Tortum Celalesi is a huge lake eight kilometers (five miles) long and one kilometer wide. The lake is “cut” on all sides by mountain cliffs, and was formed by a giant landslide that blocked the northern exit from the valley. Most likely, this happened towards the end of the last Ice Age, approximately 10,000-15,000 years ago, but some locals say that their ancestors remember the cataclysm that happened, and are sure that the lake is no more than 250 years old.
The water in the lake, even on a sunny day, has a milky beige, dirty green or gray color, so only daredevils swim there, and the local population uses the rocky shore near the village of Balaklky as beaches, as well as the end of the peninsula, located eight kilometers north of secondary road leading to Yoshk Bank.
If you drive twelve kilometers to the north from the turn to Yoshk Bank along a secondary road, you can get to the waterfalls of Tortuma. The Turkish Electricity Company (TEK) has built an artificial dam with a turbine on a natural dam.
There is a narrow road in front of the hydroelectric plant. It passes in the northern part of the lake, turns left and leads to the Tortum Kayi waterfalls, which offer stunning views. This waterfall brings down its waters from a height of fifty meters to the shallow waterfalls located below.
Lake Tortum and Tortum waterfall attract hundreds of tourists every year. It is best to go to these parts in the spring, since in the summer the hydroelectric power station takes almost all the water for its needs. During the season, the lake is a very visited and crowded place - fishing, catamaran rental, camping, but in the summer it is quiet and deserted.