Agva

Marmara, Turkey 1 tours visit here

Ağva is a small coastal town at the eastern edge of Istanbul province, in the Şile district, on the province's Black Sea shore. It stands on the narrow strip of land where two rivers, the Göksu and the Yeşilçay, come down through wooded country and reach the sea a short distance apart. That setting defines the town: calm river water, reed beds and forest on one side, open sea and sandy beach on the other. The settlement itself is compact and low-rise, and most of its guesthouses and boutique hotels are strung along the riverbanks, many with their own wooden jetties. What people come to do is deliberately slow: short boat trips upriver, canoeing, walking or cycling the forest tracks and village roads behind the coast, and eating fish beside the water. The Black Sea here is open and unsheltered, and currents can be strong, so swimming conditions vary with the weather. Ağva is normally reached by road from Istanbul's Asian side, past Şile, and is usually treated as an overnight or weekend trip rather than a brief stop. Summer weekends are the busiest period; late spring and early autumn are quieter, and the surrounding countryside stays green for much of the year.