The Borluk valley runs for more than ten kilometres eight kilometres from Kars and only 2.5 from the airport, with the stream fed by the Borluk freshwater spring flowing along it. The stream is rich in fish and has made the valley an ecologically distinct pocket, but what the valley is known for is its rock pictures.
The most important of these is the panel known as the caravan, near Azat village, where mountain goats, red deer and boar are shown walking from east to west; human figures seen from the front and scenes of trapping are among the other subjects. The stretch where the rock pictures are concentrated, between Ataköy and Azat, runs about four kilometres. At the western end of the valley is the Azat Höyük archaeological settlement, and within the bounds of Ataköy is the Ataköy Höyük. The valley makes a good walk, best in spring and summer.
When to go
- Climate
- Across Kars as a whole, monthly mean temperatures run from -10.7 °C in January to 17.9 °C in August; the mean stays between 15 and 25 °C in July and August; rainfall is heaviest in May (83 mm) and lightest in January (23 mm). Long-term means for 1931-2025 from the Turkish State Meteorological Service (MGM).
