kept intact — 1,008 listed buildings, cobbled lanes and a bazaar still working at its old trades
Amasra Kalesi
a fortress with Roman, Byzantine and Genoese layers on the headland between the two harbours
Kemere Köprüsü
a stone arch bridge on the old road, worth the short stop it costs

When to go

Spring / Autumn

Itinerary

The route passes through 12 named stops. The line between them is the routed road geometry the map draws — and the distance was measured off that line.

Safranbolu (D755 kuzey çıkışı)
Ahmetusta Geçidi (1.030 m)
Ovacuma (Ova Çayı geçişi)
Dereköy, Safranbolu
Bahçecik – Karabük/Bartın il sınırı
Buğurlar (Ulus)
Abdipaşa (Ulus) – Ağaç Tüneli
Gökçekıran / Çamlık
Muratbey (Bartın)
Bartın merkez
Uğurlar (Bartın–Amasra yolu)
Amasra

Directions in Google Maps

Sources

8 SOURCES

This record is the counterpart of the route card on İz's Explore screen. The whole shelf, and how it was compiled, is on the route shelf. İz is not open to everyone yet; it lives inside the OtoTasdik vehicle wallet app.