The West and North branches of the St Paul Trail, from the ruins of Perge near Antalya to Yalvaç, by Pisidian Antioch: the Kurşunlu waterfall, the Yazılı Canyon, Adada, Lake Eğirdir and the villages of the Taurus mountains, in fifteen days from village to village.
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
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Fifteen days, ending at villages on Culture Routes in Turkey's accommodation list, of about 8 to 28 km by our line. Two days are long: Yukarı Gökdere to Eğirdir takes about 8 h 45 of walking, and Eğirdir to Barla about 8 h 40, and no listed stay lies between to shorten them. Aksaz and Kozan have no listed stay: ask in the village, or carry a tent. Most hosts are one family with a few beds, so book each night ahead. Choose a plan, or pick your own start, finish and nights below.
Changing where you stay suggests a new number of days: the fewest that keep each day under 8 h of walking and in daylight, where a place to stay allows.
Days end where the route has a stay, a camp or a village.
Stage 1: 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.
Kurşunlu waterfall Town or village
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.
Find your own accommodation; TrailSplits has not checked what is open.
Stage 2: Along the plain and the hills north of the waterfall to Aksaz: 21.9 km by our line. Aksaz has no stay on the society's list: ask in the village or camp.
Aksaz Town or village
A village with no stay on Culture Routes in Turkey's list. The society says villagers may offer you a bed where none is listed, and that on the longer sections you must camp: carry a tent, and ask in the village.
Find your own accommodation; TrailSplits has not checked what is open.
Stage 3: Up from the plain to Kozan, by the ruins of Pednelissos: 18.7 km and about 790 m of climb by our line. The way to Pednelissos follows an old Roman road; use a GPS to find it. Kozan has no stay of its own on the list: the restaurant rooms at Pednelissos, south of the village, are the nearest listed beds.
Kozan Town or village
A village with no stay of its own on Culture Routes in Turkey's list. The list names a restaurant with rooms for about 10 by the ruins of Pednelissos, south of the village; we could not place it on the map, so ask ahead. Otherwise ask in the village or camp.
Find your own accommodation; TrailSplits has not checked what is open.
Stage 4: On by old Roman roads and up to Haskızılören: 16 km and about 930 m of climb by our line. The night is camping only, in the picnic gazebos at Pınargözü, with no shower.
Haskızılören Town or village
Camping only, Culture Routes in Turkey's list says: tents in the picnic gazebos at Pınargözü, with no shower.
Find your own accommodation; TrailSplits has not checked what is open.
km 13.3–13.4: Not mapped: follow the waymarks.
Stage 5: Down to Çandır by the Yazılı Canyon: 23.1 km by our line, with about 1,460 m of descent. For about 9 km after Haskızılören some stretches need a GPS, the society says. A stone quarry works day and night near the route: do not camp there, and you may follow the river below the road down to Yıldız. At about km 13 our line has a 103 m gap drawn straight: follow the waymarks.
Overnight
Hotel
Pick a date to check the season.
The village by the Yazılı Canyon. Culture Routes in Turkey lists three stays: the Canlar hotel and trout restaurant (10 rooms, 20 beds, transfers), about 1.4 km from the stage end; seven wooden cottages run by the nature park; and the Turkish Mountaineering Federation's camp area, with water, showers and toilets.
Or a room in the village. Find your own accommodation; TrailSplits has not checked what is open.
Stage 6: Up from the canyon to Sütçüler: 14.7 km and about 1,220 m of climb by our line. The society names a second way, down into the canyon and over the Roman road. Sütçüler has buses to Isparta, Eğirdir and Antalya.
Sütçüler Town or village
A small district town with buses to Isparta, Eğirdir and Antalya. Culture Routes in Turkey lists the municipality's Eagle's Nest (Kartal Yuvası) site at Sarıçam: 17 room-tents with shower and toilet and 5 wooden houses with a kitchen. Take a taxi from the centre.
Find your own accommodation; TrailSplits has not checked what is open.
Stage 7: A short day north to Sağrak and the ruins of Adada, where the West and East branches meet: 10.1 km by our line. Book the Sağrak homestay through the Lale Pension in Eğirdir: the phone signal in the village is poor.
Sağrak Town or village
The village by the ruins of Adada, where the West and East branches meet. Culture Routes in Turkey lists a homestay with beds, meals and a hot shower; the phone signal is poor, so book it through the Lale Pension in Eğirdir. The list also names a 12-room hotel in Yeniköy, about 4 km east.
Find your own accommodation; TrailSplits has not checked what is open.
km 3.4–3.6: Joined by our routing here; the waymarked route may differ.
Stage 8: North from Adada up the valley to Sipahiler: 12.1 km by our line. Near the start our routing joins a 104 m gap. Rubbish lies in the riverbed between Adada and Sipahiler: take the route on the west side of the river, as the society's guidebook describes.
Sipahiler Town or village
Culture Routes in Turkey lists a small building opposite the teahouse with 5 beds, a bathroom and a tiny kitchen, and room for more over the mosque: ask at the teahouse. Buses between Sütçüler and Isparta pass through.
Find your own accommodation; TrailSplits has not checked what is open.
Stage 9: Over to Yukarı Gökdere: 17.4 km by our line. The society's Turkish updates say the route goes from Askerpınar straight to Kovada and round the lake to Kırıntı, which has a stay. Around Yukarı Gökdere, use the society's app until the waymarks are renewed.
Yukarı Gökdere Town or village
Culture Routes in Turkey lists a village guesthouse with food; the host can arrange transfers. Some buses between Sütçüler and Isparta run this way.
Find your own accommodation; TrailSplits has not checked what is open.
Stage 10: The long day to Eğirdir: 27.4 km and about 1,220 m of climb by our line, about 8 h 45 of walking, with no listed stay between. After Yukarı Gökdere the route was moved outside the national park, at the park authority's request. Near Akpınar, the society rerouted and waymarked the path away from marble quarries in November 2020; from Akpınar into Eğirdir it follows the asphalt road. Follow the waymarks where they differ from our line.
Overnight
Hotel
Pick a date to check the season.
Overnight
Hotel
Pick a date to check the season.
Overnight
Hotel
Pick a date to check the season.
The lakeside town is the trail's main hub for transport and beds. Culture Routes in Turkey lists the Lale, Fulya and Charly's pensions, open all year, with rooms with their own or a shared bathroom. The Lale Pension also books stays along the trail, guides and transfers.
Or a room in the village. Find your own accommodation; TrailSplits has not checked what is open.
Stage 11: From Eğirdir round the lake's west side to Barla: 27.7 km and about 1,120 m of climb by our line, about 8 h 40 of walking. No stay is confirmed between: Bağören, about 4 km before Barla, has a house the Lale Pension's owner bought to become a guesthouse, still written as a plan on the list of 27 December 2025.
Barla Town or village
Culture Routes in Turkey lists a village homestay with two rooms and food; the host can arrange transfers. Village minibuses run to Isparta.
Find your own accommodation; TrailSplits has not checked what is open.
Stage 12: From Barla to Dikmen Farm on the lake shore: 16.8 km by our line. The society's section over Çam Dağı is high, with little water or shade in summer; it added a lower way from Barla cemetery, past a fountain. Book the farm through the Lale Pension.
Dikmen Farm Town or village
A farm on the west shore of Lake Eğirdir, with basic rooms and meals, mostly lake fish, Culture Routes in Turkey's list says. Book it through the Lale Pension in Eğirdir. The farm host drives walkers round the bay to Kemerdamları the next morning.
Find your own accommodation; TrailSplits has not checked what is open.
By bus, train, ferry or car: 3.4 km with no walking route (see the stage's notes), not in the walking distance or time.
km 0.0–3.4: No walking route here: the official route crosses by bus, train, ferry or car. See the operator's description.
Stage 13: The day starts with the crossing of Lake Eğirdir's bay, from Dikmen Farm to Kemerdamları: the boat stopped in July 2020, when its licence ran out, and the farm host now drives walkers round. Arrange it through the Lale Pension. Those 3.4 km are drawn as a gap and are not counted as walking. Then 16.3 km on foot to Aşağı Tırtar. When the lake is low, you can walk along the shore from Kemerdamları.
Aşağı Tırtar Town or village
Culture Routes in Turkey lists a village host who can help with food, a room or a place to camp.
Find your own accommodation; TrailSplits has not checked what is open.
Stage 14: Across the hills to Eyüpler: 16 km by our line. The Eyüpler homestay has 2 rooms for 4 people: book it ahead.
Eyüpler Town or village
Culture Routes in Turkey lists a homestay with 2 rooms for 4 people; the host speaks French.
Find your own accommodation; TrailSplits has not checked what is open.
Stage 15: To Yalvaç: 22.8 km by our line. The ruins of Pisidian Antioch lie about 2 km north of the town centre. Yalvaç has buses to Eğirdir, Isparta and Antalya.
Longest day: day 10, 8 h 43.
Days end at a stage end with a refuge or a village, or in a village the route passes through. Walking times are measured on each stage's mapped line by our route analysis (terrain heights and our hiking-time model, moving time only): no time is published for these stages.Outside Switzerland our walking times often run short of the times route operators publish; treat them as optimistic. Running times use 7.5 km/h plus one hour per 700 m of climb: a steady reference, not a prediction. Daylight is sunrise to sunset where the day starts; the time left is for breaks, meals and delays.Refuge dates come from the operator's own pages; when they are not published, we say so. For villages we count the places to stay OpenStreetMap lists; we have not checked which are open. A plan is not a booking: reserve every night before you commit to these day lengths.
Where each stage ends, the 2026 and 2027 seasons the operator publishes, and how to book. Read from the operators' pages on 13 October 2026; each stage page shows the sources and the grade profile.
| Stage | Night at | 2026 | 2027 | Booking |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Perge to Kurşunlu waterfall | Kurşunlu waterfall · accommodation in town, not checked | Each host has its own season | Book with a host | |
| 2. Kurşunlu waterfall to Aksaz | Aksaz · accommodation in town, not checked | Each host has its own season | Book with a host | |
| 3. Aksaz to Kozan | Kozan · accommodation in town, not checked | Each host has its own season | Book with a host | |
| 4. Kozan to Haskızılören | Haskızılören · accommodation in town, not checked | Each host has its own season | Book with a host | |
| 5. Haskızılören to Çandır | Canlar Hotel and trout restaurant | 2026 dates not published | not published | Booking method not published |
| 6. Çandır to Sütçüler | Sütçüler · accommodation in town, not checked | Each host has its own season | Book with a host | |
| 7. Sütçüler to Sağrak | Sağrak · accommodation in town, not checked | Each host has its own season | Book with a host | |
| 8. Sağrak to Sipahiler | Sipahiler · accommodation in town, not checked | Each host has its own season | Book with a host | |
| 9. Sipahiler to Yukarı Gökdere | Yukarı Gökdere · accommodation in town, not checked | Each host has its own season | Book with a host | |
| 10. Yukarı Gökdere to Eğirdir | Lale Pension | 1 January 2026 to 31 December 2026 | 1 January 2027 to 31 December 2027 | Booking method not published |
| 11. Eğirdir to Barla | Barla · accommodation in town, not checked | Each host has its own season | Book with a host | |
| 12. Barla to Dikmen Farm | Dikmen Farm · accommodation in town, not checked | Each host has its own season | Book with a host | |
| 13. Dikmen Farm to Aşağı Tırtar | Aşağı Tırtar · accommodation in town, not checked | Each host has its own season | Book with a host | |
| 14. Aşağı Tırtar to Eyüpler | Eyüpler · accommodation in town, not checked | Each host has its own season | Book with a host | |
| 15. Eyüpler to Yalvaç | Yalvaç · accommodation in town, not checked | Each host has its own season | Book with a host | |
Loading the forecast for low point (172 m) and high point (1,896 m)…
Typical weather on this trail: at the lowest point (172 m) and the highest point (1,896 m). Select a month to see why it is rated as it is.
| Month | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weather | Mixed | Mixed | Mixed | Good | Good | Mixed | Poor | Poor | Mixed | Good | Good | Mixed |
| Stages rated good on typical weather | 2/15 | 3/15 | 7/15 | 15/15 | 12/15 | 3/15 | 0/15 | 0/15 | 3/15 | 13/15 | 11/15 | 3/15 |
| High point, day / night | 1°/-6° | 3°/-5° | 6°/-2° | 11°/2° | 17°/6° | 21°/9° | 25°/12° | 25°/12° | 21°/8° | 15°/4° | 9°/-1° | 3°/-4° |
| Low point, day / night | 13°/4° | 14°/5° | 17°/7° | 21°/10° | 25°/14° | 30°/18° | 34°/21° | 34°/21° | 30°/17° | 25°/13° | 20°/9° | 15°/6° |
| Rain, mm | 152 | 101 | 66 | 63 | 65 | 43 | 15 | 16 | 23 | 57 | 81 | 149 |
| Snow at high point | Likely | Possible | Possible | Frost | – | – | – | – | – | – | Possible | Possible |
| Daylight | 9 h 51 | 10 h 48 | 11 h 54 | 13 h 07 | 14 h 09 | 14 h 43 | 14 h 30 | 13 h 38 | 12 h 29 | 11 h 18 | 10 h 12 | 9 h 37 |
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.
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 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 routesClosures and notices last checked 13 October 2026: Antalya Governorate: announcements · Culture Routes Society: St Paul Trail route updates · Culture Routes Society: Aziz Paul Yolu route updates · Isparta Governorate: announcements · General Directorate of Forestry: Isparta. Check them again before you set out.
Getting there
Choose a stage or journey above to narrow the travel searches.
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.
Culture Routes in Turkey gives the whole trail, with all its branches and alternatives, as about 500 km in 27 days, and publishes no stage table online; this guide covers the West and North branches, Perge to Yalvaç, 272 km in 15 days. Our map has it in 15 sections. The guide's day planner offers a 15-day plan on the overnight stops, and you can choose your own nights.
Spring and autumn. Spring and autumn are best, Culture Routes in Turkey says; July and August are hot.
From Antalya airport, buses 600 and 800 and Havaş run to the city about every half hour, and the tram stops opposite the terminals. The "Connect your journey" section has the travel details, with 2 more travel notes.
There is no central booking and no hut system.
Yes: the route on our map and every section, free, for a GPS watch or a phone. The guide also saves your plan for offline use in the app.
Closures we know of are shown on the days and sections they affect, in the day planner and on the stage pages. We watch 5 official notice pages (Antalya Governorate: announcements; Culture Routes Society: St Paul Trail route updates; Culture Routes Society: Aziz Paul Yolu route updates; Isparta Governorate: announcements; General Directorate of Forestry: Isparta); the date we last read them is shown with the notices on this page. Check them again before you set off.
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
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