Sapanca

Marmara, Turkey 2 tours visit here

Sapanca is a lakeside resort town in Sakarya province, in Turkey's Marmara region, spread along the shore of Lake Sapanca. The lake fills a wooded corridor between the Gulf of İzmit and the Sakarya plain, and the main road and rail routes between İstanbul and Ankara run past it, which is why the town has long been an easy stop for travellers heading east. Green hills and forest close in on every side, and the appeal is unhurried: walking the lakeside promenades, sitting in the tea gardens and fish restaurants at the water's edge, and staying in the bungalow hotels scattered through the slopes above the shore. Because the lake supplies drinking water to surrounding towns, activity on the water is restricted and most of the time here is spent along the shoreline. Weekends and summer holidays bring crowds from İstanbul and Ankara; weekday mornings, when mist often sits over the lake, are quieter. Sapanca is normally seen as a day trip or a short break, and it is usually combined with spots in neighbouring Kocaeli province: the village of Maşukiye, known for its streams and trout restaurants, and Kartepe, the forested mountain above it, which has a ski resort in winter.