One of the things that surprised me after moving to Ankara was just how much green there is here.
Before I moved to Türkiye, Ankara existed in my imagination mostly as a capital city full of government buildings, traffic, and apartment buildings. And, to be fair, Ankara does have all those things.
But tucked between busy streets, neighborhoods, cafés, metro stations, and clusters of apartment buildings are parks. Lots and lots of parks. Some are small pockets of green where you can escape the city for twenty minutes. Others are enormous spaces where you can walk for hours and almost forget that millions of people are living around you.
Naturally, no Ankara park experience would be complete without at least one cat appearing from beneath a bush and silently judging you.
But whether you are visiting Ankara or live here and just want to escape the concrete for a while, there are plenty of places to walk, sit beneath a tree, drink tea or coffee, people-watch, or simply breathe a little deeper. Check out what I think are the 10 best parks in Ankara below.
Jump to a Park
1. Kuğulu Parkı
If Ankara parks had a mascot, it would probably be a swan.
Kuğulu Parkı, just off Tunalı Hilmi Caddesi in Kavaklıdere, a lively central neighborhood in Ankara’s Çankaya district, is one of the city’s most recognizable green spaces. Kuğulu—the “g” is silent, so it sounds a bit like Koo-oo-lu—means “with swans,” and the pond at its center is home to the birds that have become almost as much a symbol of the park as the park itself.
But Kuğulu has been part of Ankara life for much longer than I realized when I first started visiting it. The area was once a poplar-covered stretch of land with a stream running through it, the landscape that gave Kavaklıdere its name. In 1958, a public garden was created around the small pond, and over the following decades Kuğulu developed into an important gathering place at the end of Tunalı Hilmi Caddesi. Today, it is not simply a pretty little park with swans; it is one of those places that has become part of Ankara’s collective memory.
And it has certainly become part of mine.
Any time I am on Tunalı Hilmi to shop, meet friends, or simply wander around for a while, I make a point of walking through Kuğulu Park. Even if I am only passing through for five minutes, there is something about the trees, the water, the birds, and the people gathered around the pond that gives me a small moment of peace and joy in the middle of the city.
And there are always people here. Sunshine, rain, cold, heat—it does not seem to matter. Someone is sitting on a bench, someone is watching the swans, someone is meeting a friend, and someone is simply taking the long way through the park because, like me, they would rather spend a few extra minutes among the trees than walk around it.
I am very much one of those people.
2. Güvenpark
If Kuğulu Parkı feels like a little neighborhood escape, Güvenpark feels completely different.
It sits right in the middle of Kızılay, surrounded by buses, metro entrances, shops, office buildings, pedestrians, street vendors, and the general organized chaos that makes central Ankara feel like central Ankara. And yet, somehow, there are still trees, benches, and green space tucked right into the middle of it all.
Güvenpark is also connected to the creation of modern Ankara. After the city became the capital of the new Republic in 1923, Ankara underwent an enormous period of planning and development. Under Hermann Jansen’s plan for the capital in the early Republican era, the area around present-day Kızılay became part of Yenişehir—the “new city”—and Güvenpark was envisioned as an important public green space within it.
Which means the park did not somehow survive despite Kızılay growing around it. Green space was part of the idea from the beginning.
Güvenpark is not peaceful in the same way Lake Eymir or Botanik Park can be peaceful. Its charm is precisely that it is in the middle of everything. One minute you are moving through the crowds of Kızılay, and the next you can sit beneath a tree and temporarily pretend you are not.
Sometimes you do not need wilderness.
Sometimes you just need a bench.
3. Kurtuluş Parkı
Kurtuluş Parkı—“Independence Park” in English—is one of those places that makes Ankara feel unexpectedly leafy.
It also has deeper roots than its relaxed picnic atmosphere might suggest. Kurtuluş was among the green spaces developed as Ankara expanded during the early decades of the Republic, and its importance has continued to be recognized over the years. In 1994, the park was designated as a protected natural site, helping preserve an established landscape in the middle of a growing city.
Today, it has broad green areas, mature trees, walking paths, playgrounds, sports areas, and enough room to actually wander for a while instead of simply passing through. There are also plenty of picnic tables, and it is common to see families and groups of friends gathered around them with food, tea, and enough provisions to suggest they may be staying for the better part of the day.
That is part of what I like most about Kurtuluş Park. It feels like a place people genuinely use and enjoy, whether they are meeting friends, having a picnic, taking a walk, letting the kids play, or simply finding a shady spot to sit for a while.
On a warm Ankara afternoon, that shade is especially welcome.
4. Göksu Parkı
Then there is Göksu Parkı, where Ankara suddenly decides it would like to cosplay as a lakeside town.
Located in Eryaman on the northwestern side of Ankara, Göksu is a large public park built around a lake and surrounded by wide, landscaped green spaces.
It is also one of the newer parks on this list. Göksu opened in 2003 after the area around the existing Susuz Göleti was transformed into a major recreational space. Rather than beginning with a blank piece of land, the development incorporated the existing body of water and built the park around it.
Today, Göksu is especially popular for picnics, with plenty of grassy areas, picnic spots, playgrounds, cafés, and places to sit along the water. There are also sandy areas where people play volleyball and other sports, giving parts of the park an almost beachy feel.
And if simply sitting by the lake feels a little too peaceful for you, Göksu has a few attractions as well. You can find paddle boats, bumper cars, a little land train, and even a miniature pirate ship. One of the more unusual features is Dağ Kızağı, a short alpine coaster made by Wiegand, a German company known for designing alpine coasters, mountain slides, and other gravity-powered attractions worldwide. Attraction availability and operating hours can vary, so check locally before planning your visit around a particular ride.
It is not exactly what I expected to find in the middle of an Ankara park, which honestly makes me like it even more.
Göksu is a bit outside Ankara’s city center, but that is also part of its appeal. Once you get there, it feels removed from the traffic, noise, and constant movement of the city. It is the kind of place where you can make an afternoon of it rather than simply stopping by for twenty minutes. Families spread out for picnics, kids have plenty of room to play, and the lake makes even a simple walk feel a little more like an outing.
Maybe humans are essentially very large houseplants. Give us sunshine, water, something green, and perhaps a snack, and suddenly everything is better.
5. Seğmenler Parkı
Seğmenler Parkı is one of those places that makes me understand why Ankara residents are so protective of their green spaces.
The park opened in 1983, but its name connects it to a much older piece of Ankara culture. The seğmen tradition is part of Ankara’s cultural identity, with traditionally dressed groups taking part in ceremonies, celebrations, and community life. You may also see it spelled seymen, including on signs in the park; both spellings refer to the same tradition.
The park includes the Seğmenler Monument by sculptor Burhan Alkar, as well as a work by renowned Turkish sculptor İlhan Koman, adding another layer of Ankara culture to a space that might otherwise simply look like a very lovely place to sit on the grass.
And people do plenty of that.
Seğmenler has large grassy slopes, mature trees, walking paths, and plenty of room for people to spread out. On a nice day, you will see people sitting on the grass, meeting friends, reading, exercising, talking, or simply enjoying the radical concept of not being productive for a while.
It also has that slightly magical quality some Ankara parks have where the city seems to disappear surprisingly quickly once you walk down into the greenery.
Not bad for a place surrounded by some of Çankaya’s busiest streets.
6. Botanik Parkı
Not far from Seğmenler is one of Ankara’s quieter green spaces: Botanik Parkı.
The park sits right next to Atakule, one of Ankara’s most recognizable landmarks. The communications and observation tower rises above Çankaya and is hard to miss from many parts of the city, so having it looming just beyond the trees gives Botanik Parkı a very distinctly Ankara backdrop.
Interestingly, the park came first.
Botanik Parkı’s major development as a botanical landscape dates to around 1970. The valley setting offered a distinctive microclimate that made it possible to cultivate a wider variety of plant life than in many other parts of Ankara. Atakule, meanwhile, opened in 1989, meaning the park had already been part of the landscape for years before the tower became the landmark now associated with it.
The park itself feels more intimate than some of the larger ones on this list, with trees, landscaped areas, flowers, walking paths, and peaceful corners that invite you to slow down rather than power-walk your way through. There is also a café, Lithops Botanik, tucked into the center of the park, making it an easy place to stop for a drink, sit for a while, and enjoy the greenery without feeling like you need to be going anywhere in particular.
Botanik is a good place to wander without an agenda. Look at the flowers. Find a bench. Listen to the birds. Watch people stroll past.
Look for a cat.
There is always a cat.
Okay, I cannot legally guarantee the cat. But I have faith.
7. Lake Eymir
Technically, Lake Eymir is not a traditional city park, but there was absolutely no way I was making a list of Ankara’s best green escapes without including it.
Its modern history is also closely connected to ODTÜ/METU. The lake and surrounding area became part of the university’s land in the 1950s, and beginning in the 1960s, ODTÜ students and staff took part in a major effort to reforest what had once been a much barer landscape. Over time, those efforts helped create the wooded environment around the lake that visitors enjoy today.
Eymir is now one of the best places in the city for walking, running, cycling, or simply spending time near the water. The lake is surrounded by trees and open space, and parts of it feel much farther from central Ankara than they actually are.
In many spots, the trees and water take center stage. Lake Eymir gives you water, birds, bicycles, walking paths, and enough nature to make your brain unclench a little.
Access is a little different from most parks in Ankara. Pedestrians can enter for free, generally between 06:00 and 22:00, but private vehicle access is restricted mainly to people with ODTÜ/METU authorization. For most visitors, that means taking public transportation or a taxi toward one of the entrances, or arriving by bicycle, and then entering the lake area without a private vehicle.
Fishing is permitted during designated periods and in allowed areas. Check ODTÜ’s current lake rules before bringing fishing equipment.
Eymir has become one of my favorite places to go with friends when I want to escape the city for a little while. It is close enough that getting there does not feel like a major expedition, but once you are walking beside the lake, it is surprisingly easy to forget that you are still in Ankara.
And yes, I am probably slightly biased because Eymir is connected to ODTÜ.
Okay.
I am absolutely biased.
8. Gençlik Parkı
Gençlik Parkı offers something completely different.
Located near Ulus, it is one of Ankara’s best-known historic city parks and has been part of the city’s story for generations.
The park was created on land that had once been marshland and officially opened on May 19, 1943, a date that carries special significance in Türkiye as the Commemoration of Atatürk, Youth and Sports Day. That history makes Gençlik Parkı more than simply a green space. It is one of Ankara’s early Republican-era urban parks and a place that has been woven into the city’s social life for decades.
For many Ankara residents, the park also carries a strong sense of nostalgia. It has been the setting for family outings, childhood adventures, leisurely walks, and more than a few first dates over the years. Even if you are visiting it for the first time, there is something nice about knowing that generations of people have their own memories attached to the same paths and gathering places.
At the center of the park is a large artificial lake, complete with fountains that become especially striking when illuminated after dark. There are also cafés, traditional tea gardens, picnic spaces, and areas where you can simply sit and watch the park go by. Nearby cultural spaces, including the Ankara Opera House, add another layer to its very central, very urban character.
And then there is the amusement park.
Gençlik Parkı’s Luna Park brings an entirely different energy, with rides such as the Ferris wheel, bumper cars, and miniature trains. The result is a park that can feel part green space, part gathering place, and part old-school city amusement park all at once.
Gençlik Parkı feels less like an escape from Ankara and more like Ankara having fun with itself. Between the water, the lights, the rides, the people, and all the little pieces of Ankara history wrapped into one place, there is plenty to take in.
9. 30 Ağustos Zafer Parkı
One of the things I love about Ankara is how often a large green space seems to appear exactly where you do not expect it.
30 Ağustos Zafer Parkı, near AŞTİ, is a perfect example. A friend first recommended it to me when I was going through a difficult time and looking for somewhere quiet where I could walk, think, and spend a little time with my own thoughts. That recommendation has always shaped the way I think about this park.
The park has an interesting recent history as well. Although green space existed beside AŞTİ for years, much of the area was not easily accessible to the general public and had fallen into disuse. Ankara Büyükşehir Belediyesi renovated the area and opened the renewed park to everyone on August 30, 2019—Victory Day, or Zafer Bayramı—which is reflected in the park’s name.
It sits close to one of the busiest transportation areas in the city, yet once you are inside, there is plenty of room to walk, sit, and enjoy a break from the traffic and constant movement nearby. The park has broad walking paths, open green areas, trees, and plenty of space for people to exercise, meet friends, or simply spend some time outside.
For me, though, its appeal is a little more personal. It is the kind of place that reminds me that sometimes you do not need a grand escape. Sometimes you just need a quiet path, a little space to breathe, and somewhere that gives your thoughts enough room to settle.
10. Dikmen Vadisi
Finally, there is Dikmen Vadisi.
Calling it simply a park almost feels inadequate. Dikmen Vadisi (Dikmen Valley) stretches through a long green corridor of walking paths, landscaped gardens, water features, playgrounds, sports areas, and tucked-away spaces that seem to keep appearing the farther you wander.
The valley has a different history from many of the more traditional parks on this list. Beginning in the 1990s, it became part of a large, multi-stage urban transformation project that combined housing and redevelopment with the creation of a major public recreation corridor. Rather than feeling like a park that was simply dropped into the middle of the city, Dikmen Vadisi follows the natural shape of the land and feels woven into the neighborhoods surrounding it.
Walking down into the valley, though, I had a completely different thought: it felt like being snuggled into the belly of Ankara. The city is still there, rising around you on the hillsides, but down in the valley you are surrounded by trees, winding paths, greenery, and water. Somehow, you feel tucked inside the city rather than trying to escape from it.
And there is so much here. Near the center of the park, there are spaces for tennis and basketball, along with a small field for football—or soccer, for my fellow Americans. But what struck me most was how much there seemed to be around every corner. I could imagine visiting Dikmen Vadisi over and over again and still finding another path, another little garden, another view, or another corner I had somehow missed the time before.
I thought it was magical.
Not in a dramatic, fairy-tale sort of way. It was the kind of magic that comes from realizing you are standing in the middle of a huge capital city and yet somehow feel surrounded by green.
Of course, this is still Ankara.
So even while you are being gently snuggled by the belly of the city, Ankara never lets you forget leg day.
Ankara Is Greener Than It Looks
One of the things I have come to love about Ankara is that it does not reveal everything about itself immediately.
This is not necessarily a city that arrives with a big dramatic “TA-DA!” You have to walk it. You discover the café tucked down a side street, the neighborhood market you did not know existed, the enormous tree growing straight through the middle of a sidewalk, and the park hiding behind a wall of apartment buildings. And even though I call these parks the 10 best parks in Ankara, I know there are many other parks I have yet to discover and explore.
And yes, the sidewalk has been built around that enormous tree, leaving approximately eleven centimeters through which the human body is apparently expected to pass. I love that so many trees are allowed to stay. I also occasionally find myself negotiating with them.
But these green spaces are part of what makes Ankara feel like home to me. Some are places to exercise. Some are places to picnic. Some are places to meet friends. Others are simply places to sit quietly for a while and remember that life is more than traffic, errands, deadlines, and whatever bureaucratic document someone has just told you that you are missing.
Again.
So if you are visiting Ankara, or if you live here and have somehow fallen into the work-home-work routine, pick a park. Take a walk. Sit beneath a tree. Watch the birds. Let yourself wander without needing to accomplish anything.
And if a cat chooses to sit beside you, congratulations.
You have officially been accepted by Ankara.
Coming Up on Tiffles in Türkiye
And there is plenty more Ankara—and Türkiye—coming up.
In upcoming posts, I’ll be taking you along on my adventures in Cappadocia, sharing my slightly enthusiastic love affair with Ankara’s public transportation system, and exploring why Ankara really is a college town, with universities and student life shaping so much of the city’s personality.
There’s also something delicious joining the calendar: a bonus Meatless Monday post on the first Monday of every month, featuring a vegan recipe from my kitchen here in Ankara. Think Turkish favorites, cozy comfort food, and the occasional experiment inspired by the words, “I bet I can veganize that.” This month’s recipe is arriving a little late, but I’m excited to bring you along for the cooking adventures. 🌿
Until next time, I hope you find a little green space, a little peace, and maybe a cat or two to remind you to slow down and enjoy where you are.
With love from Ankara,
Tiffles, Stormy, and Smokey 🐾
Sources & Further Reading
If you’d like to dig a little deeper into the history, culture, and development of some of Ankara’s parks and green spaces, these are a few good places to start:
- Kuğulu Parkı and the history of Kavaklıdere — The Kavaklıderem Association has a detailed history of the neighborhood, including the development of Kuğulu Park, the creation of the garden around the pond in 1958, and the park’s role in local life. Kavaklıdere’nin Tarihçesi
- Seğmenler Parkı and its public artworks — Ankara Metropolitan Municipality’s cultural heritage records provide information about the park’s 1983 opening and works by sculptors Burhan Alkar and İlhan Koman. Seğmenler Parkı ve Anıtları
- Lake Eymir and ODTÜ’s reforestation efforts — ODTÜ explains how the campus and the area around Lake Eymir were reforested beginning in the 1960s through the efforts of university staff and students. ODTÜ: Konum ve Yerleşke
- Lake Eymir’s environmental history and significance — ODTÜ’s Eymir Lake office also provides background on the lake as an important ecosystem and the university’s long-term environmental work in the area. ODTÜ Eymir Göl Amirliği
- Kurtuluş Parkı’s protected status — Ankara Metropolitan Municipality records document the park’s designation as a First-Degree Natural Site in 1994. Ankara Metropolitan Municipality Council Records — Kurtuluş Parkı
- 30 Ağustos Zafer Parkı — Ankara Metropolitan Municipality has background on the renewed park beside AŞTİ and its public opening on August 30, 2019. 30 Ağustos Zafer Parkı Açılıyor
- Dikmen Vadisi and Ankara’s urban transformation projects — Ankara Metropolitan Municipality provides information about the ongoing urban transformation work associated with Dikmen Vadisi. Ankara Metropolitan Municipality — Urban Transformation Projects