If you’re planning a trip to Turkey and looking for what to do in Safranbolu, then welcome to our ultimate Safranbolu travel guide!
Safranbolu is one of the most popular cities in Turkey’s Black Sea region, and it’s no wonder why: Once a detour along the Silk Road, Safranbolu has retained many of its traditional features, including Ottoman mansions, a fully-restored caravansary (roadside inn), bustling street market, hammams, mosques, and peaceful cobblestoned streets.
Thanks to its well-preserved architecture, Safranbolu was bestowed with titles such as “the capital of conservation” and “the fingerprint of the Ottoman Empire.”
If you’re planning a trip to this charming little city, our travel guide has everything you need to know, including how to get here, what to do, where to stay in Safranbolu, which souvenirs to buy, and much more. We love you fall in love with this city like we did!
SAFRANBOLU: The Basics
Where is Safranbolu?
Safranbolu is located in the Karabük Province of Turkey, which is in the western part of the Black Sea region. The city has a population of about 55,000 people, although in the summer that number jumps up ten times when tourists come to visit. 🙂
Safranbolu is approximately 400 kilometers (250 miles) from Istanbul, 375 kilometers (233 miles) from Ankara, and 130 kilometers (80 miles) from Kastamonu.
Why visit Safranbolu? What is Safranbolu known for?
There are so many reasons to visit Safranbolu, from the city’s historic Ottoman-era houses to the famous spice that grows around the area, the beautiful markets that are remeniscent of Safranbolu’s role on the Silk Road, and the legendary lokum candy that’s different from other Turkish lokum recipes. Here’s what makes Safranbolu special:
🪻 Saffron! — Safranbolu is known as the City of Safron (its historical name was Saphrampolis) thanks to the 80,000 square meters of saffron fields near the city. When walking around the city, you can see little bottles of saffron sold in stores and in the historic markets. However, be prepared to dip into your travel budget, as saffron costs more than gold — it can cost up to $10,000 per kilogram!
Safranbolu is so famous for its spice that it even holds a Saffron Festival every year in October, which coincides with the yearly harvest (October to November). If you visit during these months, you can take a trip outside the city to see the beautiful purple flowers being harvested.
🪞 Traditional Ottoman Houses — Safranbolu is most known for its 2,000+ Ottoman houses, which you’ll find on literally every street. These well-preserved houses, adorned with distinctive wooden facades and intricate detailing, offer a glimpse into the city’s rich culture and and are one of the reasons why Safranbolu was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage site. Speaking of which…
🏛️ The City That’s a UNESCO Heritage Site — Did you know that the entire city of Safranbolu is a UNESCO heritage site? Now you do! Safranbolu was added to the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites in 1994, in part thanks to its architecture and well-preserved cityscapes.
In fact, there’s actually a backstory: around the 1970s and 80s, locals protested for the city to be preserved, and the government agreed by prohibiting modern buildings and investing into the local businesses and tradesmen. No wonder UNESCO sadi that, “the architectural features of the buildings and the street patterns continue to convey the Outstanding Universal Value of the property.”
🧺 Handcrafts — Safranbolu has a long history of welcoming merchants from the Silk Road, and thanks to this, many blacksmiths, shoemakers, leatherworkers, and other artisans began settling into the city and making a name for themselves. Nowadays, you can see various handicrafts sold at the many bazaars around the city, such as the Tarihi Demirciler Çarşısı.
🍬 Safranbolu Lokum — You can’t come to Safranbolu and not taste the world famous Safranbolu lokum! Safranbolu’s turkish delight is different from other Turkish lokum because it’s lighter and less sweet. This is thanks to the rich mineral water that flows around the city, as well as the natural sugar used in its production. While there are dozens of different flavors, be sure to take home a box of the famous saffron-flavored lokum called Safrantat.
How many days do you need in Safranbolu?
We recommend at least two days if you want to enjoy a leisurely trip and see all of the main sites — you could spend the first day exploring Safranbolu, and the second going on day trips around the area (check out our Day Trips from Safranbolu section below!).
However, it’s also possible to visit Safranbolu in one day if you plan your trip ahead of time.
Safranbolu Regional Specialties
Food:
Kuyu Kebab — Safranbolu’s most famous meat dish! It’s made with suckling lambs that are cooked in a tandoor — this special preparation makes the meat soft and juicy without losin any flavor.
Peruhi — Peruhi are triangle-shaped dumpling that come in a variety of fillings, but the most popular is cheese and mint. If the name looks familiar, it’s similar to Polish pierogi 😉
Safranbolu Simit — Like a regular simit (thin bagel), but without the sesame seeds. 🙂 You can find a historic 150-year old simit bakery in the old bazaar.
Safranbolu Bükme — A type of pastry that consists of ground meat, onion, spinach, and spices for the filling.
Zerde tatlisi — The most famous dessert in Safronu, Zerde is sweet pudding rice served with saffron. It’s often presented with other toppings like hazelnuts, currants, peanuts, and so on.
Handicrafts:
Safranbolu Lokum — Arguably the best souvenir from Safranbolu, the city is famous for its lokum! We especially liked Imren Lokumları, which is located in Safranbolu’s center and has been an iconic establishment in the city for nearly 100 years. They have six locations throughout the city, but we loved the one near Cinci Han (click here for Google Map coordinates) because of its beautiful antique interior and large selection. 🙂
Yemeni Shoes — Locally known as Yemeni Ayakkabı, these look similar to slip-on shoes and are made of a leather upper and sole. The shoe is heelless, and because of this, it’s also super light and portable. There is only one shoemaker in Safranbolu that makes these types of shoes, Yemenici Erhan Usta — you can find him on Instagram or at the Yemeniciler Arastasi bazaar.
Saffron — The famed spice that gave Safranbolu its name! You can find various saffron products all around the city, from bottled spices to soaps, perfume, coffee, and much more. The Safran Cicegi store is especially popular for its saffron perfume, while Safran Abla is another well-rated store. If you want to learn more about the history of saffron, there’s a museum dedicated to this spice — check out the Lokum and Saffron Museum.
How to get to Safranbolu
By Airplane — There is no airport in Safranbolu, which means you’ll need to fly into a nearby town and make your way from there. The closest airport is Zonguldak (airport code ONQ), which is about a 1.5 hour (110 km) drive to Safranbolu. Click here for tickets →
To make the trip easier and stree-free, you can order a private transfer to take you to Safranbolu after you land in Zonguldak.
Otherwise, you can fly into Kastamonu Airport (KFS) and then take a bus, reserve a car rental, or transfer to Safranbolu. Click here to search for airline tickets and, if you want to explore Kastamonu (it’s an awesome city and we highly recommend it!), you can check our Kastamonu travel guide here.
By Bus — There are dozens of bus routes to and from Safranbolu, including Istanbul, Ankara, Eskisehir, and cities in the Black Sea region (Samsun, Bartin, Kastamonu, Sinop, among others).
The quickest way to travel to Safranbolu from a major city is from Ankara, which takes about 3 hours. Otherwise, you can expect to travel around 6 to 7.5 hours from Istanbul to Safranbolu (depending on the traffic and number of stops).
You can also take the bus to Safranbolu from other major cities like Antalya, Izmir, Bodrum, or Konya, but it’s going to be quite a long ride!
Click here to see all bus routes to Safranbolu →
By Car — Safranbolu is an excellent stop as part of a longer road trip (in fact, it’s part of our 2 Week Black Sea Road Trip Itinerary!), especially since it’s well-connected to other cities in the region.
Getting Around Safranbolu
Safranbolu is divided into two areas: the Old Town (Tarihi merkezi) and the New Town. If you’re planning to visit the major tourist attractions (below), you’ll most likely be staying in the historical Old Town area.
Getting around Safranbolu’s Old Town is very easy since the area is fairly compact, but also hilly and with cobblestones — be sure to wear comfortable shoes and take it slow when walking. 🙂
If you need to get between the Old Town and New Town, you can also take one of the ubiquitous dolmuș that makes the short journey.
What to do in Safranbolu
Go hunting for Ottoman mansions
Of course, we had to start off our travel guide with the thing that Safranbolu is most known for: its historical Ottoman mansions!
Safranbolu is home to more than 2,000 Ottoman-era konak (mansion) houses that were built between the 18th to 20th centuries, and about half of them are under legal protection. Just imagine what kind of stories these old houses have! 😍
A typical Safranbolu house usually has an overhanging top floor (i.e. the upper floors are larger than the first), along with timber details and wooden windows. These houses are usually three stories high, with six to eight rooms inside. Each room is spacious and can accommodate a family on its own, although rich families would assign each room a different task (i.e. a living room, a room to meet guests, a dining room, and so on). In very old houses, some rooms would have cupboards that concealed an entire bathroom!
The easiest way to get a first-hand look at these historic beauties is to stay in a konak hotel (see Where to Stay in Safranbolu below), but you can also admire the houses during a leisurely stroll around the city. If you want to see how locals lived more than a century ago, the Kaymakamlar Gezi Evi (District Governor’s Travel House) is an excellent stop — it was a former governor’s house that was converted into an ethnographic museum, complete with traditional furniture and costumes.
Walk through the Historical Bazaars
One of Safranbolu’s top attractions are the various bazaars scattered around the historic center. Be sure to get yourself a souvenir or two — the mini wooden houses are especially popular!
Tarihi Demirciler Çarşısı — Translated to Historical Blacksmiths Bazaar, this street winds around the historical Izzet Pasha Mosque and is full of beautiful metal goods like cezve (copper pots to make Turkish coffee), ornate platters, teapots, cooking goods, and much more.
Yemeniciler Arastasi — This used to be a small street where shoemakers would sell a special type of leather shoe called Yemeni Shoe, but unfortunately the craft has dwindled and now only one master that still makes these shoes (you can check find him at Yemenici Erhan Usta or on his Instagram. Still, it’s worth a trip!
Learn about the History of Kahve at the Coffee Museum
This seemingly inconspicuous but well-curated museum unexpectedly became one of our favorite places in Safranbolu!
The Coffee Museum is located on the second floor of the historic caravansary (roadside inn) and has dozens of artifacts related to coffee, including cups, coffee-making devices, a short history of Turkish coffee, and more. Although the museum might look small at first, it has a wealth of information in both English and Turkish.
Finally, don’t leave without ordering a cup of coffee from the cafe! The Coffee Museum’s menu has more than a dozen different options, including some that were meticulously recreated from historical recipes! Our favorite was the Mihrimah Sultan Coffee, but you really can’t go wrong with any of the options. 🙂
Psst! Are you interested in learning more about Turkish kahve? We have an entire guide to Turkish coffee, including its history, traditions, variations, how to drink it, and more! →
Relax at Cinci Hamam
If you’re feeling a little sluggish from your journey, then a visit to Cinci Hamam is sure to revitalize you! This historical hamam has been healing travelers since the 17th century and is separated by gender (i.e. you can go together with your partner, but you’ll bathe in separate rooms).
Upon entering, you’ll be given a scrub mitt, underwear, and towel (to wrap yourself in) and shown to a locker room to change. Afterwards, you’ll slowly acclimate yourself to the heat in the sauna room and then the process begins: the attendant will scrub you with the mitten, give you a massage, and wash your hair. After you’re done, you’re free to relax as long as you want in the lounge area.
Visit the City Museum & Clock Tower
The City History Museum isn’t hard to miss: it’s the large yellow building overlooking the city! This museum offers an interesting look into Safranbolu’s history with authentic traditional clothes, historical artifacts, photos, and more. It’s a bit of a climb to get up here, but the views (and interesting exhibits) are worth it.
Right behind the museum is the Historical Clock Tower (Tarihi Saat Kulesi), which was built by Safranbolu’s Grand Vizier Izzet Mehmet Pasha in 1797 and was the first of its kind in Turkey. Along the way, there are more than a dozen miniature clocks that are replicas from the former Ottoman empire.
See the Beautiful Archtecture in Safranbolu’s Mosques
Izzet Mehmet Pasha Mosque — Arguably, the most famous mosque in Safranbolu, Izzet Mehmet Pasha Mosque was commissioned by grand vizier Izzet Mehmet (the same one who built the Clock Tower above!) in the late 1700s. The mosque is located opposite of the old bazaar and was reportedly inspired by Nuruosmaniye Mosque in Istanbul, which was built some 50 years before Izzet Mehmet’s mosque.
Köprülü Mehmet Pasha Mosque — Across Cinci Hamam is the magnificent Köprülü Mehmet Paşa Mosque, which was completed in the mid-1600s. It’s worth a visit to see the beautiful three-dimensional ceiling and colorful details on the wall.
Kazdağlı Mosque — Kazdagi Mosque is a stone and brick mosque that perfectly blends into Safranbolu’s skyline. Fun fact: If you walk around the building, you’ll find a cute statue of a saffron plant 🙂
Taste Safranbolu’s local dishes
Safranbolu’s strategic location along the Silk Route means that the city has a rich gastronomic history, and you’re sure to find plenty of delicious local dishes! One of the best restaurants in Safranbolu is Safranbolu Zencefil Yöresel Lezzetler because their entire menu is almost all local food — try the Peruhi (dumplings), Bandurma (chicken piled on baked dough), Islama (meat with bread), and Zerde (rice with saffron) for dessert. Other excellent options include Hanim Sultan for local dishes and Arasta Kahvesi 1661 for coffee and desserts.
See All of Safranbolu at Hidirlik Hill
On your way to the next destination, be sure to stop at Hidirlik Hill and say one final goodbye to Safranbolu! Located on a hill above the city, Hidirlik Hill has a spacious terrace that opens up to a beautiful panoramic view of Safranbolu (great for taking photos!) and a small cafe. If you walk further up, you’ll see a replica of a Breguet 19 A-2 plane with Zafranbolu written on the side.
Safranbolu Tours
Safranbolu Tour with Expert Local Guide – Discover the highlights of Safranbolu on a tour with roundtrip transportation, museum tickets, and lunch included. See the old bazaar, Buldak Cave, Hıdırlık Hill, Yörük, and the Crystal Terrace. Book here →
Daily Safranbolu Tour with English Speaking Expert Guide – See all of Safranbolu with an expert guide. Tours come in English, German, and russian. Book here →
Canyoneering Adventure in Safranbolu – Take in breathtaking the Black Sea’s rocky mountain scenery by canyoneering a 12 km whitewater section of the Yaci River. Book here →
Where to Stay in Safranbolu
Gunes Konak Otel Safranbolu
If you’ve ever wanted to stay in a traditional Safranbolu house, here’s your chance, since Gunes Konak is an absolutely adorable konak (historical mansion). The hotel is situated on a quiet street and overlooks the city’s Old Town, which means you’ll get a ton of amazing views.
We stayed in the Deluxe Double Room during our trip. It was well-appointed, with traditional design and a spacious sitting nook under the window. That nook quickly became my favorite part of the room, as I would drink my morning coffee and watch the sun set during our two days here!
The hotel has just a few rooms (it has a peaceful boutique hotel atmosphere) and is run by a very friendly owner that we had the chance to meet and talk to. Also, the breakfast is fantastic!!
Hilton Garden Inn Safranbolu
For those who prefer the comforts of an upscale hotel (spaciousness, parking, WiFi, pool, etc), the Hilton Garden Inn is an excellent choice. It’s located in the ‘new’ city center (as opposed to the Old Town), but you can reach Safranbolu’s historic center with a quick 5-minute taxi ride.
Gulevi Safranbolu
This hotel is actually made up of three Ottoman mansions (16 total rooms) and has a distinct boutique hotel feel — and a ‘secret garden’ out back! Best of all, it’s located right in the center of Safranbolu’s old town, which means you’ll be close to everything.
Akbulut Konak
Perfectly situated between the new city center and the Old Town, Akbulut retains many of its elegant historic charms with a modern twist. Plus, the breakfast is absolutely epic!
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