The Munzur range rises immediately south of the Erzincan plain — a sheer wall of grey limestone climbing to over 3,400 metres at Akbaba Tepe. The mountains are protected on the southern side as Munzur Valley National Park, one of Turkey's most ecologically rich preserves, with brown bears, wolves, lynx, ibex and a string of glacier-fed lakes.
From Erzincan the standard access is on day trips into the foothills or longer trekking expeditions over the watershed into Tunceli province. The mountains are sensitive politically: they form part of the historic heartland of the Alevi Kurdish population, and military and gendarmerie checkpoints can complicate independent travel. Spring snowmelt and summer wildflowers are the best times to visit; the high country is snowbound until June.