Turkey
Çıldır Lake
Horse-drawn sleighs cross a frozen volcanic lake while fishermen pull trout through holes in the ice.
The lake freezes so solid that horses trot across it pulling wooden sleighs, their breath hanging in the minus-twenty air. Fishermen crouch beside holes drilled through the ice, hauling out trout while the volcanic peaks of the Kars plateau rise white and sharp against a pale sky. Çıldır Lake in winter is a landscape that belongs to another century.
Çıldır is Turkey's second-largest freshwater lake, sitting at 1,959 metres on the Armenian and Georgian border in the far northeast. From December to April, the lake freezes to a thickness that supports vehicles, turning it into a natural highway for horse-drawn sleighs — a tradition that has drawn increasing attention as a winter tourism experience. The surrounding plateau is home to semi-nomadic Azerbaijani Turk communities who have herded cattle and made kaşar cheese in these highlands for generations. The nearby ruins of Ani, the medieval Armenian capital, sit just an hour to the south, making Çıldır part of one of Turkey's most historically dense corridors.
Couple
A horse-drawn sleigh across a frozen volcanic lake at sunset is winter romance at its most elemental. Warm up afterwards with roast goose and aged cave cheese at a lakeside guesthouse.
Family
Children ride in the sleighs wide-eyed, watching fishermen pull trout through ice holes. The combination of animals, snow, and hands-on activities makes this a winter experience no theme park can replicate.
Friends
Ice fishing, sleigh rides, and the raw beauty of Turkey's frozen northeast make for a winter trip completely unlike the coastal holidays most visitors know. Combine it with Ani and Kars for a frontier road trip.
- In winter, the entire 130 km² lake freezes solid enough for horse-drawn sleigh rides operating from December to February.
- Fishermen cut holes in the ice and fish for trout from December through February — a practice unchanged for generations.
- In summer, the volcanic lake warms to around 20°C and is safe for swimming, with grassy undeveloped shores.
- The nearest town is Ardahan, where aged Ardahan beyazı cheese is eaten in thick slabs with dark local honey.
Kars kaşarı — aged cave cheese with a sharp bite — sliced thick beside the frozen lake.
Kaz eti, slow-roasted goose, a winter staple in the villages ringing the lake.
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