Routes DOĞU KARADENİZ

Trabzon – Gümüşhane Eski Zigana Yolu (D885 / E97, Maçka–Torul)

Transit took the tunnel; the 2,032 m pass is yours

DISTANCE: 121 km
DRIVING TIME: 1 h 48 min
STOPS: 11

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Car
Caravan
Lorry

Directions in Google Maps İz on Google Play

01Trabzon – Anadolu Bulvarı, D885'in kuzey ucu
02Maçka Kavşağı
03Eski Trabzon–Gümüşhane yolu ayrımı
04Anayurt köyü
05Hamsiköy
06Zigana Çığ Tüneli
07Zigana Geçidi zirvesi
08Zigana Köyü – Limni Gölü Yolu ayrımı
09Torul kuzey kavşağı
10Torul girişi
11Gümüşhane merkez

DRAWING · NOT A LIVE MAP© OpenStreetMap contributors

A 121 km mountain stage from Trabzon up the Değirmendere valley, over Zigana's 2,032 m pass on the old road, and down through Torul to Gümüşhane.

Zigana is where the Silk Road crossed from the Black Sea into Anatolia: a 2,032 m pass 60 km from Gümüşhane, snow-covered five months a year. Xenophon's Ten Thousand are said to have returned this way; Torul first appears in his account in the 400s BC. The 1,702 m tunnel of 1988 crosses at 1,795 m; the 14.48 km New Zigana Tunnel, opened 3 May 2023, is Türkiye's longest road tunnel, and it took the transit traffic away and cut out 90 bends. Sümela, Hamsiköy rice pudding and Torul's 240 m glass terrace follow.

What to eat

Hamsiköy Sütlacı
Rice pudding of raw cow's milk, rice and sugar, cooked 40-45 minutes in two pans with no starch or flour to thicken it.
Hamsiköy (Maçka), the village where the Zigana climb begins, at 1,200-1,600 m; at the roadside pudding houses, cooked in two pans for 40-45 minutes without starch, with cinnamon and hazelnut if you want them.
Gümüşhane Sironu
Thin dough part-baked over an open flame on an iron plate, folded several times and cut small, then eaten hot under yoghurt, browned butter and walnut.
Gümüşhane centre; the Hasan Fehmi Ataç Konağı on Cumhuriyet Caddesi in Hasanbey Mahallesi makes siron, lemis and kete on Mondays — baked on a plate coated with oak ash, then dressed with yoghurt, browned butter and walnut.
Gümüşhane Kömesi
Walnut halves threaded on string and dipped at least three times into a thick paste of mulberry juice, honey and flour, drying between dips.
At the pestil and köme workshops in Gümüşhane centre; the province has 27 plants and a yearly capacity of 5,000 tonnes.
Gümüşhane Dut Pestili
A sheet of mulberry juice thickened with honey, milk and flour, spread on cloth and dried, with walnut or hazelnut scattered in as it is spread.
Gümüşhane centre, from the same counter as köme; a leaf-thin sweet of mulberry juice with honey, milk and flour — the milk and honey are what set it apart from the pestil of other regions.
Gümüşhane Şeker Fasulyesi (kuru fasulye)
A white haricot bean with a lemon-yellow mark at its navel, soft and faintly floury, cooked in 13-18 minutes without falling apart.
Torul and Gümüşhane centre, which is the second half of the route; grown between 800 and 1,800 m without artificial fertiliser.
Gümüşhane Deleme Peyniri
A semi-hard cow's cheese made without rennet: the curd is boiled in full-fat milk and kneaded by hand, melts when heated and tastes faintly sharp.
Gümüşhane centre and its villages; sold fresh or matured under the ground for at least three months.

What to buy

Hamsiköy Sütlacı
Registered rice pudding sold by the bowl, made to one litre of raw milk, 60 g of rice and 70 g of sugar; it is bought to be eaten the same day.
Hamsiköy (Maçka), 48 km from Trabzon and 19 km from Maçka at 1,300 m; the village works 3-5 tonnes of milk a day into 9-15 thousand puddings — choose places whose sign carries the registration emblem, and eat it the same day.
Gümüşhane Kömesi
A sausage-shaped sweet of strung walnuts dipped in mulberry syrup thickened with flour and milk — dense, high in energy and it keeps well on the road.
The pestil and köme workshops and their shops in Gümüşhane centre, 27 plants in the province; look on the packet for the Gümüşhane name, the registration emblem and the producer, date and contents, and do not buy it loose.
Gümüşhane Dut Pestili
A thin dried sheet of mulberry juice cooked with flour, milk and honey and enriched with walnut or hazelnut; the real thing is soft and glossy.
The workshops in Gümüşhane centre and their shops; buy it packaged, labelled and carrying the registration emblem — what is sold loose cannot be traced.
Kürtün Araköy Ekmeği
A 3.5-5 kg round stone-oven loaf raised on sourdough alone, its base 7-9 mm thick and its crust heavy enough to keep for days.
Kürtün, at the junction of the D885 and the D877; the loaf is made in Araköy with sourdough only and stands up well to a journey — when it is sold unwrapped, look for the geographical indication emblem on the shelf.
Gümüşhane Deleme Peyniri
A semi-hard, pore-free cheese with at least 18 percent protein in dry matter that melts when heated — the cheese for a breakfast pan.
Producers and cheesemongers within the province of Gümüşhane; at least 18 percent protein in dry matter and it melts when heated, so it belongs in the breakfast pan — the packet should carry the name and the registration emblem.
Gümüşhane Sironu
Folded, part-baked sheets of dough cut into 1-2 cm pieces and dried; heat them at home and dress them with yoghurt, butter and walnut.
Producers in Gümüşhane centre; because the registration is used as a brand mark it is sold branded and packaged, and the registration is run by the Gümüşhane Provincial Special Administration (Yeni Mahalle No:4-6, Merkez).

Road notes

The whole route is 121 km and 1.8 hours, and stops stretch that easily. The turn onto the old road comes just before the mouth of the new Zigana tunnel; miss it and the tunnel carries you down to Torul without the summit, so mark the turn on your plan.
Transit traffic has used the 14.48 km new tunnel since 3 May 2023; the crossing is free and saves a car about 10 minutes. Take the old road if you want the view: it costs you roughly 7 km of extra mountain bends.
Hamsiköy sits at 1,200 m, 19 km from Maçka, and it is the last village stop before the climb. The permanent population is 365, so everything is at village scale — on busy days count on queueing for the rice pudding.
The summit stands at 2,032 m, and the temperature drops about five degrees as you cross from the Trabzon slope to the Gümüşhane slope. Take an extra layer even in summer. The summit lies under snow roughly five months a year and the snow season on the old road runs November to April, so keep it out of your plan then; the 1988 tunnel at 1,795 m and the new tunnel stay open all year.
Sümela is not on the driving line: you turn off in the centre of Maçka and drive about 17 km into the Altındere Valley National Park, so 34 km there and back plus the visit. If you are driving Zigana the same day, put Sümela in the morning.
There is no public transport to Limni Gölü — you get there only in your own vehicle, turning off at Zigana Köyü, 18-20 km from Torul. In 2025 entry starts at 60 ₺ a person, 120 ₺ for a motorcycle or ATV, 180 ₺ for a car and 540 ₺ for a caravan or minibus.
The glass viewing terrace at the entrance to Torul is only 2 km off the main road. The platform is 90 m² and stands 240 m above the ground, holding 50 people at once; write the chance of a queue on busy days into your plan.
Siron is made on Mondays in Gümüşhane: the Hasan Fehmi Ataç Konağı on Cumhuriyet Caddesi in Hasanbey Mahallesi turns out siron, lemis and kete that day. Buy pestil and köme packaged and carrying the registration emblem.

Along the way

Sümela Manastırı
A Byzantine cave monastery built into a sheer cliff at 1,150 m in the Altındere valley, founded in AD 365-395 and painted inside.
Hamsiköy
A 1,200 m mountain village on the old Silk Road whose rice pudding is a registered speciality — the classic coffee-and-dessert stop before the climb.
Zigana Geçidi zirvesi (2.032 m)
The 2,032 m Silk Road pass where the forested mist of the Black Sea gives way to the dry Anatolian side; the high point of the old road.
Zigana Köyü
A historic Silk Road village on the slopes of Zigana that turns red, orange and green in autumn — the reason drivers skip the tunnel on purpose.
Limni Gölü Tabiat Parkı
A small lake ringed by spruce forest inside a 72-hectare nature park, with marked trails, picnic areas and wooden bungalows to rent.
Torul Kalesi Cam Seyir Terası
A glass platform cantilevered from a Byzantine castle rock 240 m above the Harşit valley: 90 m² of reinforced glass holding up to 50 people.

When to go

Late spring / Summer / Early autumn

Warnings

The pass is known for avalanches, blizzards and rock fall; an avalanche on 11 February 2020 closed the road and damaged three vehicles on the move, and it reopened two hours later on a single lane. The snow season runs November to April and the sources list the risks as snow, blizzard, avalanche, black ice and thick fog — even in late summer the summit cools overnight and can carry morning black ice; when the road closes, the new tunnel is the year-round alternative.

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 Trabzon – Anadolu Bulvarı, D885'in kuzey ucu
02 Maçka Kavşağı
03 Eski Trabzon–Gümüşhane yolu ayrımı
04 Anayurt köyü
05 Hamsiköy
06 Zigana Çığ Tüneli
07 Zigana Geçidi zirvesi
08 Zigana Köyü – Limni Gölü Yolu ayrımı
09 Torul kuzey kavşağı
10 Torul girişi
11 Gümüşhane merkez

START ▶ Trabzon – Anadolu Bulvarı, D885'in kuzey ucu · FINISH ■ Gümüşhane merkez

Trabzon – Anadolu Bulvarı, D885'in kuzey ucu0 km
Maçka Kavşağı (D885 – ilçe merkezi bağlantısı)+29 km29 km
Eski Trabzon–Gümüşhane yolu ayrımı (Güzelce/Bağışlı)+19 km48 km
Anayurt köyü (eski yol kenarı)+6 km54 km
Hamsiköy+4 km59 km
Zigana Çığ Tüneli (zirve yolu)+13 km72 km
Zigana Geçidi zirvesi (2.032 m)+2 km74 km
Zigana Köyü – Limni Gölü Yolu ayrımı+12 km86 km
Torul kuzey kavşağı (eski yolun D885'e katılımı)+8 km94 km
Torul girişi (Cam Seyir Terası sapağı)+3 km97 km
Gümüşhane merkez (Trabzon–Gümüşhane yolu)+23 km121 km

Directions in Google Maps

Sources

53 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.