Rize is a city on Turkey's Black Sea coast. It's not a real tourist attraction, but a good base for exploring the northeast.

Its name is most commonly associated with the cultivation of tea: Rize is the centre of the northeast coast, the only area with a suitable climate for the tea plants to flourish in the country. This is serious business: Turks are among the heaviest tea drinkers per capita in the world, as any traveller quickly finds out at the beginning of their trip to Turkey, and except for the negligible amount of imported material, all of that product comes from here.

View of Rize

Get in

By plane

1 Rize-Artvin Airport (RZV  ^IATA), on an artificial island 36 km east of Rize, receives flights from Istanbul (both airports), Ankara, and Izmir.

Trabzon Airport (TZX ^IATA), 73 km west, has far more frequent and geographically diverse connections from domestic, European, and Middle Eastern destinations.

By bus

One can reach Rize by taking a bus or dolmuş from Trabzon.

There are several options including dolmuş from the city centre, bus from the Otogar, Havas airport shuttle from the airport, and Prenskale Turizm bus from the city or from near the airport next to Kalamiş Restaurant. All should cost 15-20tl.

Get around

Much of Rize can be accessed on foot or by shuttle bus (dolmuş).

See

Entrance to Rize Castle

• 1 Rize Kalesi (Rize Castle).  

• Ethnographic Museum. 
• Visit the Botanik Çay Baçhesi (Botanical Tea Garden) and drink Rize's famous tea and sample local desserts.
• Take a dolmuş to Tepebaşı from the mosque (cami) north of the central square. There are a number of excellent and affordable restaurants in Tepebasi that offer a full panorama of the city from a hilltop just outside of the city.

Do

• Drink tea and/or eat fish at a number of seaside restaurants along the coast opposıte from the cıty center.

Buy

Buy tea (çay)!

Eat

Try local Karadeniz specialties such as Muhlama, Hamsi Boreği, and Alabalik.

Drink

A tea plantation near Rize

Rize is the capital city of tea, you can drink tea. Also, except for neighboring Of, Rize is the most conservative city outside central Anatolia. Don't expect to have an alcoholic drink anywhere except from a few remotely located liquor stores.

Sleep

• Dedeman Rize. A reputable 4+ star hotel in Rize. 

• Keleş otel. An acceptable (and unremarkable) two-star hotel near the city center. Rates for a two-person room started at 75 TL as of July 2009. 

Go next

Ottoman bridge spanning the Fırtına River near Çamlıhemşin, south of Rize

• Take a dolmuş to Ayder, access-point for the Kaçkar Dağlar (Kaçkar Mountains).
• Çamlıhemşin with its stunning Ottoman Bridge spanning the Fırtına River.

Routes through Rize

Trabzon ← Sürmene ←

W  E

→ Hopa ( N ) → Artvin ( S) → Ardahan