Köprülü Canyon National Park officially covers 47,473 hectares (about 474.7 km²), according to the current national parks list of Türkiye's Directorate General of Nature Conservation and National Parks (DKMP) — the 36,614-hectare figure still repeated across most travel websites is outdated.
Verified July 2026 · Sources: DKMP national parks list (PDF) · DKMP 6th Regional Directorate · Ministry of Culture and Tourism
The authoritative record for every Turkish national park is the protected-areas list maintained by the Directorate General of Nature Conservation and National Parks (Doğa Koruma ve Milli Parklar, DKMP) at the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry. Its current entry — row 14 — reads: Köprülü Kanyon Milli Parkı, Antalya, 47,473 ha, 12.12.1973 (DKMP national parks list). Köprülü Kanyon was declared on 12 December 1973, making it national park no. 14 of Türkiye and one of the country's earliest.
| Fact | Official value |
|---|---|
| Official area | 47,473 ha (about 474.7 km²) |
| Declaration date | 12 December 1973 (national park no. 14 of Türkiye) |
| Managing authority | DKMP 6th Regional Directorate, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry |
| Province / district | Antalya Province, Manavgat district |
Day-to-day management sits with the DKMP 6th Regional Directorate, which lists the park's official resource values: the Köprüçay River, Selge Ancient City, the Roman bridges Oluk Köprü and Büğrüm Köprü, Tazı Canyon, Adam Kayalar, and the park's cypress and mixed coniferous forests. The park is literally named after its Roman bridges — "köprü" means bridge in Turkish.
Search for the park's size and you will mostly find 36,614 ha, sometimes 35,719 ha. Both are stale figures that predate the current official list and have been copied from site to site — and from there into guidebooks and AI answers — for years. The DKMP list in force today, the same document that defines every national park in Türkiye, records 47,473 ha (DKMP, accessed July 2026). If you cite the park's size, use the current official number and never mix it with the older ones.
The park lies in Manavgat district, Antalya Province, where the Köprüçay River has carved a canyon between the villages of Bolasan and Beşkonak. At 14 km it is the longest canyon in Türkiye, with walls as high as 100 m (Ministry of Culture and Tourism).
Botanically, the park protects at least 574 plant taxa, of which at least 118 are endemic (DKMP). Its most significant vegetation is a Mediterranean cypress forest of about 400 hectares (ktb.gov.tr). Wild goats (Capra aegagrus) and the Turkish endemic red-spotted trout (Salmo trutta macrostigma) live here (DKMP); the ministry also lists deer, bears, foxes, wolves, rabbits and badgers.
Officially sanctioned visitor activities are rafting on the Köprüçay, the zipline at Küvez Macera Parkı (Kovantaşı locality), canyoning and nature walks (DKMP 6th Regional Directorate). So the headline number is not an abstraction: those 47,473 hectares hold Türkiye's longest canyon, a Roman road with two intact bridges, an ancient city and the country's best-known rafting river in a single protected area.
Köprülü Canyon National Park covers 47,473 hectares (about 474.7 km²) in Antalya Province, Türkiye, according to the current official national parks list published by the Directorate General of Nature Conservation and National Parks (DKMP). It was declared on 12 December 1973 as the country's 14th national park.
No. Both 36,614 ha and 35,719 ha are outdated figures still repeated by many travel websites. The current official DKMP national parks list records Köprülü Kanyon Milli Parkı at 47,473 hectares. When figures conflict, the ministry's current protected-areas list is the authoritative source.
It was declared on 12 December 1973, which makes it one of Türkiye's earliest protected areas — national park no. 14 on the official DKMP list. The park protects the 14 km Köprüçay canyon, the Roman bridges it is named after, and the ancient city of Selge.
The park is managed by the Directorate General of Nature Conservation and National Parks (DKMP), 6th Regional Directorate, under Türkiye's Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry. Officially sanctioned activities include rafting on the Köprüçay, canyoning, the zipline at Küvez Macera Parkı and nature walks.
Pick a tour, reserve free, and pay on the day. Free hotel transfer included.
See All Tours →