- Entry to the Ziraat Botanical Tea Garden is free. Caykur runs it as a public tea garden about two kilometres southwest of central Rize, and you pay only for the tea and food you order.
- Turkish tea began on this exact hillside: agriculturalist Zihni Derin started the state nursery here in 1923 on treasury land then called Garal Dagi, months before the tea law of 6 February 1924 passed.
- The terrace looks across Rize rooftops to the castle and the Black Sea, and the grounds hold a mini tea factory, the Cayla restaurant, a Caykur tea shop and labelled botanical plantings.
- A two-year renovation finished for the 2024 tea centenary added a stone-built tea hall in local dark stone, so the garden now works even in the rain Rize is famous for.
- Pair the garden with the Caykur Tea Museum in the Beyaz Ev, the first tea museum in Turkey, for a half-day tea circuit of the city.
Ask anyone in Rize where to drink tea and most will point up the hill. The Ziraat Botanical Tea Garden – Ziraat Botanik Cay Bahcesi on local signs – is the city balcony: rows of clipped tea bushes, century-old magnolias, pines and plane trees, and open-air tables set where the whole town, its castle and the Black Sea spread out below. It is also, quietly, the most historically important patch of tea ground in the country. This guide covers what the garden actually is, what it costs (almost nothing), how to reach the terrace, and how to fold it into a wider Rize tea day.
The Hill Where Turkish Tea Began
The garden sits on land the treasury records once called Garal Dagi. In 1923 the young republic sent an agriculturalist named Zihni Derin to Rize to establish a tea and citrus nursery, acting on a 1917 report from Batum which argued that tea could grow around Rize. Derin began work on this hillside with Emil Vlakov, a Russian gardener he brought over from Batum, raising mandarin, orange, grapefruit, lemon, citron and bamboo alongside the first tea seedlings. Ornamental mimosas he carried from Batum in 1924 are still growing on the site a century later, according to the Rize Municipality account of the city and its tea.
When local farmers were slow to take the new crop up, Derin returned to Ankara and drafted the legislation himself. It passed on 6 February 1924 as Law No. 407, authorising hazelnut, citrus and tea cultivation in Rize province, and a 1940 follow-up law guaranteed that the state would buy every harvest – the push that finally turned the whole Black Sea coast towards tea. Derin, born in Mugla in 1880, kept working on tea projects past his 1945 retirement and died in 1965; Rize remembers him as the father of Turkish tea. The research nursery he founded grew into the Ataturk Tea and Horticultural Cultures Research Institute, which still shares this hill with the public garden.
What You Find There Today
The garden is run by Caykur, the state tea concern headquartered in Rize, and it had a thorough refresh for the centenary of the 1924 law. Over two years Caykur relandscaped the grounds, expanded the plantings and rebuilt the covered spaces, reopening a tea hall built from the dark local stone the province is known for. A carved wooden inscription inside dates the work to 6 February 2024, one hundred years to the day after the tea law. The September 2024 report from local broadcaster Cay TV Haber describes the result: more tables outdoors, a stone-and-timber hall for wet days, and visitor numbers climbing sharply, with coach groups arriving from the Middle East and East Asia.
It is a genuine botanical garden as well as a tea stop. Beds of tea bushes grow beside citrus varieties that echo the original 1920s nursery, new species are added each year from a Caykur research garden, and small plaques identify the trees and plants as you walk. The practical layer is complete too: the Cayla restaurant serves regional Black Sea dishes, a Caykur shop sells the full tea range to take home, and there are children’s play areas, a nursing room, a small mosque, toilets and two car parks.
The Terrace, the Tea and the Mini Factory
The reason to climb the hill is simple: tea, poured properly, with the best view in the city. Service comes two ways – by the tulip glass, or as a demlik (teapot) service where a double teapot lands on your table and you dilute the strong brew to taste, the everyday ritual explained in our guide to Turkish tea culture and the double teapot. Both black and green Caykur teas are poured hot, and there are iced versions for muggy summer afternoons. A glass of cay here costs pocket change; the setting is the point, under magnolias and pines with the city below.
From the viewing terrace you look straight over the rooftops to the medieval castle, the harbour and the open Black Sea – the panorama that makes this the most photographed spot in Rize. Come near the end of the day and the light falls across the terraced tea slopes west of the city.
The garden also holds a miniature tea factory, where staff walk visitors through each stage a fresh leaf passes on its way to the glass, from withering through rolling and oxidation to firing, with explanations given in foreign languages for overseas groups. It is a compressed, no-booking version of the real thing; if watching leaf become tea gets under your skin, a full production line is the next step, and our guide to booking an authentic tea factory tour covers how to arrange one.
Is Entry Paid? Hours and Getting There
The question Turkish and Arabic searchers ask most – ucretli mi, is it paid – has a short answer: no. Caykur operates it as a public tea garden rather than a ticketed attraction, and visitor listings and reviews consistently report free entry as of August 2026. You pay only for what you order from the tea service, the Cayla restaurant or the shop.
The garden sits roughly two kilometres southwest of the seafront centre, uphill nearly the whole way. City dolmus minibuses and taxis make the climb in a few minutes, drivers all know it by name, and the two on-site car parks mean self-drivers rarely circle for space. The walk up is steep but doable if the weather cooperates. Local listings give daily opening of roughly 8am to 10pm, with tea service reported later into summer evenings; hours drift with the season, so treat mid-morning to early evening as the reliable window.
| Ziraat Botanical Tea Garden | The short version |
|---|---|
| Entry fee | Free – pay only for tea, food and shop purchases |
| Hours | Roughly 8am-10pm daily per local listings (checked August 2026); seasonal drift |
| Operator | Caykur, the state tea enterprise |
| Location | About 2 km southwest of central Rize, on the nursery hill of 1923 |
| Getting there | Short dolmus or taxi ride; steep uphill walk; two car parks on site |
| Time needed | 1-2 unhurried hours for tea, the terrace and the mini factory |
| Do not miss | Demlik tea service on the terrace; the 1924 mimosas; the stone tea hall |
Best Time to Visit
The bushes around the garden and on the slopes it overlooks are plucked from spring into autumn, and that is when the hillside is at its deepest green. Rize wears its weather proudly – locals call it the city of rain – so no month is safely dry, and the 2024 stone tea hall earns its keep: a downpour now moves the tea service indoors rather than ending it. Clear spells after rain give the sharpest sea views from the terrace. Weekends and summer evenings draw the biggest local crowds, so a weekday morning is the quiet play. For picking calendars across the wider tea world, and how the Black Sea season compares, see our seasonal guide to visiting tea plantations.
Make It a Full Rize Tea Day
The garden pairs naturally with the Caykur Tea Museum down in the centre. Opened in 2019 in a 19th-century mansion known as the Beyaz Ev, or White House, it was the first tea museum in Turkey, and it stands directly beside the Rize Museum in the Piricelebi quarter – details on the official Culture Portal listing. Inside, one wing covers tea technology, with the machinery that turns leaf into tea, and the other covers tea culture, displaying some 365 brewing and drinking pieces gathered from 24 countries. Seen together, museum and garden bracket the story: the hill shows where Turkish tea started and how it tastes; the Beyaz Ev shows how the country industrialised it and how the world drinks it. The museum also earns its place among the collections in our roundup of the world’s best tea museums.
| Stop | What you get | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Ziraat Botanical Tea Garden | Terrace cay with castle and sea views, mini tea factory, botanical walk | Hilltop, about 2 km southwest of the centre |
| Caykur Tea Museum (Beyaz Ev) | Tea technology and tea culture wings; 365 pieces from 24 countries | Beside the Rize Museum, Piricelebi quarter, city centre |
| Caykur shop in the garden | The full Caykur range to carry home | On the garden grounds |
Everything wider – when the Rize region harvests, the tea belt east and west of the city, and how the capital of Turkish tea fits a Black Sea route – lives in our full Rize tea gardens guide.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Is entry to the Ziraat Botanical Tea Garden paid or free?
Entry is free. Caykur runs the garden as a public tea garden, not a ticketed attraction, and visitor listings consistently confirmed free entry as of August 2026. You spend money only on what you order – tea by the glass or teapot, dishes at the Cayla restaurant, or packets from the Caykur shop – and parking in the two on-site car parks.
How do I get to the Ziraat tea garden from central Rize?
The garden is about two kilometres southwest of the seafront centre, almost entirely uphill. City dolmus minibuses and taxis reach it in a few minutes, and every driver knows it by name. Walking up is a steep but straightforward climb when the weather is dry. Drivers can use the two car parks added in the recent renovation.
What are the Ziraat tea garden opening hours?
Local listings report the garden open daily from roughly 8am to 10pm, with tea service running later on summer evenings; exact hours drift with the season since this is a working tea garden rather than a gated site. Mid-morning through early evening is the dependable window, and weekday mornings are the quietest time at the terrace tables.
What is there to do besides drink tea?
Watch the miniature tea factory demonstrate withering, rolling, oxidation and firing with staff explanations, then walk the labelled botanical plantings, which include mimosas planted in 1924 and citrus varieties from the original nursery. The Cayla restaurant serves Black Sea dishes, the Caykur shop stocks the full tea range, children get play areas, and the terrace view covers castle, city and sea.
Can I combine the garden with the Rize tea museum in one day?
Yes, comfortably in half a day. Give the garden one to two hours for tea, the terrace and the mini factory, then head down to the Caykur Tea Museum in the 19th-century Beyaz Ev beside the Rize Museum. Its two wings cover tea technology and tea culture with 365 pieces from 24 countries, and the pairing tells the full Turkish tea story.