Guide
Polonezköy lies in the Beykoz district of İstanbul and was declared a nature park by the Ministry of Environment and Forestry in 1994. The village was founded in 1842 by Polish immigrants, and its history and cultural character are an important part of the park. The park covers about 3,004 hectares, which makes it the city's first nature park and the largest in area.
Picnicking, camping, trekking and orienteering are all done here. There is a five-kilometre trail for walking, cycling and running, along with observation towers, and a good many restaurants. Guest houses and hotels in the village offer places to stay.
The park can be reached by car; it is also possible to travel to Beykoz by public transport from various parts of İstanbul and go on to Polonezköy from there.
The plant cover is rich. Among the common trees are black, Turkish red and Scots pine, pedunculate, sessile, Türkiye and Hungarian oak, horse chestnut, sweet chestnut, Norway spruce, oriental plane, Mediterranean cypress, hornbeam, wych elm, alder, oriental beech, silver lime and oriental arborvitae. The shrubs and climbers include rough bindweed, bay laurel, strawberry tree, cherry laurel, hawthorn, firethorn, tree heath and guelder rose.
Within the park are a pheasant farm and a deer farm. The wild animals seen in the protected areas include fallow deer, roe deer, wild boar, jackal, squirrel, marten and weasel, and among the birds are pheasant, partridge, buzzard, vulture, falcon, blackbird, goldfinch, wood pigeon, owl, magpie and sparrow.
- Designated
- 15.07.1994
