Routes DOĞU KARADENİZ

Artvin – Ardahan Sahara Geçidi Yolu (D010, Şavşat üzeri)

From forest to steppe: the 2,470 m Sahara Pass

DISTANCE: 131 km
DRIVING TIME: 2 h 18 min
STOPS: 13

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Caravan
Lorry
Semi-trailer

Directions in Google Maps İz on Google Play

01Artvin — Erzurum Caddesi
02Soğanlı — Ardanuç kavşağı
03Bağcılar seyir noktası
04Dereiçi (Rabat) — 08-02 kavşağı
05Köprüyaka
06Veliköy kavşağı
07Şavşat — D010 ilçe merkezi geçişi
08Yavuz (Camiköy) — tırmanışın başı
09Sahara Yaylası — Karagöl-Sahara Millî Parkı
10Kocabey Yaylası seyir noktası
11Çam (Sahara) Geçidi — 2.470 m
12Değirmenli kavşağı
13Ardahan — Kaptanpaşa

DRAWING · NOT A LIVE MAP© OpenStreetMap contributors

A single state-road stage of 131 km, climbing from the Çoruh valley through spruce forest, over the 2,470 m Çam (Sahara) Pass and down to the Ardahan steppe.

Between Artvin and Ardahan the D010 climbs from the Çoruh valley at 500 m to the 2,470 m Çam (Sahara) Pass, with Meryem (2,016 m) and Taşlıyarma (2,017 m) below it. The pass section is 31.4 km, up to 14 per cent, paved throughout. It crosses Sahara Yaylası, half of the 1994 Karagöl-Sahara National Park: 3,766 hectares, 562 plant species, 57 endemic. Şavşat, Cittaslow since 2015, holds a 9th-century castle and the Tbeti church, built before 918. Ardahan closes the route at 1,829 m, beside a 14-towered fortress on the Kura.

What to eat

Şavşat Ketesi
a round, crumbly pastry of flour, yeast and butter, folded with oil and turned again and again in a wood-fired stove until it falls apart in the mouth
The kete bakeries in the central Şavşat bazaar and the village houses with wood stoves, at 1,108 m; the registration requires the butter to have been made in the district — the last bakery stop before the climb to the pass.
Puçuko
a winter dish built on puçuko, green beans threaded on string and dried in the sun, simmered with bulgur and then dressed with onion, pepper paste and hot butter
Artvin city centre, kilometre zero of the route; a winter dish of the home and the tradesmen's restaurants, with vinegar or lemon squeezed over it at the table.
Ardahan Kaz Eti (kaz etli üçlü pilav)
whole goose boiled long and then roasted, served with a three-grain pilaf of rice, bulgur and vermicelli cooked in the bird's own broth
Ardahan city centre, the first serious meat table on the plateau after the descent from the pass; the boiled and roasted goose comes with the three-grain pilaf cooked in its own broth, and the appellation asks that the bird be raised in Ardahan too.
Ardahan Çiçek Balı
strained flower honey the Caucasian bee gathers from highland blossom, mostly clover; amber in colour, faintly burning in the throat, it turns creamy in about two months at room temperature
Central Ardahan, where the Beekeepers' Association holds the appellation; to protect the Caucasian bee the province is an isolated zone closed to bees from outside, Artvin excepted.
Hıngel
Ardahan's large mantı: triangles of hand-rolled dough filled with mashed potato, boiled in salted water and served under hot butter
The home-cooking restaurants in central Ardahan; a big mantı, triangles of dough filled with crushed potato, boiled in salted water and finished with hot butter — the first hot pastry after the pass.
Yoğurtlu Silor
a relative of katmer: thin sheets of yufka layered and cooked in butter, then brought to the table under yoghurt
Şavşat Evi is not in central Şavşat but at Yavuzköy, where the climb begins; it serves silor together with melted cheese — the thin yufka layers are cooked in butter and come to the table with yoghurt.

What to buy

Şavşat Ketesi
a butter pastry that crumbles in the mouth and keeps well, wrapped up as provisions for the road
Central Şavşat, the Cittaslow market on the Belediye Pasajı and the municipality's local produce stands; geographical indication 745, 03.05.2021, registered to Şavşat Belediyesi — one of Artvin's seven protected products.
Ardahan Çiçek Balı
flower honey from the meadows of the Ardahan plateau, produced with the Caucasian bee and protected as an appellation of origin
Central Ardahan, the closing product of the route at 1,829 m; appellation of origin 213, 01.06.2017, registered to the Ardahan Beekeepers' Association — the municipality's local produce shop also sells Caucasian honey.
Ardahan Kaşar Peyniri (Göle kaşarı)
a firm yellow cheese from cattle grazing natural pasture, bought as a whole wheel and untroubled by a long drive
The local produce shop in central Ardahan, which also sells tulum cheese, and the dairies on the Göle road — kaşar is the product the province sends out most.
Ardahan Kavılca Buğdayı (un, bulgur, erişte)
an ancient hard-grained wheat, dark and low in gluten, milled into flour or worked into bulgur, pasta and erişte noodles
Central Ardahan; registered to the Ardahan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Karagöl Mah. Kongre Cad. No:67), geographical indication 1537, 07.02.2024 — buy a packet rather than a sack, the one dry good that crosses the pass in the boot.
Ardahan Kaz Eti
goose raised on the plateau, killed and air-dried for the winter table; sold whole and, these days, in pieces
Central Ardahan, the municipality's local produce shop; appellation of origin 1008, 24.01.2022 — it comes to market with the snow, so it is a product of the route's closed season, and it is now sold in pieces too.
Damal Bebeği
a handmade cloth doll from Damal, sewn by women of the district and sold from stands rather than shops
Central Ardahan and Damal; the cloth doll is made by 23 women of the district and sold at the courthouse and governorate stands — unlike the goose it can be bought all year, in the summer window too.

Road notes

Artvin to Ardahan is 131 km and 2.3 hours without stops. Stop at Sahara Yaylası, Şavşat Kalesi and the viewpoints on the pass and the day spreads out comfortably; set off early and be over the summit before noon.
The last two stations beside the road are the Petrol Ofisi in central Şavşat and, 4.6 km further on, the one at Yavuz (Camiköy) where the climb begins; after Yavuz no fuel was found until you have crossed the pass and come down to Ardahan. Fill up at one of the two and buy your kete in the Şavşat bazaar — it is the last bakery before the climb.
The climb begins at Yavuz (Camiköy); the pass section from Yavuzköy to Sulakyurt runs 31.4 km. The road is paved all the way to the summit but reaches 14 per cent at its steepest — with a caravan or a heavy vehicle take it in a low gear and do not labour the engine.
In the lower section the Berta valley sheds rock onto the road. At the 31st kilometre out of Artvin, rock and earth off the slope closed it completely, and only a morning clean-up reopened it to controlled single-lane traffic; expect a controlled single lane and a queue on this stretch.
Sahara Yaylası sits right on the D010, 17 km from Şavşat — you see it without leaving the road. Karagöl is a separate detour: the district office says 25 km, Wikipedia says 45 km north of the town, so put the lake in your plan as a half day of its own.
Put the end of July in your plan. The 33rd Traditional International Şavşat Sahara Culture and Arts Festival was held on 24-26 July 2025 in the Sahara National Park and central Şavşat, and Şavşat Belediyesi announces the same dates for 2026 — confirm it from the municipality's notice before you set off. Both the plateau road and the beds in town then see the busiest days of the year.
The two sides of the pass are two climates. Winter in Ardahan runs from late September to mid-May; January averages -10.3 °C over ten years and August 16.7 °C. On the night of 3-4 January 2026 Göle was the coldest place in Türkiye at -39.7 °C, so do not go up to 2,470 m in what you wore in Artvin's mild Çoruh valley — take a windproof layer.
Cehennem Deresi Kanyonu is not on the road: turn onto the 08-05 provincial road at the Soğanlı-Ardanuç junction, at the 25th kilometre of the Artvin-Ardanuç road. The nature park is open around the clock, but the way down into the canyon runs over stony, steep paths; the Kültür Portalı advises carrying a bell or a stick against wildlife.

Along the way

Cehennem Deresi Kanyonu Tabiat Parkı
a canyon opening into the Ardanuç stream, its walls rising as much as 200 m, followed on foot by a stony path or watched from the road above
Şavşat (Satlel) Kalesi
a medieval castle founded by the Georgian Bagratids in the 9th-10th century and later used by the Ottomans; cistern, chapel remains and most of the walls still stand
Sahara Yaylası (Karagöl-Sahara Millî Parkı)
a broad plateau at 1,700-1,800 m ringed by spruce and fir, the half of the national park the road actually crosses and the stage of the late-July festival
Karagöl
a heart-shaped mountain lake held back by a landslide dam, inside spruce and pine forest, with rowing boats to hire and ice in winter
Çam (Sahara) Geçidi
the paved mountain pass at 2,466 m dividing Artvin from Ardahan, where Black Sea forest gives way to steppe; only a small hut stands at the top
Ardahan Kalesi
a rectangular fortress on the left bank of the Kura, built by the Georgians and repaired by the Ottomans in 1556, with Georgian and Armenian inscriptions on its walls

When to go

Summer (late June - mid-September)

Warnings

In winter the Çam (Sahara) Pass can close for days with blizzard and ice: on 19 January 2025 heavy vehicles were refused passage at the Sahara section of the Ardahan-Şavşat road, and 13 stranded vehicles were freed by the highways authority, AFAD, the police and the gendarmerie. The restriction does not stop at heavy vehicles: on 13 December 2025 the Şavşat district governorship announced that the Sahara Pass on the Şavşat-Ardahan road was temporarily closed to vehicle traffic because of heavy precipitation, blizzard and ice, and on the morning of 12 April 2026 a lorry sliding on the icy surface closed the pass completely, leaving dozens of vehicles stuck until the highways crews reopened the road stage by stage. Snow up to 2 metres deep has been measured at 2,470 m on the same stretch, and even in May vehicles have been stranded on the pass by blizzards.

Itinerary

Distances between stops were measured along the route's line and scaled to the total; that is why the last stop reads the route's own kilometres.

01 Artvin — Erzurum Caddesi
02 Soğanlı — Ardanuç kavşağı
03 Bağcılar seyir noktası
04 Dereiçi (Rabat) — 08-02 kavşağı
05 Köprüyaka
06 Veliköy kavşağı
07 Şavşat — D010 ilçe merkezi geçişi
08 Yavuz (Camiköy) — tırmanışın başı
09 Sahara Yaylası — Karagöl-Sahara Millî Parkı
10 Kocabey Yaylası seyir noktası
11 Çam (Sahara) Geçidi — 2.470 m
12 Değirmenli kavşağı
13 Ardahan — Kaptanpaşa

START ▶ Artvin — Erzurum Caddesi · FINISH ■ Ardahan — Kaptanpaşa

Artvin — Erzurum Caddesi (D010)0 km
Soğanlı — Ardanuç kavşağı (08-05)+30 km30 km
Bağcılar seyir noktası+11 km41 km
Dereiçi (Rabat) — 08-02 kavşağı+28 km69 km
Köprüyaka (Şindoban)+8 km77 km
Veliköy kavşağı (08-03)+1 km78 km
Şavşat — D010 ilçe merkezi geçişi+4 km82 km
Yavuz (Camiköy) — tırmanışın başı+5 km86 km
Sahara Yaylası — Karagöl-Sahara Millî Parkı+10 km96 km
Kocabey Yaylası seyir noktası+4 km101 km
Çam (Sahara) Geçidi — 2.470 m+5 km106 km
Değirmenli kavşağı+12 km118 km
Ardahan — Kaptanpaşa (merkez)+14 km131 km

Directions in Google Maps

Sources

61 SOURCES

This record is the counterpart of the route card on İz's Explore screen. The whole shelf, and how it was compiled, is on the route shelf. İz is live on Google Play and on the App Store.