What's on in Trabzon, Turkey through the year

Peak crowds — Ramadan, Semester (winter) break in Turkey

• Holiday

  Ramadan

  25 Jan – 25 Mar · usually

  The city keeps working but the lokantas along the seafront are closed at lunchtime and the tea houses fill only after dark. Sumela and the museums keep normal hours. Source ↗

Still on: Hamsi season (1 Nov – 28 Feb (usually)), Zigana ski season (15 Dec – 31 Mar (usually))

Peak crowds — Ramadan, Semester (winter) break in Turkey

Nothing new starts in February.

Still on: Ramadan (25 Jan – 25 Mar (usually)), Hamsi season (1 Nov – 28 Feb (usually)), Zigana ski season (15 Dec – 31 Mar (usually))

Peak crowds — Ramadan, Second-term mid-break in Turkey

Nothing new starts in March.

Still on: Ramadan (25 Jan – 25 Mar (usually)), Zigana ski season (15 Dec – 31 Mar (usually))

Shoulder season — school holidays in 3 of the markets that fill it, an ordinary month

Nothing new starts in April.

Busy — school holidays in 2 of the markets that fill it, one of its best months for weather

Nothing new starts in May.

Peak crowds — The Gulf summer, Summer holidays in Turkey

• Season

  Yayla season

  1 Jun – 15 Sep · usuallyTrail season

  The high pastures above Uzungöl and Şalpazarı open up once the snow has gone and the village festivals move up with them. The road up is single track and the cloud comes in most afternoons.

• Season

  The Gulf summer

  15 Jun – 15 Sep · usuallySchool holidaysCrowdedBook early

  Families from the Gulf come here to escape their own summer, and Uzungöl, the hotels and the mountain minibuses are booked out with them. Prices double and menus turn Arabic.

Peak crowds — The Gulf summer, Summer holidays in Turkey

Nothing new starts in July.

Still on: Yayla season (1 Jun – 15 Sep (usually)), The Gulf summer (15 Jun – 15 Sep (usually))

Peak crowds — The Gulf summer, Summer holidays in Turkey

• Nature

  Hazelnut harvest

  1 Aug – 15 Sep · usually

  The steep groves that cover every hillside behind the coast are picked by hand and the nuts are spread out to dry on every flat surface, roadsides included. The whole province stops for it.

Still on: Yayla season (1 Jun – 15 Sep (usually)), The Gulf summer (15 Jun – 15 Sep (usually))

Peak crowds — The Gulf summer, Summer holidays in Turkey

Nothing new starts in September.

Still on: Yayla season (1 Jun – 15 Sep (usually)), The Gulf summer (15 Jun – 15 Sep (usually)), Hazelnut harvest (1 Aug – 15 Sep (usually))

Shoulder season — school holidays in 3 of the markets that fill it, an ordinary month

Nothing new starts in October.

Busy — First-term mid-break in Turkey

• Nature

  Hamsi season

  1 Nov – 28 Feb · usuallyForaging season

  The anchovy boats come in and every restaurant on the coast cooks nothing else — fried, in rice, in cornmeal. It is the one dish the Black Sea is genuinely famous for.

Quiet — school holidays in 5 of the markets that fill it, one of its worst months for weather

• Season

  Zigana ski season

  15 Dec – 31 Mar · usually

  The pass an hour inland holds snow through the winter and runs a small lift system, which is more a local weekend thing than a resort. The road over it closes in bad weather.

Still on: Hamsi season (1 Nov – 28 Feb (usually))