Guide
Kümbet Yaylası is a highland pasture in the Dereli district, fifty-two kilometres south of Giresun. It is one of a group of pastures — among them Yavuzkemal, the Şıh and Melikli encampments, Şahİsmail Düzü and Aymaç Tepesi — that are much used for camping and picnics. Aymaç, two kilometres west of Kümbet, is a summit in its own right, and the Turkmen and Çepni pastoral encampments in the area can be visited.
The infrastructure here is complete. There is a five-star hotel complex, a post office agency, a health centre, a grocer, a butcher, a greengrocer, a meat restaurant, a bakery, a country coffee house and a motor mechanic. A new tourist hotel of a hundred beds has been opened by the provincial governorship.
The traditional Kümbet festival is held on the second Sunday of July each year, led by the municipality of Dereli and attended in numbers by local people and visitors. Its origin lies in the old seasonal movements to the summer grass; the first festival in its present form was held in 1989.
Getting there
The road is asphalt for the thirty kilometres to Dereli and newly asphalted for the twenty-two kilometres from Dereli to the pasture, and minibuses run in the summer months. Going up by way of İkisu and returning by Güdül gives the better views. The pasture can also be reached from Sivas and central Anatolia by the Şebinkarahisar road.
When to go
When it rains at Kümbet, picnickers can carry on six to eight kilometres further and take advantage of the dry climate of Şebinkarahisar on the southern slope of the mountain.
