Safranbolu is a town in Turkey and a district of Karabuk Province. Its location can be roughly described as about two hundred kilometers north of Ankara and about a hundred kilometers south of the Black Sea coast, or more precisely as about 9 kilometers north of the city of Karabuk.

The Old Town preserves many old buildings, with 1008 registered historical artifacts. These are: 1 private museum, 25 mosques, 5 tombs, 8 historical fountains, 5 Turkish baths, 3 caravanserais, 1 historical clock tower, 1 sundial and hundreds of houses and mansions. Also there are mounds of ancient settlements, rock tombs and historical bridges. The Old Town is situated in a deep ravine in a fairly dry area in the rain shadow of the mountains. The New Town can be found on the plateau about two kilometers west of the Old Town.

The town derives its name from saffron, since Safranbolu was a trading place and a center for growing saffron.