Yayla is a name given to the summer
mountain resort
A mountain resort is a place to holiday or vacation located in an elevated and typically at least relatively isolated area. The term resort implies integral hotel or inn accommodations, restaurants, and either or both sports facilities or scen ...
s in
Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...
.
Etymology
Nomadic herdsmen of
Turkic origin used to call their herding locations by different names depending on the season.
Jens Helmstedt:Yayla life in Anatolia
/ref> '' Yazlak'', ''yaylak'', ''güzlek'' and ''kışlak'' referred to herding locations of different seasons of the year. But out of the four, yayla and kışla (with the last letter dropped) are more widespread. Kışla (from ''kış'' meaning winter) refers to relatively warmer places in the plains and yayla refers to mountain slopes where the pasturing is easier during the summer. (see Alpine meadow
Alpine tundra is a type of natural region or biome that does not contain trees because it is at high elevation, with an associated harsh climate. As the latitude of a location approaches the poles, the threshold elevation for alpine tundra gets ...
.) Yaylas were temporary settlements.
Traditional yayla as resort
For nomads, yayla was a part of productive economy. For city dwellers however, yayla is a summer resort. During summers most of Turkey, especially Mediterranean
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the e ...
coast is quite hot and people seek cooler places to spend the nights. Traditionally, during summer vacation of schools, the families migrate to yaylas. The householders either stay in the cities or they also make daily trips to yayla if the yayla is close by.
Contemparary yayla culture
In the second half of the 20th century because of two factors, the yayla practice is not as popular as it once used to be. Most people prefer beach tourism instead of yayla and the advance in climatization technology makes the hot summers more endurable. On the other hand, highways have been constructed and modern amenities have been introduced to yaylas which can increase their popularity. In contrast to past practices, now most yaylas are not temporary settlements and in fact some yaylas gain the status of town and even district center.
See also
* List of yaylas in Turkey
References
{{Reflist
Resorts in Turkey
*
Turkish words and phrases
Hill and mountain resorts