Ardeşen is sandwiched between sea and mountain, with 10 km of Black Sea coastline, while most of the district is hill and mountain, extending 50 km inland, up to the Altıparmak hills and then on to Çamlıhemşin and the Kaçkar mountains. There is plenty of rainfall but little land flat enough for planting anything except for tea, and life is hard in these wet highlands. The highland villages are remote, and reaching them with roads, cables and other infrastructure is very challenging.