If you want to spend the last days of autumn in the wilderness, Küre Mountains National Park is the best choice. Adorned with the colors of the season, the thick trees of the park along with endemic plants, streams, canyons and waterfalls, the Küre Mountains offers a visual feast to its guests as well as a quiet and peaceful holiday in nature.
Located on the borders of Bartın and Kastamonu provinces in the Black Sea Region, the national park has been certified by the Protected Area Network (PAN) Parks organization, and it creates views that people can't get enough. In the Küre Mountains, covering a nearly 37,000-hectare area, trees around a stream and fallen leaves draw the attention of photography lovers. The national park, which is home to endemic plants and rich wild life, provides an opportunity for activities such as nature trekking and photo safaris. Sixty kilometers from Bartın, the village of Ulukaya can be visited by local and foreign visitors alike in all seasons with its unique waterfall, cave, canyon and valley. In the forests of the national park, painting-like images occur in autumn, when green and yellow are intertwined. Küre Mountains National Park Director Ahat Deliorman told Anadolu Agency (AA) that since the park has a PAN Parks certificate, it was chosen as one of the special 13 points of Europe in 2012.
Stressing that protection of the traditional culture and architecture in the region gained importance beside enterprises offering products and services at specific standards thanks to the certificate, Deliorman said: "In addition to natural beauties in the national park, rich and diverse folkloric values constitute important tourism potential. Cultural values, including village houses that preserve the original architecture, traditional colorful clothes that women still use in their daily lives, handicrafts and local foods, come together with the beauty of nature to offer an authentic view to visitors. A glass observation terrace was built at Çatak Canyon in the Azdavay district of Kastamonu province. After landscaping and environmental planning, the terrace will be introduced to tourism and satisfy an important need for the region. The first stage of the Küre Mountains National Park Directorate Kızılcasu Private Project Area, which consists of a nature education center, accommodation units, outdoor training areas and educational walking-tracks, is about to be completed. Projects such as the glass observation terrace and nature education center in Küre Mountains National Park will increase the number of local and foreign tourists in the region." Deliorman noted that the region is a favorite haunt of photography lovers, especially in autumn.
