8 Fantastic Day Trips from Fetiye – Turkey

Fetiye is a small, laid-back coastal city situated on Turkey’s stunning Mediterranean ‘Turquoise Coast’. With a look and feel much more like a large town than a city, Fetiye is beautifully set on a huge round natural bay with over 10 km / 6 miles of open shoreline.

Fetiye is well worth visiting for it’s stunning setting, its handful of ancient Lycian ruins, its long charming pebble beach and it fantastic waterfront that’s lined by a series of landscaped parks, wide pedestrian walkways, a sprinkling of outdoor restaurants & cafes, and the 6-km / 3.5 mile long Calis Beach. I wrote a detailed introduction to Fetiye here.

Besides its beautiful round bay, Fetiye is also ideally located on the edge of an incredibly spectacular, mountainous section of the Turquoise Coast. In fact, it’s arguably the most beautiful stretch of Turkey’s Mediterranean shores.

Several stunning and surprisingly diverse natural destinations can be reached within an hour of the city. A reliable & inexpensive public bus system takes visitors and locals alike from Feitye out to all those amazing destinations.

In addition, Fetiye is a major base for various boat tours of the bay, coastline and nearby Greek islands.

All of this makes Fetiye a fantastic base for exploring the rugged coast, particularly for nature lovers.

I arrived in Fetiye in late June of this year, intending to stay one week before moving further north to Marmaris. However, I liked Fetiye and its surrounding attractions so much that I ended up staying two weeks and then returning later to spend even more time here.

Thus far, I’ve enjoyed three weeks in Fetiye, walking the waterfront many mornings and re-visiting some of my favorite coastal destinations. I may even end up staying longer!

In the meantime, following are the most fabulous places I’ve explored as day trips from Fetiye thus far.

1. Kabak Bay and the spectacular coastal highway

South of Fetiye, a truly spectacular coastal highway hugs the super-steep mountainsides, winding up and down, southward for 30 km / 20 miles to its end-point at stunning Kabak Bay.

It’s one of those hair-raising coastal roads that you sometimes see in movies, where one side of the highway just drops off for thousands of feet past a rugged rock cliff into the sea way below. And where the inland side of the road features soaring cliff-faces jutting into the sky. With steep grades, hairpin turns and zig-zags up the mountainsides.

It takes at least one hour to drive from Fetiye to Kabak, the end of the road, due to the extreme road conditions. But it’s wonderful taking it slowly anyhow, in order to admire the striking views and enjoy the adrenaline rush.

Along this route are several of the spectacular destinations I recommend in this article, including Oludeniz, Kidrak Beach, Faralya, Butterfly Valley and Kabak Bay.

Although it’s potentially possible for visitors with a car to do one whirlwind drive and visit all the spots along this route in one day, I personally recommend visiting each place as a separate day trip. Each one can easily take up several hours or a full day, for those who have the time and who love nature.

Kabak Bay is a small, rather remote cove with a pebble beach and small forested valley surrounded by soaring rugged mountains that plunge into the sea.

The coastal road ends at Kabak, but high up on the mountainside. From there visitors traditionally must hike down into the steep valley on a switch-back road or a narrow hiking trail. It takes about 30 minutes to hike down, but about one hour to trek back up out of Kabak to the road and bus stop.

Because of its remote location and sheer beauty, Kabak Bay long ago became the home and stomping grounds for alternate lifestyle people, those into trance-music, yoga, meditation and natural living. They built many wonderful open-air all-natural bungalow resorts and campgrounds, both down in the vally near the beach and up on the steep mountainsides overlooking the spectacular coast and soaring mountains.

Quite unfortunately, Kabak eventually became famous and at this point, it’s already been ‘discovered’ and taken over by mainstream tourists. Police have also begun raiding Kabak resorts, parties and guests for drugs. So Kabak’s remote glory days are over, I’m afraid. Sigh…

And while Kabak used to be a rather remote, hard to reach valley, there’s now a wide engineered road being built all the way down into the valley and beach. Pretty soon the mainstream tourist hordes will be arriving in droves, no doubt.

At least Kabak is still a beautiful natural spot, great for a day trip from Fetiye.

A mini-bus goes from Fetiye’s mini-bus station several times per day in high season and less frequently in off season. It takes about 1.5 hours to reach Kabak. Then, as I mentioned previously, visitors must hike down into the valley.

2. Oludeniz & Boat Trip to Butterfly Valley

Oludeniz is one of the Turquoise coast’s most famous (and utterly over–developed) destinations. It’s situated just over the mountain south of Fetiye, a 20-minute drive or 45-minute bus ride away, on the same route that eventually leads to Kabak.

Oludeniz is a perfect example of tourism gone wrong. There’s a long, wide stunning pebble & sand beach at the main town area. But the main draw is situated three kms up the coast, where the beach turns into a narrow peninsula jutting into a little cove surrounded by soaring mountains.

The fluted peninsula itself and the little cove are really beautiful. Quite unfortunately, they’ve completely commercialized it by filling every inch of beach with beach chairs and bright red umbrellas, three rows deep! These run in strips the entire way around the tip of the peninsula. Behind them is a cluster of restaurants, ice-cream stands, bars and cafes, all pumping loud obnoxious music.

Officially declared a ‘nature preserve’ and requiring a fee to enter, Oludeniz is now exactly the opposite of a ‘preserve’. It is 100% commercialized, the epitome of not preserved!

For those who value nature in an undisturbed state, like I do, I highly recommend skipping this atrocity…unless you want to go gape at how utterly awful a beautiful natural place can be badly managed.

The second draw at Oludeniz are boat trips over to spectacular Butterfly Valley. In just 15 minutes the boat ferries passengers over to an isolated sand beach that’s surrounded by soaring rock mountains and backed by a narrow green flat valley.

In high season, a dozen or more large tourist boats head over to Butterfly Valley at exactly the same time each morning (talk about more bad planning!), leaving the beautiful remote beach a-swarm Math tourist hordes for an hour.

For those who value tranquil nature, it’s much better to visit Butterfly Valley at a different hour from the tour boats (via a private boat) or visit during low season.

3. Kidrak Beach

Kidrak Beach is a small inviting all-natural sand & pebble beach located just a few km south of Oludeniz along the coastal road.

Kidrak is my favorite beach close to Fetiye for several reasons. First, it’s an all natural beach, backed by a small dense pine forest and then soaring limestone cliffs.

Secondly, Kidrak Beach is less well-known (aka, less crowded) than Oludeniz and Fetiye’s in-town Calis Beach. Finally, it’s tastefully semi-developed by private owners who have set up some great outdoor sitting areas, including a picnic area in a pine forest.

To reach Kidrak Beach by public bus, you must take the bus to Kabak Bay and ask to get off at Kidrak. Otherwise, you can catch one of the frequent buses to Oludeniz and then hitch-hike the final hilly 6 km / 4+ miles out to Kidrak.

4. Faralya

Faralya is a tiny village set way up in the mountains over-looking narrow Butterfly Valley, which is set way, way below in a deep narrow rock gorge. There are two fantastic look out points at Faralya, where visitors can peer down into the jaw-dropping beach & valley way below.

Faralya is located on the highway en route to Kabak Bay and has a handful of small family-owned hotels and open-air restaurants offering stunning views of the soaring mountains all around, as well as peeks down into the gorge.

The best time to peer into the gorge and sea from Faralya is in the morning, due to the position of the sun. In afternoons and evenings, you’ll be looking into the sun more than anything.

To reach Faralya from Fetiye, take a bus to Kabak Bay and get off at Faralya. It’s about a one-hour trip.

5. Saklikent Gorge

Saklikent Gorge is a deep narrow rock canyon that was formed by the rock mountain cracking open thousands of years ago. A clear cold river runs through the gorge, so exploring the canyon necessarily entails getting one’s feet and legs wet.

Depending on the season, visiting Saklikent Gorge can be a mostly easy stroll through a shallow river into the ever-narrowing canyon (summer months) or a thrilling, potentially-dangerous adventure hike in rough, rushing water. The latter is recommended only for very fit, experienced canyon-ers accompanied by Saklikent’s local guides.

Please note that Saklikent Gorge is an extremely famous & popular destination that is highly developed and exploited. ‘Over-developed tourist trap’ would make a good description. In fact, most photos you’ll find online of the gorge show hordes of tourists packing into the narrow walkway at the entrance area, as well as through the whole length of the gorge.

Luckily for people, like me, who like their nature experiences to be quiet and relatively devoid of other humans, it is possible to visit Saklikent before the hordes arrive.

The entrance opens promptly at 8:45 am, but people generally don’t start arriving until 10-11 am. Visitors who arrive at opening time can potentially explore the stunning gorge completely to themselves for more than one hour. I got to do just that one morning!

A 7:20 am bus leaves the Fetiye mini-bus station, arriving at Saklikent at 8:30 am. That’s just enough time to use the public toilet and get ready to walk through the gorge’s cold river water.

Visiting Saklikent Gorge during off season will also offer the chance to explore the canyon without masses of tourists.

6. Dalyan River & Iztuzu Beach

The tranquil Dalyan River area is a completely different natural environment for the Turquoise Coast. Set in a wide flat coastal plain, Dalyan River meanders its way back and forth from large Koycegiz Lake through a broad marshland en route to the sea.

Situated midway between the lake and the sea, the small quaint town of Dalyan is set along the river about 10 km from the sea. Surrounding the town, popping up out of the flat wetlands, are several limestone outcroppings, which give the area a more dramatic setting. The river is lined by tall dense reeds and many small boats are moored in town, waiting to take visitors along the winding river out to Iztuzu Beach or inland to Koycegiz Lake.

Set up high on the cliffs on the far side of Dalyan River there are several regal ancient Lycian cliff tombs. They can be clearly seen from town, but a regular ferry service also transports visitors across the small river to the far shore, where a path leads up to the base of the tombs, for anyone who wants a closer look.

Without doubt, Dalyan is clearly a tourist town. Besides a large fleet of small boats, the river is lined by a long series of open-air restaurants, cafes and small hotels offering charming wood decks over-looking the bucolic scenery.

Despite Dalyan’s tourism, the town remains quite charming, due to the low-key buildings, riverside wooden walkway, quaint river boats and stunning scenery.

While the town is certainly worth a visit, the main attractions are boat trips along the river out to Iztuzu Beach and/or inland to Koycigez Lake. Of course the beach trip is hands-down the most popular.

Many private boat operators are on hand offering private river cruises. But there’s also a municipal boat service that takes visitors to/from the beach several times per day. When I visited in June, 2020, the return boat trip cost 25 Turkish lira / about $4 US.

The one-hour boat ride itself makes the low fare well worthwhile. The boat glides along the main channel of the placid river, winding back and forth through high reeds with ever-changing views of the wetlands and low mountains & limestone outcroppings lining the area.

Where the river meets the sea, visitors are treated to stunning Iztuzu Beach, which runs along the coast for several km. That beautiful broad swath of pale sand is part of a natural preserve and an important nesting beach for sea turtles.

A small entry fee is collected upon arrival and the park has set up very tastefully-designed visitor facilities built of wood and thatch. They include two small open-air restaurants, changing rooms, bathrooms, a prayer hall and a small medical clinic.

The beach has a lovely wood walking board across the sand, leading to/from a series of charming thatched umbrellas and wood beach chairs. There are also long stretches of beach left in a completely natural state, without any chairs or umbrellas. Take your pick!

To reach Dalyan from Fetiye, take any bus heading north to Mugla or Marmaris and get off at Ortaca, about one hour from Fetiye. From Ortaca, take a local mini-van out to Dalyan, a 15-minute trip.

7. Kayakoy Abandoned Greek Mountain Town

Another interesting & unusual attraction near Fetiye is Kayakoy, an abandoned Greek mountain town, located just 30 minutes by bus/car from Fetiye.

This is how an ‘abandoned village’ came about… In 1923-1924 a ‘Greek/Turkish’ population exchange took place. In the long Aegean and Mediterranean coastal region of Turkey, several towns & villages were de-populated of their Greek residents.

Some towns were re-populated with Turkish people, such as Sirince village, further north near the huge Ephesus archaeological site. But Kayakoy, near Fetiye, was just left abandoned.

Now, 80 years later, it’s just a weird ghost village in the mountains. It’s a very interesting place to visit from Fetiye for a few hours.

Local buses head out to Kayakoy several times per day from Fetiye’s mini-bus station.

8. Patara Beach

The long, wide windswept golden sands of Patara Beach run for 18 km / 12 miles in the middle of the stunning Turquoise Coast, creating Turkey’s longest beach. Amazingly, the entire beach is completely undeveloped, retained in all its natural glory and backed by sand dunes then hilly scrubby forest.

Patara has been saved from development due to two key factors. First of all, it’s an important nesting beach for loggerhead sea turtles. Secondly, one of the ancient Lycian empire’s largest archaeological sites is situated just behind the beach.

Along with Iztuzu Beach and Kidrak Beach, Patara Beach is my favorite in Turkey thus far.

Patara is actually fairly far from Fetiye. It’s located 75 km / 46 miles south of Fetiye and takes about one hour by car or 1.5 hours by bus to the tiny village of Patara. From there it’s another three km out to the beach and archaeological site.

So visiting Patara from Fetiye would make a rather long, possibly tiring day trip. It would be a lot easier to stay overnight – or two or three – in Patara village or to base yourself in nearby Kalkan or Kas. Both are considerably closer to Patara than Fetiye.

Never the less, for visitors based in Fetiye, it’s certainly possible to do Patara on a day trip. With the stunning natural beach & dunes and the rather spectacular Lycian ruins, Patara is definitely worth visiting one way or other.

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