St Paul Trail: Perge to Yalvaç · Stage 1
Walking time measured on the mapped line (TrailSplits time model, moving time; within 22 % on four in five test legs). Outside Switzerland our walking times often run short of the times route operators publish; treat them as optimistic. Climb measured on the mapped line, on terrain heights.
From the colonnaded street of Perge, which the Ministry of Culture and Tourism gives as the start of St Paul's Way, north to the Kurşunlu waterfall: 8.1 km by our line; the society publishes no stage distance or time. The site is open 08:00 to 19:00 (tickets until 18:30); its theatre is closed for restoration. Around the waterfall, take care to find the way and use a GPS, the society says. The night is at a campsite.
Best season: Spring and autumn. Spring and autumn are best, Culture Routes in Turkey says; July and August are hot. It advises against trekking from mid-December to the end of January, when storms and snow cross Turkey. The trail climbs from near sea level at Perge to about 1,700 m on our line, and no snow dates are published for the high ground. Before you go
Facts read from the guide's sources and OpenStreetMap on 13 October 2026. A page can change after we read it, so confirm with your accommodation before you rely on a date or a bed.
Stage start
Town
The start, at the ancient city of Perge in Aksu, about 10 km east of Antalya. The Ministry of Culture and Tourism gives the colonnaded street here as the start of St Paul's Way. Culture Routes in Turkey lists the Perge Restaurant and Pension, and pensions in Antalya's old town (Kaleiçi).
A town or village: find accommodation yourself. TrailSplits has not checked what is open.
Stage end · overnight
Town
The Kurşunlu waterfall nature park. Culture Routes in Turkey lists the Gizli Vadi campsite near the waterfall, with toilets, showers and a restaurant; it offers airport pick-ups. Camping only: there are no rooms on the list here.
A town or village: find accommodation yourself. TrailSplits has not checked what is open.
No walking time is published for this leg. Measured on the mapped line, the stage takes about 2 h 19 of walking.
Make it your trip
There is no central booking and no hut system. The stays are small pensions, village houses and homestays, most of them one family with a few beds, booked by phone, often the day before. Their contacts are on Culture Routes in Turkey's accommodation list of 27 December 2025 (read 13 October 2026). The society cannot book for you. The Lale Pension in Eğirdir books stays along the trail, such as Sağrak and Dikmen Farm, and arranges transfers. Where no stay is listed, villagers may offer you a bed, the society says, but on the longer sections you must camp. Only Eğirdir and Yalvaç, on this part of the trail, have plenty of beds.
The West and North branches in 15 days, a night at a village at the end of each.
Plan this journeyThe West Branch from the coast up to Sütçüler, by Pednelissos and the Yazılı Canyon.
Plan this journeyThe North Branch from Lake Eğirdir to Pisidian Antioch, with the car round the bay.
Plan this journeyLoading the forecast for on the trail (60 m)…
Typical weather on this stage, around 22–97 m. Select a month to see why it is rated as it is.
| Month | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weather | Good | Good | Good | Good | Mixed | Poor | Poor | Poor | Poor | Mixed | Good | Good |
| Day / night | 13°/3° | 15°/4° | 18°/7° | 22°/10° | 27°/14° | 33°/18° | 36°/21° | 35°/21° | 32°/17° | 27°/13° | 21°/8° | 15°/5° |
| Rain, mm | 150 | 90 | 64 | 46 | 46 | 13 | 8 | 8 | 25 | 57 | 85 | 141 |
| Snow at high point | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Daylight | 9 h 53 | 10 h 49 | 11 h 54 | 13 h 06 | 14 h 07 | 14 h 41 | 14 h 29 | 13 h 37 | 12 h 29 | 11 h 19 | 10 h 14 | 9 h 39 |
Source: TerraClimate 1991–2020 monthly averages. Averages for the area at each point’s elevation (4 km grid, corrected for height). Not a forecast or a report of current trail conditions. Snow at the high point is estimated with a simple snowpack model from these temperatures and precipitation, not observed; steep islands and high summits can hold more snow than it shows. Daylight is for the 15th of each month. Hut, transport and park seasons are separate: check them for your dates.
Before you go
Arrange your stays, food and travel first, then check conditions again near departure.
The boat from Dikmen Farm across the bay to Kemerdamları stopped in July 2020, when its licence ran out. The farm host now drives walkers round instead: arrange it, with your night at the farm, through the Lale Pension in Eğirdir. The society's accommodation list and Turkish page still mention a boat, so ask the pension how you will cross. Our map draws those 3.4 km as a gap, not as walking (Culture Routes in Turkey, route updates, read 13 October 2026).
Culture Routes in Turkey: route updatesThe society's route updates, checked 13 October 2026, date from 2017 to 2021. The path near Akpınar was moved away from marble quarries in November 2020, and the route after Yukarı Gökdere left the national park. A stone quarry works near the route between Haskızılören and Çandır: do not camp there. Between Adada and Sipahiler, take the route on the west side of the river. Use a GPS or the society's app around the Kurşunlu waterfall, Pednelissos and Yukarı Gökdere, and after Haskızılören. Where the waymarks differ from our line, follow the waymarks.
Culture Routes in Turkey: route updates (Turkish)In summer, the provinces' forest-fire commissions can close forests to visitors. On 28 August 2026 the Isparta Governorate told the police to tighten checks where forest entry is restricted; no ban for the trail's districts was in force on the Isparta or Antalya governorate pages, checked 13 October 2026. Check them before you set off from June to October. Light fires only in existing fireplaces, the society says.
Isparta Governorate: announcementsEvery village has a clean water source, and you usually pass at least one a day, but a well may need a bucket and string. Treat well water from June to the end of October, when the flocks move. Carry a phone and a GPS or the society's app, and do not walk in mist (Culture Routes in Turkey, FAQ, read 13 October 2026). For an emergency call 112, Turkey's single emergency number, which also reaches the gendarmerie.
Culture Routes in Turkey: FAQ for trekkersThe official sections, with a description and time for each, are only in the society's paid guidebook (second edition, 2012, updated in 2013) and its Trekking in Turkey and Via Eurasia apps. The society posted its new routes and alternatives near Eğirdir and Barla in November 2020 (checked 13 October 2026). This guide's days are ours, cut at villages with stays.
Culture Routes in Turkey: new and changed routesGetting there
Travel around Perge to Kurşunlu waterfall.
Google Maps journey searches, not confirmed services. A mountain endpoint may need a booked transfer or an additional walk.
From Antalya airport, buses 600 and 800 and Havaş run to the city about every half hour, and the tram stops opposite the terminals. From Antalya, city bus AC03 runs to Aksu every 15 minutes by day, or take the tram; the site is signed from the traffic lights in Aksu. These times are from the society's transport page, last updated in July 2021: check them locally.
Culture Routes in Turkey: transportBuses link Isparta and Eğirdir with Sipahiler and Sütçüler several times a day, some by Yukarı Gökdere; one bus a day runs between Antalya and Sütçüler, some by Çandır. A village minibus leaves Isparta at 13:30 for Çandır and comes back at 06:00; three a day run between Isparta and Barla. The society's transport page, from July 2021, has the timetables.
Culture Routes in Turkey: transportAbout 20 buses a day run from Yalvaç to Eğirdir and Isparta, from 06:00 to 20:00, and a direct bus leaves Yalvaç for Antalya at 06:30 (it comes up from Antalya at 16:00). Yalvaç's bus station is south-west of the centre. Times from the society's transport page of July 2021.
Culture Routes in Turkey: transportTake your trip with you
Prepare each day while you still have a connection: the signal is poor in some villages, Sağrak among them, and the society advises a GPS or its app on poorly marked stretches.
Keep your route and maps on your phone for places without a signal. For multi-day trips, prepare them in the installed TrailSplits app.
Saving a bookmark is not a map download. Storage can be cleared by your device; keep a backup map for remote trips.
Route & sources
Culture Routes in Turkey (Kültür Rotaları Derneği), the society that made and keeps the trail, gives the St Paul Trail as about 500 km and 27 days with all its branches and alternatives. It publishes no stage table and no stage times online: the sections and their times are only in its paid guidebook and its apps. This page covers the West and North branches, from Perge to Yalvaç. The East Branch, from the Roman bridge above Beşkonak by Selge, Çaltepe, Çukurca, Kesme and Kasımlar to Adada, is not on our map. The line here is the route on OpenStreetMap (relation 569620, from the planet of 11 October 2026): 272.4 km, cut into 15 days. Each day ends at a village on the society's own accommodation list of 27 December 2025, except Aksaz and Kozan, which have no listed stay. The distances, climb and times are ours, measured on terrain heights, not official. Two short stretches are not mapped as one line: 103 m before Çandır, drawn straight (follow the waymarks), and 104 m at Adada, joined by our routing. Across Lake Eğirdir, from Dikmen Farm to Kemerdamları, there is no walking route: the farm host drives walkers round, and those 3.4 km are drawn as a gap, not counted as walking.
Official guidance and mapped-source comparison checked 13 October 2026. Map data is a route reference, not confirmation of today's path, weather or accommodation availability.
Culture Routes in Turkey: St Paul TrailMap data © OpenStreetMap contributors · Source relation