Cumalikizik

They claim it to be 700 years old, which it didnt look like. Its old village with stony streets & houses. At the entrance it has a huge and economical car park. The residents of area sell fruit, honey, soveigniers and traditional snacks. It requires quite a bit efforts to walk the upstream streets. A UNESCO world heritage museum is under construction inside the village.

Cumalıkızık, the oldest Ottoman village in Bursa region, is located in Yıldırım town of Bursa established on the footsteps of Uludağ-Great Mountain. The village was established in the beginning of the Ottoman state around 1300 AD so it was the witness of a birth of the great empire which lasted about 628 years from Adriatic coasts to Caspian Sea on three continents. The historical treasures, traditional Ottoman Nomadic houses, stone paved paths & curly roads up to the summit of the mountain and ancient Turkish architecture have been preserved for centuries so it has grabbed millions of visitors for a long time. It was accepted by Unesco as one of the most important cultural heritage center in 2014 and awarded for the best preservation. The name " Cumalıkızık " means the willage used to center between 5 villages where Holy Friday service was held so it was called as " Cumalıkızık-The village where Holy Friday sermon was held. Documentaries and famous movies have been made several times due to its natural movie studio as the nickname of Turkish holywood. The Cumalıkızık Ottoman village is a must stop to visit and is really recommended to see the old houses and to have a luch in nomadic atmosphere by talking to the pheasants in traditional costumes.

This is a traditional, well-preserved and beautiful old town. You can easily get there using a car or public transportation, but it´ll take you around one hour from Bursa if you don´t get lost. I don´t know if the town is more active than usual on Sundays (that´s the day I went there), but it had a nice, lively and peaceful environment. I´d recommend you to go there and have either breakfast or lunch. We ate at Narli Bahce and, although they only had four things on the menu, we loved the place. Some of the things you´ll be able to do there are: Walk around the streets, take some nice pictures, relax, have a meal or some tea in a nice area and buy souvenirs or jam made by the people living there. The streets are steep and uneven, so people on wheelchair would probably struggle a lot.

I love this historical village.Please wear the appropriate shoes for you to visit here.The road in this village use the ancient stones and it was hard for me because I wore very light sneakers.

For non-Turkish speaking tourist, it was a little difficult to find out how to get there and come back by public transport. Generally, very little information available on the history or the area. Maybe because it was Sunday, the village was full of tourists and could hardly have time or space to enjoy the atmosphere of a historical village. We found a nice garden cafe hidden in a traditional Anatolian house and sat there for hours enjoying chai, local hospitality, and a beautiful weather. I would like to go there again on a normal day.

Go to Cumalikizik from Bursa if you can. We got there by taxi and got back by public transport (lots of buses drop and pick up people at village square). We went in December and it was quiet but l'm sure it's busier in nicer weather.
It gives you a feel for what a lot of villages and towns must have been like in Ottoman times. It can get touristy but it's still pretty atmospheric and genuine. You can spend as long or as little as you want. We went to a nice local place. They didn't speak English but if you walk in it's pretty clear you are there for food and drink (and maybe the loo!). Some people were having a full Turkish breakfast, which seems to be their speciality. It was very cold and we loved sitting by the fire. I add some pictures.

An opportunity missed.
We went here expecting a historic experience but it was more a souvenir market in what should be a beautiful place. The photos you see online are not representative of the reality.
Cumalikizik was the capital of the newly formed Ottoman Empire ~700 years ago and the narrow cobbled streets and delightful coloured buildings should be the show piece, but instead they are all entirely ignored and covered by stalls selling knock offs from China pretending to be Turkish souvenirs. I don’t know about you but I didn’t dream about coming to Cumalikizik and buying a handbag in the shape of Minnie Mouse’s head or imitation Iznic bowls.
We walked the streets and tried to focus on the run down historic buildings but it was just so disappointing that there was no historic information or attention paid to the significant location.
If you search hard enough and seek out pathways that appear less travelled you can get a taste of what life may have been like in days gone by using your imagination.
This place is still in good enough condition to become a wonderful historic village in the right hands where the stories of the past could be celebrated, but instead it is a giant opportunity overloooked.

Very authentic village, with people living and working there,
bought some souvenirs that the girls were actually painting there,
don't miss the bakery on the way down, wow smell of that fresh bread.
Wish we had more time to spend here

Just another village ruined by people who are crazy about taking photos here and post on their social media accounts. You can no more see a village life in here as it is crowded by anxious sellers desperate to sell made in China items. Very disspointing.

We visited this village because it is original buildings, roads and not changed for very long time. We drove with a car it is not very close to Bursa city center. You could use the minibus for public transportation. There are a lots of small village type restaurants. You could taste the "Gozleme" a kind of fried bread with potato or cheese. I can offer the "sakli bahce"