The reason İskenderun's residents head up here is the climate. The coastal plain along the Gulf of İskenderun grows hot and humid in summer, but the Amanos range rises steeply just inland, and the yaylas on its upper slopes stay markedly cooler. The Hatay provincial authorities describe these uplands as places of pine, juniper and fir, ringed by thyme, daisies and wildflowers, with simple timber yayla houses still in family use — a landscape the İskenderun tourism office pitches as ideal for camping, picnicking and short forest walks. For a city only minutes from sweltering lowlands, that change of air is the whole point of the visit.↗↗

The Kaledibi yaylas also have a reputation for their growing season. Reviews of nearby uplands in the same cluster praise abundant fruit and vegetables, smiling, welcoming locals, and one — Yonsul Yayla, just below the Amanos summit — is singled out for a cave spring that runs ice-cold and for plane and hazelnut trees lining a stream through the valley. The same fresh-water-and-orchard character is what gives this highland its easy, unspoiled feel.↗