Uludağ

Uludağ National Park was declared in 1961 in Bursa province, in north-western Anatolia, and protects some 127 km². The mountain, at 2,543 metres, was the Mysian Olympus of the ancients and dominates the plain of Bursa and the Sea of Marmara.

Its natural interest lies in the gradient and in the traces of glaciation. The slopes are covered by beech, oak and chestnut woods at lower altitudes and by stands of Uludağ fir, a subspecies of its own, at middle levels; above the tree line extend subalpine scrub and a zone of glacial cirques with high-altitude lakes, evidence of Quaternary glaciation at so southerly a latitude. The flora includes endemics of the massif.

Uludağ is also the oldest and best-known ski resort in Turkey, in operation since the mid-twentieth century, and its hotel development inside the park has been the main conservation problem, with successive extensions of the facilities and a change of status in 2020 that altered its management regime and generated strong controversy. Its proximity to Bursa and Istanbul gives it a mass influx of visitors.