Snowsure: 3.0
- Occasionally gets enough snow for skiing
- Is often closed due to a lack of snow
- Occasionally suffers from a lack of snow
- Rarely suffers from a lack of snow
- Kartepe is snowsure even in the poorest seasons
Visitor reviews for Kartepe Ski Resort
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(NOTE: Reviews may be edited by our content team for the purposes of ensuring accurate and relevant information)
(NOTE: Reviews may be edited by our content team for the purposes of ensuring accurate and relevant information)
Latest
February 23, 2021
Aurel from
Turkey
Aurel from
Turkey
Small resort which seeks to do business like with snowmobiles, zip lines or towed buoys rather than reviewing the very old and dangerous equipment of the ski lifts. The chairlift and ski lift employees are not present when you get off and are sometimes dangerous when they operate the machines. We spend a lot of time in queue. Pity!
February 03, 2016
Guy from
Turkey
Guy from
Turkey
If you are slightly experienced then this resort is only worth a day trip from Istanbul which is what my son & I did recently. For beginners, it may be worth staying one night for a couple of days skiing.
I've been a number of times over the years and would summarize:
The weekends are a nightmare. Way too many people trying to use only the few lifts available. Queues are chaos. Avoid if at all possible.
Weekdays are the only real option and the reduced number of people makes it much more enjoyable.
They have rarely, if ever, bashed all the slopes. Over the last number of years I have never seen the black runs open.
20TL car park + 100TL each ski pass as @ Jan 2016.
This is fun for the odd day (Monday-Friday) a year but go elsewhere for any serious skiing.
January 07, 2015
Fisch
Fisch
Only worth it if:
-There is no one else there (weekdays).
-The weather is good (heaps of snow but no wind, seriously no wind!)
-You find a much cheaper way up and down the mountain (maybe organising a transfer back to your hotel)
The resort here is incredibly hard to get to without taking a guided tour or taxi. My girlfriend is Turkish so we thought there would be no problem working out how to get up the hill. We stayed in Izmit because the hotel was much cheaper (a third of the price) and nicer than The Green Park Resort. We found a bus going to Masukiy easy enough for 3.50TL each but then the only way up the mountain was a 60TL taxi ride. We searched around but with no luck, so we committed to a taxi ride.
The tickets were expensive at 80TL per person plus a 30TL deposit on the card. (Uludag is much bigger and only 70TL).
The mountain only had one 2man chair lift and the T-bar (at times) running that day. It was a Sunday and there were way too many people for only 2 lifts; about 40min waits. The runs were very short for both lifts. There was plenty of powder but virtually no access to it, so we had to climb a few hills to get any. The snow was good though, and had the top 3man lift been open I'm sure the runs would have been good. They system looked pretty old though and damn, it was cold; get some bubbles please.
When we left we thought we could ask the resort about getting up and down the mountain for the next day. They were very rude but they told us that the only way was by taxi and that was how all their guests got here. (It's 100TL from Izmit.) We decided not to pay that and instead found a tour group which had a few spare seats to ride down with. They even dropped us to our hotel for free. But the resort was a real let down.
I decided to ring all the hotels at the base to see if they could transfer us up the mountain the next day but the best I could find was 50TL for 2 people, one way. So we moved on. At these prices you might as well go boarding/skiing in Europe.
Per person 2 x 3.5 = 7 for the bus, 2 / 60 = 30 for the taxi, x 2 for both ways = 60. Then lift ticket at 80TL.
Total = 147TL or 53 Euros.
Frowny Face.
February 28, 2011
Turkey Baster from
United Kingdom
Turkey Baster from
United Kingdom
So, this is kind of how a day went on top of Kartepe on the 27th February 2011:
Arrived in Masukiye town at the bottom of the hill, just off of the O-4 highway, where we had breakfast in a cafe. Borek and Pogaca's with tea. There are several ski shops which have skis and snowboards/equipments for hire and to buy.
The one we found had skis/poles/boots/goggles package to rent for 25TL.
Make sure you have a set of snowchains in your car, the Jandarma will check to see if you have any, although, the road was completely ploughed and gritted, so no need for them anyway. When we got to the top of the hill, a guy standing by the entrance sold us a parking ticket for 5TL, and then we drove around to the right and parked up (on a day trip, there;s a sign which says "gunubirlik otopark"). When we parked, we found it was quick just to put on our gear next to the car, and then walk down to the hut which sells the ski passes. For an unlimited pass, it costs 75TL, there are lower prices for 5 or 10 times on the lifts. We paid with debit/credit card.
We went down the slope to the bottom where all the lifts are, then started our day from there.
Positives: Nice place, with lots of trees and good scenery. The runs are great for beginners (providing the weather is good), and there's a bit of choice, so intermediate skiers should be entertained for a whole day.
No 10 piste is a longish, pleasant run (rated as a blue, which is about right), there also some off piste parts to explore around the whole area.
The Green Park Hotel runs the resort, and is right next to the slopes.
Two negative points: Queue jumpers at lifts (flipping annoying), and also the chairlifts are not that well run, stop/start and sometimes closed with no clear reason for 10 minutes or so. Not really worth 75TL, more like 40TL, but hey, it's still fun to go there!
January 07, 2011
OSMAN DÖNMEZ from
Turkey
OSMAN DÖNMEZ from
Turkey
January 15, 2010
Nitro from
Turkey
Nitro from
Turkey
Kartepe is the closest ski center to Istanbul, only 1.5 hours using Istanbul-Ankara highway.
It's got 4 lifts.
In detail:
Hotel lift: chairlift. To return to hotel area
Geyikalan lift: chairlift. Geyikalan is located on the left hand side of the hotel. There is a caffe located at the top, prices are super expensive, you may have a fabulous dinner at a nice restaurant in Istanbul at that price level. Track is short, and mostly used by beginners and pedestrians.
Karlıktepe: T-bar. Short track but steeper than many other tracks at that region. Skiers like Karlıktepe.
February 24, 2009
Penguen Tepe from
Turkey
Penguen Tepe from
Turkey
February 23, 2009
Askin SENEL from
Turkey
Askin SENEL from
Turkey
I was at Kartepe this Sunday 22nd February.
I liked the place. It has nice view, trees, powder snow and is close to İstanbul. However, I must admit, I don't think Kartepe is a ski resort at all. There are 3 short lifts, the pistes are short too and not well maintained and are very narrow. I guess they don't want to make them larger to keep maintenance costs low. Worst of all, there were many non-skiers or freelancers attempting to learn skiing by themselves. It was nightmare to wait in the queues with low ability people not able to get on and falling down frequently. The slopes at Kartepe were no good and at some locations there were no slopes at all and you had to stop and walk. The lift prices are inflated, prices are unnecessarily high generally and the cafes are expensive too. Personnel say this is what hotel asks but asking 5 star prices for 1 or 2 star quality should be a Turkish tradition (less with more - I believe hotel is more profit oriented than being service oriented).
I was in Austria's Stubaital area to ski for 1 week 2-3 weeks ago and maybe that's why I did not like Kartepe as a ski resort. A real skier should go to Uludağ or, even better, to Kartalkaya and not waste time here. However, saying all this it's close to Istanbul which makes it an option for weekday breaks. I am sure Kartepe is a lot better during the week. And, as I said earlier in this review, the scenery is nice and the snow is powder.
Nearest