From Bodrum to Kaş - South-West Coast of Turkey

My wife keeps going on about the beauty of Turkeys coast and its beaches; so this year was the time to check it out. With a rental car we planned a route alongside  the Aegan coast from Bodrum to Kaş at the Mediterranean sea.

First stop was Fethiye, probably the most touristy part of the trip. Fethiye is a small town with a marina from where boat trips to the whole region depart (12 island tours). The town centre is full of shops, souvenirs, handicraft and jewelry; the part we really enjoyed was the fish market, where we bought the catch of the day and let one of the surrounding restaurants prepare it; as starters you can enjoy the so-called meze, small portions of seafood, Joghurt-based dips, vegetables and cheeses. It usually goes with Rakı (strong anis-based beverage), and leads to a keyifli (cheerful) evening with music. 

The next day we explored the bay by boat and visited places with exotic names such as Tarzan bay, Aquarium bay or Sovalye Island. The high season was over, so we had some of the places with cristal clear waters for us, peaceful and quiet. Due to a great visibility, you should always bring your snorkeling gear, i.e. we were lucky to sea a big sea turtle :)

Only a 20 min ride from Fethiye is Ölüdeniz with its Blue Lagoon. On the path to the beach you can already feel from what country most tourists come from: Every restaurant was marketing „full English breakfast“ priced in pounds or showed premier league matches on TV. The lagoon side of Ölüdeniz was quite crowded, the shallow waters looked beautiful but were not really inviting for a swim; we stayed on the sea side and also enjoyed looking at the paragliders that start from the mountains surrounding the bay. 

On the way to the next stop I felt like being in Croatia again or driving the Coastal highway 1 in the US: Usually right next to the sea or a bit higher up on a mountain the dramatic scenery includes turquoise waters, beautiful and all different small bays and rock formations. Most impressive to me was the Kelebekler Vadisi (Butterfly Valley). Of course driving there comes with sharp turns and steep climbs, that were even sometimes challenging for the rental car.

We stayed two nights in Kabak Koyu (Pumpkin bay), which got a reputation as a hippy place: since it is hard to access (leave your car on a car park on the main road and take the dolmuş (shuttle) into the bay, take only what is essentially needed with you), it is very peaceful and remote. The high mountains on the backside and the lush green trees and bushes make it a perfect location to just hang loose and chill. That atmosphere attracts campers, hippies and also people from the LGBT community. Every location has a different music style playing at night, be aware that it could be hard to fall asleep. In case you cannot, there is the option to take a good look at the stars, if you are lucky you can even see the milky way - city lights are far, so count for a clear sky. The beach is rather small, but there is boat transfers to other beaches and bays that leave on request. 

Kaş is supposed to be the scuba diving hotspot of Turkey (expect to pay around 25-30Euro for a single dive incl. gear), usual spottings in the warm waters with great visibility of up to 40m include turtles, rays and schools of all kind of fish, but also wrecks of ships, a plane or a tank (of that some have been sunk solemnly for the purpose of scuba diving attractions). Unfortunately, I felt a bit sick after the first dive, also the sea has been quite rough and the visibility rather poor, that I decided to not dive more. So from my one dive, I can say that it is definitely not Asia or even the Red Sea, but for Turkey it seems quite good. 

Aside from the diving, Kaş has a range of small and nice beaches to offer as well as a town atmosphere and a historic amphitheatre; outstanding among the beaches is Kaputas Plaji with its steep staircase and few parking opportunities. According to some ratings within the last years, Kaputas Plaji belongs to the Top10 beaches in Europe. 

On the way back we visited another one of Europes top beaches, the Iztuzu Plaji, also called turtle beach. The beach is so special because on one side it has brackish waters (we reached the beach by a 30min boat ride from Dalyan) on the land side and the salty water of the sea on the other side. The island is famous for the loggerhead turtles nesting here (from April-September), if you have the time come at night during the months of June to October to see the baby turtles hatching.

In the end I can say that it truly is a beautiful piece of Europe, I really enjoyed the seaside and clear and/or turquoise waters as well as the amazing and dirt-cheap Turkish cuisine (thanks to the weak Turkish Lira). However, in September still the temperatures during the day are well above 30°, some days around 35°, a bit too hot for my taste.