Whether looking for a place to ski, snowboard, or just a place to picnic in the snow, Mt. Erciyes is the place for you! A non-active volcano located in Kayseri, the ski area has many slopes including a brand new one which opened this weekend!
The new slope has a cafe at the bottom of the hill. There is a beautiful new “gondola” which can hold about 8 people in each car.
That takes you up the mountain to approximately 2645 meters.
There is another restaurant located at that point serving hot drinks, kebabs, and grilled meats.
On a sunny day, it’s lovely to sit out on the balcony and take in the views.
From that point, there are actually two trails. One utilizes the gondola for a return trip up the hill. The other has a traditional bench-style ski lift.
The new slopes are not as wide as the older trails.
So if you prefer snowboarding, the older slopes may be better for you.
The older slope has at least two trails as well with t-bar style lifts.
. . . and a small cafe at the bottom of the hill. Of course, you have to deal with loud booming American music. Too bad they don’t recognize that the lyrics are filthy!
There is lots of fun for everyone!
The Grand Opening of the new slopes is set for February 19th. It is unclear what the costs will be to ski here. This weekend, the new slopes were free. Apparently, the mayor of Kayseri has decided not to charge for the entire season. We will see about that!
If you are going, it is a very easy and direct trip by car from Ankara. You can also go with public transportation. Take the bus to Kayseri’s City Center. Then take the Develi bus to Erciyes. It will take you to the old slopes. There is a connection to get you to the new slopes (although it was still closed this weekend.)
According to a printed brochure (which I can’t fully read), there are 11 lifts and and 13 trails, with many more coming next year. Give their website a try. The links are currently not working. Perhaps they will work for you!
Here is a short clip taken with the new GoPro camera. Check YouTube often for more vidoes!
For more info, visit these links: http://www.kayseri.bel.tr/web2/uploads/images/erciyesturizmmerkezi/analizler.jpg
http://www.kayseri.bel.tr/web2/index.php?page=erciyes-master-plani
2014 Update: The cost to use the trails/lifts is only 25tl per day per person.
Adventures in Ankara 
I wanted to vist here when I was in Kayseri but hubby would not go because he said we don’t ski!!! Looks great fun and I love your pictures.
“Oh Honey!” I don’t ski either. But I really enjoyed it. (And I did look the part, didn’t I?) I have lots more pics and videos to add . . . somewhere. Tsk-tsk to the hubby. Thanks!
Would love to see Turkey become more famous for skiing. There’s so much going on here. I’ve been skiing once and loved it but never been with Barry because I know we’ll end up in A+E if he goes!! 😉 He’s a bit accident prone. I’d like to sit in one of those cafes though, enjoying the snow scenes.
Julia
Hi Julia. I was quite surprised by the amount of people there and how nice the new gondola was. I don’t know what I expected. There should be hotels going up in the next few years. I heard the total budget was about 200 million Euro.
These pictures are great. Our friends are going down this weekend. I can’t go due to a previous engagement but want to take the family down at some point. The price is good but with 9 of us, it will be a chunk of change!
I hope you get a chance to go soon Duke. It was really fun. If you do the free slopes, that is the perfect price for 9! Bring a grill. People were grilling in the snow – evverywhere! They had to kick them out of the restaurant parking lot! I believe the older slopes are 2TL per run.
nice photos – but ‘Brrrrrrrrr!’
Hey You! Labeling your photos? Is someone using them without permission?
Last time I went skiing in Turkey, we had to ski round families having picnics on the slopes and melting holes in the ski runs with their barbeques. Is this still a hazzard?
Hi Annie! Thanks for reading the blog! Yes, there are still crazy BBQ’ers out there. But they are limited to the parking lots now. I didn’t see any on the slops. It didn’t look any more hazzardous than skiing and snowboarding usually are!