Hızır Yaylası is a group of upland pastures on top of the Amanos mountains, west of the town of Altınüzüm in the district of İslahiye. The climate keeps it green in every season, and it lies at roughly 1,300 metres above sea level. It was declared a tourism centre by a decision of the council of ministers on 15 December 1994.
There is no electricity or telephone service on the pasture, but the road up to it is asphalt. It can be reached by the İslahiye–Altınüzüm road, and also from Osmaniye by a gravel road.
Wild flowers of every colour, mountain tulips in spring, ice-cold water, clear sun and clean air make it a place to walk, to look at and study nature, to camp and to picnic. The country here has been left as it was, unspoiled by any hand. Supper eaten by the light of a gas lamp and the talk that follows it leave people with a feeling of their own.
Pine, cedar, fir, plane, alder, juniper and fruit trees are spread widely across the pasture. Streams fed by springs and by melting snow water the ground, and vegetables, fruit, field crops and ornamental plants grow in abundance.
Visitors can stay in the huts of natural materials that villagers put up when they come to the pasture for the day or for a longer spell of farming.
When to go
- Climate
- Across Gaziantep as a whole, monthly mean temperatures run from 3.2 °C in January to 28.1 °C in July; the mean stays between 15 and 25 °C in May, June, September and October; rainfall is heaviest in January (103 mm) and lightest in August (5 mm). Long-term means for 1940-2025 from the Turkish State Meteorological Service (MGM).
