Soumela Monastery in Gumushane

If you like history, art, or just beautiful views it’s worth the visit. We drove our own car to the car park. We paid for a ticket at the first entrance. Keep these tickets with you as they are your entrance tickets at the monastery gate after your hike to the top. Be warned as the hike to the top is only 350 meters but it’s up the side of the mountain. Safe path but a hard trek for some. I took a few breaks as most did. The building you see in most tourist pictures is still under renovations but the inside courtyard and older stone rooms and frescoes are open to see. Enjoy it. It’s worth it.

Nice place when you go buy ticket to go inside the Monastery because there are two tickets one to walk in the garden and one include walking in the monastreyin addition to the garden.. Entrance fees is reasonable

If you come to Trabzon, it is the place you must see. The weather was very nice.

The monastery is one of my most expected place for my Turkish trip. However, it was a rainy day, the monastery was covered in fog. We were charged several times. There was a $20 at the entrance. It was not for the monastery, I thought it was parking, but the parking lot charged us another $20. The shuttle was $18 per person. There was another charge to go inside the monastery.

Some 45 km from Trabzon Meydan or City center. We took a shared minibus from Dolmus station beside the Meydan Park of Trabzon. The fare of minibus was 40 TL each way per person.Breath taking view towards the monastery. The monastery is located at the behest of a hill which is some 500 meter high. Its beyond imagination how the monastery waa built by 4th century people!

Its not a very big place and 2 hours is probably enough, but its very nicely located in the mountains and has great views. You arrive to the entrance and park your car, then a minibus will bring you to the entrance. Bring your Museum Cart and save on the visit fees.

Visited october 10 - 2022 ,price is 125 Liras, if u wanna go till the top with miniwan u have to pay 18 Liras per person also or u can walk but the road is 4 kilometers till the top. The road and the monastery is a must for everyone to see

Looks good after the renovation . But on busy days there should be to 2 checkouts for paymwnts, the waiting line was too long.

beautiful nature!!but they will charge you everywhere !!ticket is 125 tl(2022), you should use parking, 20 tl, you shoul!! use their cars for going up , 18 tl.but its beautiful, but dont expect to see the building like in the pictures, that pictures must be taken by quadcopter or something like that

The view from the top was breathtaking! I highly recommend going to this amazing place, but it’s better with car 🚙

Gorgeous location and a fascinating place, unfortunately renovation is only about half done. Entry fee in September 2022 was 125 per person, no cards accepted. Theres a good view of the monastery from the church at the beginning of the trail.

Great experience! Sumela Monastery (Greek: Μονή Παναγίας Σουμελά, Moní Panagías Soumelá; Turkish: Sümela Manastırıis a Greek Orthodox monastery dedicated to the Theotokos located at Karadağ (Greek: Sou Melá, meaning "Black Mountain")[2] within the Pontic Mountains, in the Maçka district of Trabzon Province in modern Turkey.

Simply amazing! I consider it one of the wonders of the world! A must visit! The trip to the place is no less amazing. Along the way you come across rivers and wonderful landscapes, and dont miss the great turkish coffee shops with great outside seating along rivers. Just enjoy the nature!

📍Soumela Monastery🛕-is a Greek Orthodox monastery dedicated to the Theotokos located at Karadağ ("Black Mountain"within the Pontic Mountains, in the Maçka district of Trabzon Province in modern Turkey.Such a unique place with an interesting story. Though it had its up and downs, it is still a magical place.-It is not known when the monastery was founded, but the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism places the date around AD 386, during the reign of the emperor Theodosius I. According to William Miller, two Athenian monks named Barnabas and Sophronios founded the monastery. It became famous for an icon of the Theotokos known as the Panagia Gorgoepekoos, said to have been painted by the Apostle Luke.-Prices 🎟For student 30 TL 👨‍🎓For public 50 TL 👨‍👩‍👦For foreign 125 TL 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦

Definitely must see the nature you see on the way in the car, when u park the car there are shuttles every 5-10 mins that takes u the the monastery and back to the parking lot. There are cafes where u can eat food dessert and drink tea. Finally the view is just amazing inside the monastery

Free entry with muzekart 💛 if you don’t drive as me then better to go with a tour. I went with Aktivite Tourism (local company in Trabzon city center)

Very nice place to visit if you are in the area. Having some historical guidance or notes in English would be helpful to know more about the city. Bus drivers need to learn English to be able serve visitor

Hats off to the .Minister of Culture and Tourism  Mehmet Nuri ERSOY. The place is now transformed into a world-class attraction...

Greek orthodox monastery. Very beautiful yet crowded in peak season as we found. Arrive at the car park before 30tl on a round-trip bus which takes you to the monastery, no option to walk on the paths currently. Very picturesque place however some of the actual chapel paintings have been defaced (unsure if this is old graffiti or new with names such as Mahmouddisappointing to see art work so intricately painted be defaced however the actual monastery itself is more of a little village inside with various buildings however it would benefit from more signage to share what each building was used for etc. It takes maybe 1-2 hours depending on the crowds however I strongly recommend arriving early to avoid some of the masses.

💥The impression of visiting this extraordinary place is very strong.The frescoes in the old church were preserved well, but suffered from vandals. a fountain with healing and very tasty water, so grab a bottle to fill it.it would be nice to take a raincoat, because there may be fog and high humidity on the top of the mountain where the monastery is located..the place itself is beautiful! magical air, beautiful dense forest..I highly recommend!

Such a unique place with an interesting story. Though it had its up and downs, it is still a magical place. Definitely a must see in the area. The grounds are well maintained. You have to take the shuttle to go up to the monastery. There is a coffee shop and also restroom. There is also a gift shop and a cafeteria midway to the monastery. It might get chilly and rainy. We loved it

It was a tiring road to the monastery itself but it was worth it. From down the mountain there are vans ready where you buy a ticket there and back it is a reasonable price and they take you to a certain point where you then take the stairs to the monastery. A lovely monastery that has been beautifully restored. What I miss is that they would possibly put a view terrace on the mountain opposite in the future.

A great site to see! Best to go early in the morning before the tour busses arrive. We arrived at 0830 and by 0900 it is getting crowded. I suggest entering at 0800 hours.

An amazing place, well worth the effort to see. The only trouble is you can’t really see the monastery from a distance. You only get a very brief view of the monastery’s exterior from the shuttle bus on the way up, and the drivers don’t slow down or stop to let you take a picture. Most of the front of the monastery is closed to visitors. There is no interpretive signage, just a lengthy video in a Turkish with English subtitles.

What a fascinating monastery built and carved in the mountains. This place makes you travel in time. It can get pretty crowded during national holidays but otherwise a lively heritage. I took one star out of my grading as paintings were destroyed by people who had zero vision for heritage over the years since it was built 😞my heart hurts when I see this, Turkish government is making an effort to protect it now, wonderful treasure sustained for many centuries, super magical!

The advertisement photo is majestic but visitors are allowed to access only a tiny part of the place. The view shown in the photo is inaccessible.Spent more time walking to reach the monetary than the time inside. The walk is long and tough, hundreds of irregular stair treads.Nice adventure overall.

Place is amazing, and the route by car is easy compared to other places in the area (but it gets hard on foot), historically lovely place where you see generations of empires and cultures come to the same place and take care of it rather than destroying each other’s workBut got to give it four stars for the following:- you need a comfortable tight shoe because stairs are quite small and hard to work on- you take bus, then walk around 750 meters on an upwards Journey with mediocre stairs and path, definitely not appropriate for old, handicapped or weekly bodied people (inside soumela is also the same pattern of stairs and hard paths- place as many places in Turkey and other tourism countries, is not actually safe for children and they can pretty easily fall- the people in charge will charge you a lot for this visit, where you first pay for the entrance, then for the parking for your car where you should take a bus, and you will pay also for the bus125 tl per person for entry, 15 tl per person for bus, 15 tl for car parkNote: this might not look like a huge amount for a tourist, but this is all for no real service provided to you

Very nice place, keep note there is a lot of walking and stairs and there are fees to enter. At the current time prices are 125TL per person plus transportation 15TL plus parking fees as cars are not allowed to go in.

Process for foreigners driving up:- Entrance ticket for foreigners seem to be paid upfront at the car entrance drive through (120 liras - the locals will have to pay subsequently as well at the sumela ticket booth itself, albeit a lower price of 60 liras, but you’ll be able to head right in since your already have a ticket, so don’t need to join the queue at the sumela entrance)- You’ll be subsequently asked to park at the base of a hill unless you’re with a tour bus (due to parking problems if everyone drive their personal vehicles up), and then asked to pay 15 liras per person to get the bus ticket to be shuttled up, 2 ways (find the bus ticket booth - not too hard)- When coming back down, and driving your car out of the carpark, you’ll pay the carpark fees of 15 lirasNote:- Bring umbrella/poncho in case it rains as you’ll be exposed, and ideally grip shoes as the tiles up will then be a little slippery- Will be abit cold as well, especially if it rains, so do come prepared- The toilet (there’s 1 at the area where you’ll be asked to park your car / to buy ticket for bus shuttle upwill be 1 lira, and you have to prepare the exact in advance as no one will offer you change there - the toilets are also terribly maintained if i may add. - there was pee all over the cubicle floor, and flowing out onto the entrance of the female cubicle- The audio guide requires you to pay cash (I think 50/55 liras), as they have issues with accepting cardOverall not a great experience because personally went during a rain, so not only was my journey up and through affected, the visibility was also severely hampered. Also wished I knew the above notes before heading up, as it became particularly frustrating (fumbling aroundsince most don’t speak English in this region.

This place is very interesting, a great experience , when you get to the parking lot , you’d be buying tickets from there , don’t forget them in the car because you’ll need them up at the Monastery and also you need to keep bus tickets (you’ll need them in the way back to avoid extra payment).

The place itself is beyond amazing. However, it’s highly overcrowded and the visiting could be organized better. People cannot be allowed to touch the ancient iconography.

An extremely beautiful place worth the visit. But it’s been extensively renovated with just the chapel probably being original.

Great place to visit, there are no access for cars. All cars need to park in dedicated paid parking and need to buy bus transportation tickets to Soumela. And there are 100 tl access fees to Soumela. Place is under construction and lots of slippery stairs.

We enjoyed the beauty and grandeur of this place. 🙂 Please check our YouTube channel for the full video of Monastery 👉 "Omid and Daria"

Very nice place. The way up to the monastery is so stunning. There is a lot of stairs, but it is worthly.

The place deserves the trip... its a great historical place to watch and the road is stunning 😍 👌

The place is absolutely worth the time and effort.Be aware you will asked in first stop to pay for entrance the cave don’t pay “ only pay for the normal entry. Then once you arrive up if you want pay for the monastery .Also, park the car “ pay parking charges”Then you go by bus “ the road is bumpy “.Better bring your own food and empty water bottles to refill from there.Overall is worth the tired

Beautiful place to go if you like mountains, monastery and the historical art. Otherwise it would be underwhelming for a lot of people. This was up our alley, and hence 5 stars.Note: if travelling by yourself (i.e. not in a tour groupfrom Macka, then ask how much it is for the taxi driver to go up to Sumela Monastery car park and wait for you. There are no taxis up there and we were lucky that someone gave us a lift back to Macka. Otherwise it would have been a 10miles/16km walk...

A place to go, its almost magical, first the road to go there is very good, the landscape is amazing, going upstream the river between the mountains.Once you finally arrive onsite you have to walk 350m (if you took the small busin a peaceful environment, berry green and very beautiful.Then you discover the monastery, its being restored, the place is very clean and in good condition.The paintings are well preserved, except the faces as usual. If youre on the area, its a place to go.

When we went there the monastery itself was closed and we could not be able to see from inside.However, the place is nice

Be sure to wear comfortable shoes. Use the restroom before you get on the shuttle. If you’re in the area it’s definitely worth seeing. Others may not think so much. There’s no food court at the monster sorry and the stairs are quite steep and narrow. Elderly or poor health may have a lot of trouble.

Worth visiting one of the top attractions in the areaThe hike to get there is nice than choosing the buses

It was a nice spot with a spectacular views and no words to explain the beauty of old architecture however the place is not that big and the road to it was narrow.

The love is breath talking and it’s under great development and in future it will be in if the top distinction as it will be opened next February 2022

Road from the main road to the monestary is narrow but good. At the guard box you pay the visitors fees and then go the car park about 200/300 meters ahead to park your car (pay when you leave roughly 10/15 TL). From here you can walk up the 2+ kilometres uphill (recommend only for the very fit personsor take the shuttle bus for 8/10 TL. Monestary is unique and ancient with beautiful frescoes. Restaurant is okay, have coffee and pastries and some other snacks.

Openned after long time bue to maintenance.You may walk for almost 350 mtrs from the parking area or pay a car fair about 10 tl.There is afair of 75 tl ticket to enter as well.Walking is a bit tuff, you should be prepair for the rain as well.

Not a big place to spend a lot of time over there! Some painting works on the walls... Nice to be seen 😊Currently, its opened and it charge 75 liars per head. But also theres some construction ongoing ...

Very beautiful monastery that’s located on the cliff of a mountain and surrounded with amazing greenery, the monastery is very historically rich and very beautiful as well, unfortunately when i visited it back in October 2020 it was under renovation so it was full of construction sites, and i also condemn some vandalism i found on the beautiful frescoed church, which really a shame and i hope there will be more care-taking of it.

Very nice place .. the way to up is amazing .. you cant get there by ur own car .. the entrance fee is 75 for adults .. children free .. and from there a gagage and use other cars to go up .. the scenes are amazing at winter you see white blanket on the trees .. the place is regional and ancient and now getting renewal .. dont miss the chance to visit it

This monastery is a true piece of human & nature art, but.. it’s closed to be visited inside now, and it’s impossible to see it in its full beauty from the outside since there is no close enough view point to enjoy it. More of that, it’s forbidden to use drones to fly over there..there is police asking you to delete all your pics and videos..what can I say.. pity that such a beauty cannot be even seen by people..