Glass terrace drawing visitors to Ulubey Canyon

UŞAK – Anadolu Agency

AA Photos

Though not for the faint of heart, a new glass terrace cantilevered over the western province of Uşak’s Ulubey Canyon has been attracting a large number of brave visitors since it opened last month.

“The glass terrace was finished in a year as part of the Park Canyon Project. It is set up on an area of 135 square meters. A 125-square-meter part of this surface is covered with glass, 112 square meters of which is transparent. The Grand Canyon in the U.S. has 90 square meters of transparent glass. With this feature, the Ulubey Canyon Glass Terrace is the world’s largest glass terrace,” said Ulubey District Gov. Mehmet Aksu.

The 76-kilometer Ulubey Canyon is reputedly the world’s second longest after the Grand Canyon, the district governor said. 

The glass terrace, which has already drawn 40,000 tourists since it was opened in May, was designed as a shipboard, said Aksu.

He said most of the visitors were nature lovers from neighboring provinces and that they would reach the first-year goal of 100,000 visitors within a short time.


A center of attraction 

Aksu said the canyon was a very important tourist attraction in the province and that park officials would initiate projects to make it easier to reach the canyon floor.

“The Park Canyon Project has been financed by the Zafer Development Agency and Ulubey Union and Village Delivery Service. It had a cost of nearly 1.5 million Turkish Liras, and we have completed its first leg. We plan to increase the number of visitors and make the region a center of attraction. The İzmir-Ankara highway runs through our city. We want travelers between İzmir and Ankara to visit the glass terrace by giving a short break. We have lots of visitors from the neighboring provinces such as Denizli, Afyonkarahisar, Kütahya and Manisa. We have been working on a series of project to promote the glass terrace to foreign tourists,” he said. 

Aksu said the Ulubey canyon were very suitable for various nature sports, adding that visitors would be able to engage in sports like jogging, bicycling and mountaineering on the ground of the canyon and at the same time visit the ancient city of Blandus. “The glass terrace was set up on the highest spot of the canyon.” 

He also called for investors to come to the district, saying the region was in need of accommodation places.