Sümela Monastery is a five-storey façade wedged into a cliff about 300 metres above the Altındere valley, among fir forests and drifting mist, 45 kilometres from Trabzon. It is the defining image of Türkiye's Black Sea coast and one of the most photographed places in the country, and the walk up through the forest to the gate is as good as what waits inside: a church carved into the rock and covered in frescoes, with cells, kitchens and a library hanging over the drop.
After several years closed for restoration and work against rockfalls, it is open again and visited along a signposted route. Here is what the visit is like.
A little history
According to tradition, two monks from Athens, Barnabas and Sophronios, found an icon of the Virgin in a mountain cave in the 4th century, an icon said to have been painted by St Luke, and founded the monastery around it. The name is usually traced to melas, Greek for "black": some say after the dark Virgin of the icon, others after the mountain itself. What you see today dates from the 13th to the 19th centuries: the emperors of Trebizond were its patrons, the Ottoman sultans confirmed its privileges, and it became the most important monastery in the Pontus, the old name for this stretch of the Black Sea coast.
The monks left in 1923, during the population exchange between Greece and Türkiye, and hid the icon before they went; it is now kept in a monastery in Greece. The empty building suffered fires and looting, and restoration began in the 1970s. In 2010 the Orthodox liturgy for the feast of the Dormition, on 15 August, was celebrated here for the first time since the monks left, and it has been held around that date in many years since. In 2015 the monastery closed because of the risk of falling rocks; once the cliff had been secured, it reopened in stages between 2019 and 2022.
What to see at Sümela Monastery
The walk up through the forest
From the minibus stop, a stone path climbs through firs, beeches and ferns, with the façade appearing and disappearing between the trees. It is the part everyone remembers most, especially when the mist rises out of the valley.
The stairway and the gate
You enter by a long, narrow stairway that climbs up to the gate, and from there you go down into the inner courtyard, with the old aqueduct clinging to the rock.
The rock church
The heart of the monastery: a cave turned into a church, painted inside and out with frescoes from the 14th to the 18th centuries, laid one layer over another. Adam and Eve, the Virgin, scenes from the Gospels and, on the outer wall, a Last Judgement. Many have been damaged by graffiti and by time, but they are still the reason for the visit.
The cells, the library and the kitchens
The five-storey building, with its wooden balconies over the void, housed the monks and the pilgrims. You walk through the library, the guest hall and the kitchens, with views down into the valley from the balconies.
The Altındere valley
A national park with a river, wooden bridges, waterfalls and trout restaurants along the bank. It is the place for lunch once you come back down.
Tips for your visit
Allow three hours. The way up is a path with steps and the entrance is a long stairway, so the monastery is not accessible to wheelchair users or visitors with limited mobility.
- Wear closed shoes with a good grip: the stone is wet almost all the time, and mist and rain can come in any season.
- Bring a light rain jacket, even in summer; the Black Sea is humid.
- Early in the morning there are fewer people and a better chance of seeing the building without mist.
- For children who are happy to walk, it is an adventure; with a pushchair, it is not.
Tickets and prices
At the time of writing (2026), entry costs €22 under the official 2027 tariff. The minibuses from the car park to the start of the path are paid separately. Prices for foreign visitors are revised every year, so check the official Turkish museums website (muze.gov.tr) before you go. On my tours the entrance ticket and the minibus are included or your guide takes care of them, and I check that the monastery is open before your trip.
Where it is and how to get there
Sümela lies in Altındere Valley National Park, 45 kilometres from Trabzon along the road to Maçka, about 50 minutes by car. In season there are minibuses from Trabzon. Trabzon Airport has direct flights from Istanbul, which take about 1 hour 45 minutes.
Visiting it on my tours
It is the highlight of the Trabzon days on my Black Sea itineraries, alongside the mountains, the tea villages and the high plateaus, which I describe in Trabzon and Sümela: the Black Sea and the cliffside monastery. It combines well with Istanbul or with the east of the country. For the wider background to the country's traditions, read Turkish culture: traditions, customs and everyday life.
If you'd like to explore the Black Sea, tell me through the tailor-made trip planner and I'll build the route with Sümela in it.