Lake Beyşehir

Beyşehir Gölü covers around six hundred and fifty square kilometres, which makes it the largest freshwater lake in the country, sitting at about eleven hundred metres between the Anamas and Sultan mountains. Some twenty islands lie in it, several with Byzantine church ruins on them, and boats run out from Beyşehir town in season. The lake and its shores were made a national park in 1993: reed beds and shallows support large numbers of waterbirds, the surrounding hills hold cedar and juniper forest, and archaeological sites of several periods ring the shore, including the Hittite spring monument at Eflatunpınar and Neolithic and Bronze Age mounds. Beyşehir town at the eastern end has the Eşrefoğlu Mosque and an old stone bridge. Water level is the perennial concern - abstraction for irrigation across the Konya basin has drawn the lake down significantly, and the issue is discussed locally and nationally.

What you actually see

• The open lake - the country's largest freshwater body.
• The islands - Byzantine church ruins on several.
• The reed shallows - waterbird habitat around the margins.
• The mountain rim - Anamas and Sultan ranges around.

When to go

April to June for birds and green hills; September to November for clear air and colour. Winter at this altitude is cold and the lake can freeze at the edges.

Honest expectations

Water levels have dropped markedly and shorelines recede. Boat trips run mainly in season and are arranged informally at the harbour. Facilities around the lake are limited outside Beyşehir town.

Nearby

The Eşrefoğlu Mosque is in Beyşehir; Eflatunpınar is on the northern shore and Konya about an hour and a half east.