Sadağı Canyon lies hidden in the rugged mountainous area of Bursa’s Orhaneli district high up on Uludağ. The canyon is one of Bursa’s natural gems, and an accessible, 1.8-kilometer trail follows the babbling mountain stream that runs through the serene canyon. The canyon trailhead can be found by passing through the small town of Orhaneli and the villages of Seçeler and Sadağı and on toward the small dam. 

Besides its sheer natural beauty, the most notable feature of the canyon is the abandoned thermal bath. The stone bath is believed to have been built by the Roman Emperor Hadrian as a gift to his wife sometime during his ruling years (A.D. 117-138). Though the stone bath remains, the thermal water once filling the pool has been redirected to a nearby thermal resort.

My friend, Phil, a long-time Bursa expat, recently revisited Sadağı Canyon. He last visited the canyon 23 years ago. In this guest contribution, Phil shares some of his photos and observations from his recent walk through the canyon.

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On Sunday, we went to Sadağı Canyon near Orhaneli. I first went there 23 years ago. There has been some development there over the years. Sadağı even now has a car park and tea room. There were about ten cars there when we went, though we didn’t have to walk far to get some peace and quiet. The canyon is beautiful. 

On that occasion many years ago, we walked up the valley for about an hour until we came to a thermal bath dating from the time of Emperor Hadrian. We bathed in the warm shallow pool and boiling hot deep pool. So this time I was hoping we could do the same. Unfortunately, the water has been diverted further down the valley to the new Aslanlı Geothermal Centre, and the pool has been filled in. This was a bit disappointing, though it did not detract from the beauty of the canyon itself. We did stop in at Aslanlı on the way back, where we bathed in the thermal pool and hamam (only 15TL).

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Thank you, Phil, for the lovely photos!

Recently, the Bursa Uluşehir project produced a short, 1.5 minute video highlighting Sadağı Canyon. I’ve embedded the video here for you to enjoy.