Balık Gölü lies on the Aras mountains in eastern Anatolia, within the province of Ağrı, and is one of the highest lakes in Türkiye. It is a volcanic barrier lake covering thirty square kilometres, 2,241 metres above sea level, and thirty-seven metres deep at its deepest point.
The lake was formed when lava from Mount Ağrı flowed across the mouth of a hollow and dammed it. It is fed by streams coming down from the mountains, by springs on the shore and by groundwater; reed beds ring its edge and alpine meadow covers the slopes around, and the stream that leaves it waters the Doğubayazıt marshes. It is counted among Türkiye's 135 wetlands of international importance. Ducks nest on a small island in the lake, spotted trout live in its water, and eagles, falcons, partridges, foxes, wolves and quail are among the animals of the surrounding country. Winters are long and hard and the surface freezes, so for about five months the fishing is done by breaking holes in the ice. Taşlıçay is 26 kilometres away, Ağrı and Doğubayazıt 60 each.
When to go
- Climate
- Across Ağrı as a whole, monthly mean temperatures run from -10.4 °C in January to 21.4 °C in August; the mean stays between 15 and 25 °C in June, July, August and September; rainfall is heaviest in April (71 mm) and lightest in August (13 mm). Long-term means for 1940-2025 from the Turkish State Meteorological Service (MGM).
