Mushroom Hunt and Picnic

Mushroom Hunt and Picnic?!

If you like the nature, forest, green, mushrooms and barbecue you'll like this experience very much. Approximately 45 minutes away from Istanbul city centre, we invite you to Belgrade Forest of Istanbul. 

Meet our mushroom expert: Jilber Barutcuyan

With more than thirty years of experience, Jilber Barutcuyan is the pioneer expert of mushrooms in Turkey. Jilber is truly a super talent. He is a diver, climber, cave explorer, wine specialist and of-course a mushroom expert. He has a special diploma on Mushroom Studies from Switzerland Ministry of Health. Our expert is also very fluent in French and intermediate in English.

Ready for the mushroom day?

Pick-up from your hotel early in the morning and drive to Belgrad Forest to meet with Jilber, our mushroom guide. He will take us to a special field where we will discover and work throughout the day. After a short introduction, Jilber will inform us about mushrooms, the forest and the itinerary of our day.

Search and collect your favourite mushrooms on the field

And here we go! We all start to search and collect different types of mushrooms. Mushroom hunt takes about 45 minutes and then we walk back to our basecamp where Jilber will introduce and inform us about the picked mushrooms. Did you know that Jilber collected approximately 3000 different mushroom recipe’s?

Mushroom examination and tasting

Mushroom is a very deep and sophisticated subject and Jilber is among the very few people in Turkey knowledgeable about it. We will examine the mushrooms and ofcourse do a mushroom tasting.  (2 hours)

Lunch time! How about a nice BBQ at the Belgrad Forest?

Next is lunch! Open air and trees will make you hungry for sure. We mostly do barbeque, take some meat and meatballs with us for the lunch time. If you wish, once you book the tour we can talk more details about the lunch and we offer you some other options.

Do not forget your camera!

Belgrad forest is full of amazing photography oppurtunities. And since our subject is muhrooms, you definitely need your camera to shoot your favourite mushrooms on the field.

Mushroom seasons in Istanbul

Mushrooms are mostly available at spring time-when there is more rain and of-course sun. Therefore please contact us in-advance to require further information about mushroom season and availability of the tour.

NOTE: The mushroom workshop and introduction is available in Turkish and French. We will provide you an extra guide for translation into the language you prefer.

Mushroom hunt - reqired gear:

Comfortable clothes (required)

Trekking shoes or sneakers (required)

Pocket knife (required)

Camera (recommended)

 Contact us for more information