The living heart of the Kaçkar
Scattered through the valleys and high basins of the Kaçkar Mountains are the yaylas, traditional highland pastures where families from lower Black Sea villages have spent their summers for generations. Each yayla is a cluster of simple wooden houses, often with slate or corrugated roofs, arranged around open grazing land where cattle graze through the warmer months. Unlike a purely scenic mountain landscape, the Kaçkar's yaylas are still functioning agricultural communities: butter, cheese, and honey production continues alongside a growing tourism economy, and the rhythm of the plateaus still follows the herding calendar rather than the trekking season.
Of the dozens of named yaylas scattered across Rize and Artvin provinces, a handful stand out for their accessibility, scenery, or role as trekking bases: Ayder, Pokut, Sal, and Elevit, along with the town of Çat further up the valley system. Each has a distinct character, and together they form the backbone of most Kaçkar itineraries.
Ayder: the main gateway plateau
Ayder is the largest and most developed of the Kaçkar plateaus, sitting at around 1,350 meters at the head of the Fırtına valley in Rize province. It functions as the range's main trekking base, with a concentration of hotels, guesthouses, restaurants, and shops that no other yayla in the region matches, plus a well-known thermal hot spring facility that draws its own stream of visitors independent of trekking. Wooden chalet-style buildings climb the steep hillsides above the village center, and a network of walking trails fans out from Ayder toward the higher plateaus and glacial lake basins.
Because of its infrastructure, Ayder is the natural first and last stop for most Kaçkar trips: trekkers acclimatize here before heading into the high country, restock supplies, and often return for a final night of comfort — plus a hot spring soak — after several days of camping. It's also a comfortable standalone destination for travelers who want a taste of yayla life and mountain scenery without committing to a multi-day trek. See our how to get there guide for the full journey from Trabzon.
Pokut: the postcard viewpoint plateau
A three-to-four-hour uphill walk (or, in places, a rough 4x4 track) from Ayder brings you to Pokut, a small cluster of traditional wooden huts perched on a ridge with one of the most photographed views in the entire range: a sweeping panorama back down the forested Fırtına valley toward the distant haze of the Black Sea. Pokut is smaller and far less developed than Ayder, with only a handful of guesthouses, and its main draw is precisely that contrast between rustic simplicity and a spectacular outlook.
Many visitors treat Pokut as a day-hike target from Ayder, walking up in the morning, having lunch with the view, and returning by evening. Others stay overnight to catch the plateau in early morning light, when cloud often sits in the valley below while the ridge itself stays clear — one of the signature visual effects of the northern Kaçkar's wet, cloud-prone weather pattern.
Sal and Elevit: higher, quieter basins
Further into the range, Sal and Elevit sit at higher altitude and see considerably fewer visitors than Ayder or Pokut, offering a quieter, more traditional yayla experience. Sal, reached via trails branching off from the Pokut area or from separate valley approaches, is known for its more open, rolling highland scenery, while Elevit — one of the larger and more storied yaylas in the eastern part of the range — sits amid broader pasture land with views toward the higher peaks of the massif.
Both plateaus are used as intermediate stops on longer multi-day treks rather than standalone day-trip destinations, given their distance from the main road network, and accommodation, where it exists at all, tends to be basic homestay-style lodging rather than proper guesthouses. For trekkers seeking yayla scenery without the crowds that build up around Ayder in peak summer, Sal and Elevit are worth building into a multi-day itinerary — see our trekking routes guide for specific route options that pass through them.
Çat and the southern valley villages
On the approach toward the range's interior valleys, the town of Çat serves as a secondary trailhead and supply point, particularly for routes that don't run through the main Ayder corridor. Smaller and quieter than Ayder, Çat nonetheless has basic services and marks the point where paved road access gives way to the trekking network feeding into the higher basins. On the southern side of the range, villages around Barhal and Yaylalar play a similar role, serving as the last points of civilization before trekkers head up toward the passes and glacial lakes described in our glacial lakes guide.
Visiting the yaylas respectfully
Because these plateaus remain working agricultural communities rather than purpose-built tourist sites, a few courtesies go a long way: ask before photographing people or their homes, keep dogs and livestock in mind on shared trails, and support the local economy by staying in yayla guesthouses and buying local dairy and honey where offered. Many families welcome the additional income tourism brings, and a respectful visit helps keep that relationship positive as trekking numbers in the range continue to grow. Whether your itinerary includes just Ayder and Pokut or the full chain through Sal, Elevit, and beyond, the yaylas are as central to the Kaçkar experience as the peaks and lakes themselves.