Where is Abant Lake?
It is a crater and reservoir lake formed on the Abant Mountains, 34 kilometers southwest of Bolu. There are many hills in the park area with heights from 1400 meters to 1700 meters. Abant Lake has a fascinating beauty every month of the year. Abant is a very popular holiday center that is preferred both for daily sightseeing and accommodation. The area of the lake is 127 hectares and its height from the sea is 1328 meters. It is fed by groundwater. Its depth is 18 meters. Due to the plant richness of Abant Lake and its surroundings and its great outdoor recreation potential, 1196.5 hectares of the area was taken under protection as a “Nature Park” in 1988. The surroundings of Abant Lake are very rich in terms of flora and fauna. Scotch pine, larch, beech, oak, poplar, ash, hornbeam, willow, juniper and rhododendron, tamarisk, hazelnut, medlar, chamomile, hawthorn, holly, rosehip, fern, blackberry, strawberry, mint, raspberry, ivy, nettle, horsetail and meadow grasses form the main trees and shrubs. The edges of Lake Abant are full of various aquatic plants and water lilies. Abant Çiğdemi (Crocus Abantensis) is located on the slopes rising around Abant Lake.
Abant Lake Nature Park – Bolu
Small combed salamander (Triturus Vulgaris Kosswigi) and Abant Trout “Salmo Trutta Fario Varyette Abanticus” and Abant Dormouse (Muscardinus Avellanarius Abanticus) found in the lake and its surroundings and are endemic species. Fishing enthusiasts can fish with fishing rods at certain times of the year by paying a fee. Otters can also be seen on the lake shores. In the forests around the lake, wild animals such as fox, jackal, wolf, bear, pig, deer, roe deer, rabbit, squirrel, weasel; from waterfowl, wild geese, wild ducks, heron, cuckoo, cormorant, crane, predators; as falcon, falcon, black vulture, golden eagle, hawk, owl and other bird species; lark, alabak, eagle owl, peregrine falcon, woodpecker, blackbird, nightingale, finch and goldfinch.
Abant Lake Nature Park – Bolu
Available Services
Activities that can be done in Abant Lake, which has 7 kilometers of circumference and has different beauties every month of the year; Free visitor information center and nature museum visit at the entrance of Abant Nature Park, picnic around the lake, camping, sport angling, hiking, cycling, carriage, horseback riding, paragliding in Çepni Plateau can be listed as.
What to eat? What to Buy?
Local food and souvenirs produced in the region are sold in the sales aisles in the park. There are trout restaurants and sausage bread shops on the 22-kilometer Abant road.
Where to stay?
There are also 2 5-star accommodation facilities, bungalow type accommodation units, camping and picnic areas and restaurants around the lake. There are also hostels on the Abant road.
Abant Lake Nature Park – Bolu
How to go to Abant?
It can be reached by a 22-kilometer road deviating from the 203rd kilometer of Ankara-Istanbul D-100 Highway and TEM Highway. It is 34 kilometers from Bolu, 225 kilometers from Ankara and 258 kilometers from Istanbul. Access to Lake Abant from Bolu center is done by private public buses departing from the city center every two hours.
Source: Bolu Culture and Tourism Guide (2010), Bolu Governorship Provincial Directorate of Culture and Tourism / Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry Abant Brochure