Escape the Crowds

Eymir Lake: the loop, the bikes and the METU forest

A reed-fringed lake inside a university's own forest, free on foot, with a loop track that Ankara runs, cycles and walks its dogs around every weekend.

Free2–4 hoursweekday afternoon; weekend mornings before ten

Save for later — join Smileys

Why do it?

Middle East Technical University owns a forest — planted from bare steppe from the 1960s onwards, and now the biggest green mass in the city — and Eymir Lake, twenty minutes south of the centre, is its lake. METU runs it as a campus: a loop track of about eight kilometres around the water, a bike-hire shed at the gate, rowing sheds, tea houses and a few restaurants on the shore, reed beds full of birds, and no swimming, no camping, no drones. Entry on foot or by bicycle is free and open to everyone; only cars need a METU card, so most of Ankara parks outside and walks in. In a dry, treeless city, it is where people go to breathe, and on a Sunday morning it is half the population under thirty-five.

The Smileys Take

Rent a bike at the gate and do the loop once at your own pace, then a second time faster; or walk it with a group and stop at the far end for tea, which is our standard Smileys Saturday morning. Go on a weekday if you can — weekends are lovely but busy. Bring water and a layer; the wind off the steppe is real even in May. Practicalities: the gate closes to new visitors at 22:00 and everyone leaves by 23:30, and a car will not get past the barrier without a METU card, so plan on taxi or bus to the gate. The main METU campus in Çankaya is a different matter — visitors are admitted at the gate only with a METU host — so if you want the forest walks up there, make a METU friend first. ⚠ VERIFY the current visitor rule at the main campus gates; it has tightened and loosened several times.

How to do it

Get to the Eymir gate by taxi or the Gölbaşı-road buses; walk or cycle in — cars need a METU card.
Bike hire is at the entrance; the loop is flat and roughly eight kilometres.
Tea and a simple lunch at the lakeside places; no swimming, no camping, no drones.
Last entry 22:00; everyone out by 23:30.
Combine with Mogan Lake in Gölbaşı, ten minutes further south, for a full day.