Guide
Karatepe-Aslantaş National Park sits in the hills of Kadirli district in Osmaniye province, above the Aslantaş reservoir. One practical caution comes from the park administration itself: the administration and visitor centre was damaged in the 2023 earthquake. The park is open from 08:00 to 19:00 and its stated capacity is 1,500 visitors, 200 vehicles and 20 tents.
The reason most people make the trip is archaeological. The Directorate General of Nature Conservation and National Parks describes the site as Türkiye's first open-air museum and the draw as its Late Hittite remains, which are displayed where they were found. The protection itself is old: the area was declared a national park on 29 August 1958 under article 25 of Forest Law no. 6831, with the consent of the Ministry of Agriculture dated 29/08/1958 and numbered 6685-19. Its long-term development plan, the document that fixes how the land may be used, was approved by the ministry on 20 August 2021. The park covers 4,346.84 hectares.
Because it stands between the Amanos mountains and the Eastern Taurus, the vegetation resembles the Mediterranean belt of both. The land rises from 50 to 630 metres, which keeps it in the lower Mediterranean zone, with xerophytic scrub and woodland rather than the montane formations found on the mountain masses nearby; the potential natural cover is evergreen oak forest, and what grows there now still reflects it. Field survey, published work and interviews with local people produced a list of eleven mammal species, and the directorate is direct about what that number means: large mammals have been lost over the past fifty to sixty years, the bear is no longer seen, and the wolf is now very rare.
Eight walking trails cross the park, and there is a viewpoint, a kiosk and a children's play area in the day-use zone, which is also where picnicking is allowed. Osmaniye city centre and Kadirli both lie 20 kilometres away, and the railway station at Osmaniye is the same distance. Adana Şakirpaşa is the nearest airport, 107 kilometres off.
- Designated
- 29.05.1958
Entry fee
- Mediterranean group 3 · category 1 · Per person
- 65 ₺
