There is no minibus or shared-taxi line to this national park from either Kastamonu or Çankırı, which makes a car the practical way in. It is about 40 kilometres from Kastamonu, 68 from Çankırı and 200 from Ankara.
The park was declared on 2 June 1976, and it straddles two provinces: 709.23 hectares (63 per cent) in Kastamonu and 408.46 (37 per cent) in Çankırı. Its recorded size changed from 1,088.61 to 1,117.69 hectares when the development plan sheet was renewed, a difference that comes from measuring technique rather than from the boundary. The ground lies between 1,600 and 2,070 metres, and since 2016 the area has also been within a culture and tourism conservation and development region. Capacity is given as 250,000 visitors and 300 vehicles, and there is an entrance fee.
The park is recognised at once as an Important Bird Area, an Important Mammal Area and an Important Plant Area, and the counts behind that are given in detail. Ilgaz Dağı as a whole has 945 taxa in 213 families and 632 genera, of which 53 are endemic; the ground inside the park has 390 species in 62 families and 260 genera, and of 46 plants carrying a status 20 are protected and 44 hold endemic status. Of the park's area, 1,009.5 hectares are covered by mixed stands of Scots pine and fir and by pure fir, the mixture shifting with height.
The park is ringed by the Ilgaz Dağı wildlife development area and interacts with it, which is why the mammal list is as long as it is: 21 species in 12 families and 19 genera, including roe deer, red deer, wild boar, wolf, brown bear, lynx and fox. Alongside them the surveys found 220 species of fungus in 59 families and 120 genera, 35 of them edible; 90 bird species in 28 families and 65 genera, five of which carry protected status; four amphibians; 215 insects; and five reptiles.
This is one of Türkiye's main winter tourism centres, and the numbers show it: through December, January, February and March the occupancy of the accommodation inside the park runs close to 100 per cent, and use is heaviest at holidays and weekends. Day-use areas inside the park cover visitors' immediate needs. Outside the winter season the directorate lists botanical tours, nature and culture walks, photo safari, summer pasturing, day picnics, viewing, nature education, wildlife and bird watching, orienteering and hill climbing. Distances, for planning: 479 kilometres from İstanbul, 303 from Samsun, 241 from Sinop and 196 from Çorum.
- Designated
- 2.06.1976
Entry fee
- Black Sea group 1 · category 1 · Per person
- 75 ₺
When to go
- Climate
- Across Kastamonu as a whole, monthly mean temperatures run from -0.9 °C in January to 20.2 °C in July; the mean stays between 15 and 25 °C in June, July, August and September; rainfall is heaviest in May (75 mm) and lightest in February (27 mm). Long-term means for 1930-2025 from the Turkish State Meteorological Service (MGM).
