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A Botanical Garden in the Middle of a Motorway Junction, Nezahat Gökyiğit
Cultural

A Botanical Garden in the Middle of a Motorway Junction, Nezahat Gökyiğit

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On the Anatolian side of Istanbul, right in the middle of the junction where the motorways coming from the Atatürk and Fatih Sultan Mehmet bridges meet the Anadolu Motorway heading towards Ankara, there is a botanical garden.

Ataşehir, İstanbul
Cultural
Radar Editör
September 30, 2026

About Trip

On the Anatolian side of Istanbul, right in the middle of the junction where the motorways coming from the Atatürk and Fatih Sultan Mehmet bridges meet the Anadolu Motorway heading towards Ankara, there is a botanical garden. Most people visiting the Nezahat Gökyiğit Botanical Garden for the first time find the location strange; because the garden was built on the pieces of land left between the main roads and the connecting roads of the junction, it consists of "islands", and the islands are linked to each other by tunnels and passages. The sound of the road fades after the first few minutes. Walking among rock gardens, water lily ponds and trees gathered from every corner of the country, you forget that you are right next to a motorway. This article explains how the garden was founded, in what order the islands can be visited, what there is to see in each season and what families with children should keep in mind.

Getting there

The garden's official address is in Ataşehir, in Atatürk Mahallesi, on the service road of Rıfat Danışman Sokak. Turkish Wikipedia, on the other hand, places the garden in Ümraniye; this is not a contradiction, the junction sits on the border of the two districts and the garden has two visitor entrances, one on the Ataşehir side and one on the Ümraniye side. According to the official website, visitors are not admitted through the Central Island gate; the site's home page also states that the Ümraniye entrance is temporarily closed because of infrastructure work on Arboretum Island. Check which gate is open on the website before you set out.

For those coming by public transport, the nearest rail line is the M8 metro running between Bostancı and Parseller; according to Wikipedia, its Kozyatağı, Küçükbakkalköy and İçerenköy stations lie within Ataşehir. From the stations you can continue to the garden by bus or on foot; since the surroundings of the junction are confusing for pedestrians, the safest option is to open the İBB public transport planner and set the Ataşehir entrance as your destination. Again according to Wikipedia, the Ataşehir station of the metro line under construction that will link Göztepe, Ataşehir and Ümraniye is planned close to this junction; check its opening status with Metro İstanbul. The garden's transport page offers short videos on arriving by public transport and by car, together with a downloadable garden map; saving the map to your phone makes it easier to find your way between the islands.

Building a garden in the middle of a junction

The garden's story begins in 1995. According to the official history, that year Ali Nihat Gökyiğit signed a protocol to create a memorial park in memory of his wife, Nezahat Gökyiğit. The soil had been badly damaged during the construction of the junction; first the soil was rehabilitated, then roughly fifty thousand trees and shrubs were planted on the site. Over time the purpose changed and the memorial park was replanned as a botanical garden. The site opened to the public in 2002 and took its present name in 2003. Today the garden belongs to the Ali Nihat Gökyiğit Foundation and describes itself not merely as a place for a stroll but as a centre for research, education and teaching.

Sources give different figures for the size of the garden: the Turkish history page on the official website speaks of 46 hectares, while its English page and English Wikipedia mention 32 hectares. The difference may stem from the islands having opened one after another over the years; what is certain is that the garden consists of eight islands. According to Turkish Wikipedia, the herbarium founded in 2004 was registered with Index Herbariorum in 2010 under the code "NGBB" and holds around eight and a half thousand plant specimens; the collection also includes specimens gathered by the botanists Füsun Ertuğ and Peter Hadland Davis. The herbarium is not an exhibition open to visitors but an archive for researchers; still, it explains why the garden is as much a scientific institution as it is a garden.

Island by island

Each island has a theme, and they did not all open in the same year; visiting them in the order they opened also shows how the garden grew. For those entering from the Ataşehir gate the natural sequence is Central Island, Ertuğrul Island and Istanbul Island, followed by the Arboretum, Oak, Anatolia and Thrace islands reached through the tunnel.

Central Island (Merkez Ada) is the oldest part of the garden and the place where the collections are densest. According to the official website, here you find the bulbous plant collection, the rock garden displaying plants adapted to rocky habitats, the cactus and succulent greenhouse, the water lily ponds, the arid garden gathering drought tolerant species, the rock crevice garden showing plants that survive on very little soil and, as its name suggests, the somewhat tucked away Hidden Garden. The wooden Kameriye pavilion wrapped in roses, the perennial bed along the canal and the hedged trial garden are on this island too. For anyone who wants to take photographs, this is the most rewarding island.

Ertuğrul Island opened in 2005 and takes its name from the frigate Ertuğrul, which sank in 1890 on its way back from Japan; the monument on the island was erected for the 527 sailors who lost their lives on the ship. Entry to and exit from the island are through tunnels. The memorial olive tree brought from Gemlik, formed by the joining of two trunks, the cherry trees donated by the Japan Sakura Foundation, a collection of 115 medicinal and aromatic plant species, dye plants, edible wild plants, a hydrangea collection, water lily tanks and marsh plants are all on this island. The open air classroom and the exhibition on the friendship between bees and flowers are of particular interest to families with children.

Istanbul Island is the section that tells the story of the city itself. Here there is an old mansion garden designed to reflect the structure of 18th century Istanbul mansion gardens, a Bosphorus canal carrying the Maiden's Tower, the Galata Tower and the bridges at miniature scale, a travertine neighbourhood fountain with iris reliefs, an Ottoman tent of about 75 square metres and an amphitheatre for 400 people. According to the official website, the Istanbul plants collection contains 2,512 taxa, some of them endemic species that grow only in this region.

Arboretum Island opened to visitors on 9 April 2011; its aim is to bring together all of Turkey's native woody plants. According to the official website, 723 native tree and shrub species of the country have been brought here since 2009 through scientific field expeditions, and the island is divided into three sections in keeping with Turkey's plant geography, Euro-Siberian, Irano-Turanian and Mediterranean. A corner arranged in memory of the botanist Faik Yaltırık and a mini rock garden are also on this island.

Oak Island (Meşe Adası) opened in 2014. It takes its name from the oak, which shelters hundreds of different plants beneath its branches; according to the website this quality was chosen as a likeness of the hospitality of the people of Anatolia. The Oak Dam on the island is a small dam collecting rainwater arriving from the Ataşehir side; before reaching the reservoir the water passes through a sediment pond surrounded by plants, and it meets part of the garden's irrigation needs.

Anatolia Island (Anadolu Adası) is the largest island of the garden and opened on 7 November 2015. Its name comes from the way the site resembles the geography of Anatolia; the northern part is steep and densely wooded like the Black Sea region, the south reflects the Mediterranean, and the middle is an open plain like the steppe. The rock garden with endemic bulbous species, the Square arranged to follow developments in floriculture, the Successive Flat where native plants are displayed one after another with their flowers and leaves, a representative Mount Hasan built of volcanic soil and rock, and the Wet Valley with its five water lily ponds are all on this island.

Thrace Island (Trakya Adası) opened in 2017 and lies to the northwest of Anatolia Island. The landscape here was designed with inspiration from the longoz, that is, the floodplain forests of Thrace; there are two sections representing the İğneada longoz and the sweetgum longoz. The most striking corner of the island is the dune habitat conservation area: the sands and native plants of the Ağaçlı area, affected by the construction of the third airport, were moved here, two different sands, grey and yellow, can be seen on the site, and twenty taxa, four of them endemic, are being studied here. The orchard gathering Turkey's traditional fruit varieties is also on Thrace Island, while the grape varieties are on Central Island. The eighth island, Recreation Island (Mesire Adası), is, as its name suggests, set aside for sitting and resting.

Seasons

A botanical garden shows a different face in each of the four seasons; it is not possible to have "seen" the garden in a single visit. Spring is when the bulbous plants on Central Island and the cherry trees on Ertuğrul Island come into flower; the rock gardens are also at their most colourful in these months. In summer the water lily ponds, the water lily tanks on Ertuğrul Island and the Wet Valley on Anatolia Island come to the fore; the roses wrapped around the Kameriye also bloom in the warm months. Autumn is the season of Arboretum Island: the deciduous trees change colour and the fallen leaves mean plenty of material for children. In winter the garden empties out; since the cactus and succulent greenhouse stays the same all year round, it is the first place to head for on cold days. The official website says that opening hours change with the season; check the last entry and closing times on the site before you go.

Visiting with children

The garden has corners designed with families in mind. The Identification Trail Game on Arboretum Island is, according to the official website, an unguided educational activity for children aged 9 to 14: along the trail, children try to recognise leaves and work out which tree they belong to. The open air classroom on Ertuğrul Island and its exhibition on the friendship between the bee and the flower, together with the miniature Bosphorus and the amphitheatre on Istanbul Island, hold the attention of small children for a long time. The calendar of the children's education programmes run by the garden is announced on the website; there are also applied gardening and scientific plant illustration courses for adults, and the site sets a minimum age of 18 for these. Those coming with a pushchair should take into account the tunnels and ramps between the islands; the garden map shows where each passage leads.

Practical notes

  • The garden is closed to visitors on Mondays for maintenance and repair work; the hours on other days change with the season, and the current information is on the official website.
  • The official website states that admission is free; even so, check the site before setting out.
  • There are two visitor entrances, Ataşehir and Ümraniye; visitors are not admitted through the Central Island gate, and the Ümraniye entrance has been closed for some time because of infrastructure work.
  • No food or drink is sold inside the garden; bring your own water and snacks, and take your rubbish back with you.
  • No pets other than guide dogs are admitted.
  • There are tunnels, passages and ramps between the islands; wear comfortable shoes and set aside at least half a day, and a full day is needed for all of the islands.
  • The garden shares tools such as its electronic flora database and its live weather station on the website; there is also a programme for those who want to volunteer.

Sources

Location - A Botanical Garden in the Middle of a Motorway Junction, Nezahat Gökyiğit

Trip Info
CityAtaşehir, İstanbul
TypeCultural
DateSeptember 30, 2026
SourceRadar Editör
Radar TürkiyeAuthorRadar TürkiyeVisit SourceGet Directions