Bursa – Uludağ Oteller Yolu (D575, Bakacak seyir yolu üzeri)

From 210 m to 1,877 m: Bursa's mountain road

DISTANCE: 37 km
DRIVING TIME: 1 h
STOPS: 12

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Car
Caravan

Directions in Google Maps İz on Google Play

01Bursa – Çekirge, 1. Murat Caddesi
02Yiğitali
03Uludağ Yolu Su Çeşmesi
04Dolubaba Hazretleri Türbesi
05Karabelen Millî Park kapısı
06Kirazlıyayla
07Sarıalan sapağı
08Oteller 1. Gelişim Bölgesi
09Oteller 1.–2. Bölge ayrımı
10Oteller 2. Gelişim Bölgesi
11Çobankaya Kamp Alanı
12Bakacak Seyir Terası

DRAWING · NOT A LIVE MAP© OpenStreetMap contributors

A mountain climb paved from end to end: from a spa quarter to a national park gate, then Türkiye's largest ski centre and the Bakacak viewing terrace.

Çekirge, the spa quarter at 210 m, was Byzantium's Pythia. The mountain above was Olympos in antiquity, then Keşiş Dağı; it took the name Uludağ in 1925. The north slope it climbs held 28 monasteries. Today's asphalt goes back to the graded road of 1933; the cable car beside it, opened in 1963, was Türkiye's first. The upper half sits in a 13,024-hectare national park declared in 1961, and Oteller, where the road ends, is the country's largest ski centre with 24 lifts and 31 pistes.

What to eat

İskender kebap (Bursa kebabı)
Thin slices of meat grilled on an upright spit, laid over pieces of buttered pide, covered with tomato sauce and melted butter, served with yoghurt.
Bursa Osmangazi; the Kayhan bazaar and the Tahtakale-Reyhan triangle, in the city before the D575 climb. It began in 1867 in a small shop in the Kayhan bazaar and moved to its first signed premises in 1928.
Bursa Kestane Şekeri
Chestnuts boiled and peeled, tied in muslin and steeped in simmering syrup, then finished plain or coated in chocolate.
Bursa Osmangazi, the Şekerciler Çarşısı; production in its present form began here in the early 1900s. The raw material is on this corridor: chestnut woods at 350-700 and 700-1000 m on Uludağ, inside the Çekirge-Karabelen climb. Registration no 652.
Bursa Cantığı
A filled pide of thicker, smaller dough, shaped as a boat or a round and baked with minced meat, onion and black pepper, sometimes cheese.
Made in the city bakeries of Bursa, a morning thing; picked up for breakfast on the Çekirge-Osmangazi line where the corridor starts. The minced-meat version is made as a type of its own in Tirilye, near Mudanya. Registered on 01.11.2021.
Bursa Pideli Köfte
Small meatballs of mince, onion, breadcrumb, cumin and pepper laid over flat tırnak pide, with hot butter and tomato sauce poured over and yoghurt alongside.
In the meatball houses of central Bursa; the second classic of the same bazaar quarter, for a lunch when İskender is too heavy. The registered name is simply Bursa Pideli Köfte (25.10.2021); do not confuse it with the pideli köfte of Mustafakemalpaşa.
Bursa Tahinli Pide
Oval dough brushed with tahini, rolled about a metre long, coiled and rested, then pressed thin and baked in a stone oven until golden.
From the stone-oven neighbourhood bakeries of Bursa, especially in Ramadan; road bread of the kind you buy before the climb and open at Kirazlıyayla or Sarıalan. It has a geographical indication registered on 01.11.2021.
İnegöl Köfte
Beef and lamb kneaded with salt, bicarbonate of soda, onion and fenugreek, deliberately kept light on spice, rolled and cooked over the grill.
In the meatball houses of central İnegöl, east of Bursa — not on the corridor itself, but the stop if you turn east on the way back. Migrants from the Balkans brought it in the late 19th century and production began in the 1930s.

What to buy

Bursa Kestane Şekeri
Chestnuts from the slopes of Uludağ, peeled and candied in syrup; boxed, it travels well and is the classic gift to carry home from Bursa.
The historic Şekerciler Çarşısı in the Hanlar quarter of Osmangazi; production has been in this bazaar since the early 1900s. Made from chestnuts grown on Uludağ. Türkpatent geographical indication 652 (20.01.2021), EU registration in 2025.
Bursa Kestanesi (çiğ / kavrulmuş kestane)
Sweet chestnuts grown at 400-600 m, very large at 53 to 55 nuts to the kilo, starchy and high in protein from the potassium-rich volcanic soil.
The İnkaya and Yiğitali (Çongara) villages of Osmangazi — the boundary of the registration is the first kilometres of the Uludağ road. Harvest is done by beating the branches with poles once the spiny husks open. Denomination of origin, Türkpatent 1514.
Bursa İpeği / Bursa ipekli dokumaları
Satin and velvet woven on the loom with silk and with gold and silver thread, sold today mostly as scarves and shawls.
Koza Han and İpek Han in the Hanlar quarter of Bursa Osmangazi, between the Ulu Cami and the Orhan Camii; both still sell silk and cotton weaves. Türkpatent geographical indication 425.
Bursa Havlusu
A jacquard-woven, tasselled towel whose weave descends from 15th-century Bursa velvets and has been made on hand looms since the early 18th century.
The towel sellers' rows in the Kapalı Çarşı and the Hanlar quarter of Bursa, shops that sell nothing but towels and hamam goods. Türkpatent 1519.
Bursa Bıçağı
Hand-forged knives and scissors, made in Bursa for centuries, with handles of horn or wood; the sharpeners still work in the bazaar.
Bursa Osmangazi, the Bıçakçılar Çarşısı inside the Kapalı Çarşı — the same bazaar core as İskender and the towel sellers, before the D575 climb. Türkpatent geographical indication.

Road notes

Çekirge to Bakacak is 37 km and 60 minutes without stops; one way, and you come back down the same road. The surface is asphalt from end to end and in very good condition, but steep in parts, with an average gradient of around 6 percent on the steepest 10.6 km section. Fill the tank in Çekirge — there is no petrol station on the mountain road.
The national park gate at Karabelen charges per vehicle: in 2025 a car pays 180 TL, a motorcycle or ATV 120 TL, a coach 1,800 TL. Without an HGS sticker you can pay at the booth by debit or credit card; leave it unpaid for 30 days and the fine is ten times the toll.
On summer weekends the exit from Çekirge jams, and the car parks at Oteller fill up in high season. Set off early; you want to reach the Karabelen gate before the queue builds.
Do not underestimate the altitude: Çekirge 210 m, Sarıalan 1,620 m, Oteller 1,877 m. The annual mean is 5.5 °C at Sarıalan and 4.6 °C at Oteller — throw a jacket in the car even in August.
Snow falls from October to May and reaches 150-400 cm above 1,700 m by late February — which is why the driving season is June to September. In winter snow tyres and chains are not optional. In heavy snow the traffic police stop cars without chains from going up past Karabelen, so the road can be open and still closed to you.
Go to Bakacak for the light: early morning, or late afternoon near sunset, because midday haze cuts the view badly. The Bakacak branch off Oteller is a narrow two-lane asphalt road — slow down for oncoming traffic even in summer. The terrace has a wide stone-paved car park and a small cafe serving hot tea. Once the heavy snow starts at the end of December this branch closes to civilian traffic until spring; in winter your route ends at Oteller.
If you would rather leave the car, there is the Teferrüç-Kadıyayla-Sarıalan-Oteller cable car: 9 km horizontally, the longest line in Türkiye, and 32 minutes 12 seconds for the full ride. Come up by cable car and you pay no national park fee.
Have breakfast down in the city: buy tahinli pide hot from the stone oven, and cantık is a morning thing. Take your road bread with you and open it at Kirazlıyayla or Sarıalan; pick up kestane şekeri from the Şekerciler Çarşısı on the way back.

Along the way

Bursa Eski Kaplıca (Çekirge)
An Ottoman thermal bath on Byzantine foundations, built in the reign of Murad I, in the spa quarter where the Uludağ road begins.
Karabelen Milli Park Giriş Kapısı
The national park toll gate where every vehicle pays, and where in snow cars without chains are turned back down the mountain.
Sarıalan
A meadow plateau at 1,620 m with a weather station, a cable-car station and the park's main ground for tents and caravans.
Oteller Bölgesi (1. ve 2. Bölge)
The hotel and ski-lift village at 1,877 m where the paved road ends, and where the branch to Bakacak turns off.
Bakacak Seyir Terası
A terrace on a ridge topped by a communications station, looking straight down over the whole of Bursa and the plain below.

When to go

Summer (June-September)

Warnings

The road is kept open all year, but short closures are common in winter when the weather turns dangerous. The real risk, though, is not the road closing but seizing up. On 28 December 2025 the way down locked solid because of drivers without snow tyres or chains; thousands of visitors were stuck for hours and the queue ran for kilometres from the summit to the city.

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 Bursa – Çekirge, 1. Murat Caddesi
02 Yiğitali
03 Uludağ Yolu Su Çeşmesi
04 Dolubaba Hazretleri Türbesi
05 Karabelen Millî Park kapısı
06 Kirazlıyayla
07 Sarıalan sapağı
08 Oteller 1. Gelişim Bölgesi
09 Oteller 1.–2. Bölge ayrımı
10 Oteller 2. Gelişim Bölgesi
11 Çobankaya Kamp Alanı
12 Bakacak Seyir Terası

START ▶ Bursa – Çekirge, 1. Murat Caddesi · FINISH ■ Bakacak Seyir Terası

Bursa – Çekirge, 1. Murat Caddesi0 km
Yiğitali (Uludağ Caddesi kenarı)+6 km6 km
Uludağ Yolu Su Çeşmesi+6 km12 km
Dolubaba Hazretleri Türbesi+5 km17 km
Karabelen Millî Park kapısı+4 km21 km
Kirazlıyayla+2 km23 km
Sarıalan sapağı (Uludağ Caddesi kavşağı)+4 km27 km
Oteller 1. Gelişim Bölgesi+4 km31 km
Oteller 1.–2. Bölge ayrımı+1 km31 km
Oteller 2. Gelişim Bölgesi+1 km32 km
Çobankaya Kamp Alanı+2 km34 km
Bakacak Seyir Terası+3 km37 km

Directions in Google Maps

Sources

50 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.