Abant was protected as a nature park on 21 October 1988, and its status was changed to national park on 9 June 2022. It covers 1,262.23 hectares.
The lake itself is both a crater and an accumulation lake, formed on the Abant mountains; the park lies between the arms of the Abant and Keremali ranges, the second chain of the western Black Sea mountains running parallel to the coast. Many hills inside it stand between 1,400 and 1,700 metres, with slopes of 10 to 45 degrees. The way in is a 22-kilometre surfaced road leaving the Ankara-İstanbul D-100 at its 203rd kilometre, at the Ömerler village turning; the park is 33 kilometres from Bolu, 225 from Ankara and 258 from İstanbul. Capacity is given as 4,000 visitors, 1,200 vehicles and 50 tents.
Bolu is one of the most heavily wooded provinces in Türkiye, and the lake shore shows it: pine, fir, beech, oak, chestnut, hornbeam and poplar grow around the water together with wild fruit trees. Botanical surveys cited by the park administration have recorded 672 plant taxa within the protected area, 51 of them endemic, and a separate study listed 150 species of lichen.
The animal life is just as particular. Abant is the type locality of a small crested salamander, a subspecies endemic to Türkiye that has not been reported anywhere else, collected at around 1,300 metres; the Abant dormouse is a mammal known only from this area, and the surrounding forests suit red deer. The lake has its own trout, Salmo trutta abanticus, locally called the Abant alası. A walking path runs around the shore, with picnic grounds and viewing piers along the way. Mudurnu is about 20 kilometres from the park and Düzce about 60.
- Designated
- 10.06.2022
When to go
- Climate
- Across Bolu as a whole, monthly mean temperatures run from 0.6 °C in January to 20 °C in August; the mean stays between 15 and 25 °C in June, July, August and September; rainfall is heaviest in May (61 mm) and lightest in August (24 mm). Long-term means for 1929-2025 from the Turkish State Meteorological Service (MGM).
