Nemrut Caldera
Volcanic Caldera About Eight Kilometres Across Holding One Of The Largest Crater Lakes In The World, Above Lake Van At Tatvan; A Protected Natural Site · Tatvan, Bitlis
First, the thing that has to be said: this is not the Nemrut with the giant stone heads. That one is five hundred kilometres west in Adiyaman. This Nemrut is a volcano above Tatvan on the west shore of Lake Van, whose collapse left a caldera roughly eight kilometres across with a large cold lake in the bottom of it - one of the largest crater lakes in the world - along with several smaller ones, including a warm lake fed by geothermal water and steaming fumaroles at the rim. It was this eruption that dammed the valley and created Lake Van itself, which is the reason the region looks the way it does. The road up from Tatvan is open for roughly four months a year and is snow for the rest, which keeps the visitor numbers low; what you get for the drive is a green bowl with water in it, sheep, a few tea stalls in summer, and almost nobody else. Come in July or August or do not come at all - the road is snow otherwise.
Nemrut Dagi Kalderasi, Tatvan, Bitlis, Tatvan, Bitlis, Turkiye
There are no opening hours - it is open mountain. The access road up from Tatvan is normally passable only from about June to September and is snowbound the rest of the year; in winter the area is used for skiing from Tatvan instead. There are no facilities in the caldera beyond seasonal tea stalls. Confirm the road locally before driving up.