Soğuksu Nature Park was established in 2011 in eastern Anatolia, fifty-three kilometres from Kars and three from Sarıkamış. It stands between 2,121 and 2,152 metres above sea level and covers eleven hectares.
The park and the ground around it are made up of basalt and dolomite of the Tertiary and Quaternary, with tuff, conglomerate and breccia also present.
The park holds stands of Scots pine forest, with aspen growing in the ground between them; the other common plants are the dog rose and the meadow buttercup.
The climate is harshly continental. The long winters are snowy, frosty and very cold, and more rain falls in winter than in summer; the heaviest falls come just before summer begins.
- Designated
- 11.07.2011
Entry fee
- Southeastern Anatolia group 1 · category 2 · Per person
- 40 ₺
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).
