Fethiye Trekking: The Lycian Way Long Distance Trail, the Kayakoy Greek Ghost Town, Gemiler Island Byzantine Churches, the Ovacik Hiking Base, and the Coastal Trail Experience
The Fethiye trekking route covers the Lycian Way as the most celebrated long distance trail in Turkey, the Kayakoy abandoned Greek ghost town, the Gemiler Island Byzantine church complex accessible by sea kayak, the Ovacik village as the hiking base, and the coastal trail experience of the Turquoise Coast.
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Lycian Way: Turkey Best Long Distance Trail
The Lycian Way, the 540-kilometer marked long distance walking trail from Ovacik near Fethiye to Antalya along the ancient Lycian coast, is the most celebrated single walking trail in Turkey and the trail that Kate Clow marked in 1999 based on the ancient Lycian path network, Roman roads, and Ottoman mule tracks. The Fethiye section of the Lycian Way from Ovacik through Kayakoy, Gemiler Island, Oludeniz, and Butterfly Valley to Patara covers the most scenically varied 5 to 7 day section of the complete trail with the ancient Lycian tombs, the abandoned Greek village, the Byzantine island, and the longest beach in Turkey all within a single consecutive hiking week.
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Kayakoy: The Abandoned Greek Ghost Town
Kayakoy (ancient Karmylassos), 8 kilometers from Fethiye, is the most atmospheric single abandoned settlement in Turkey - the Greek Orthodox village of Levissi whose population of 3,500 Greek Orthdox Christians was expelled in the 1923 population exchange with Greece, leaving the stone village houses, the two large churches with the painted interior, and the merchant houses of the prosperous community to gradually collapse into the hillside ruin visible today. The Kayakoy ruins, covering 30 hectares of hillside with over 500 roofless stone buildings, represent the most physically complete single monument to the 1923 population exchange in Turkey.
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Gemiler Island: The Byzantine Saint Nicholas Complex
Gemiler Island (Byzantine Hagios Nikolaos) in the Fethiye bay 5 kilometers from Oludeniz contains the largest single complex of Byzantine churches in a small area on the Turkish coast with four churches, the covered processional way, and the dwelling structures of the 5th to 7th century Byzantine monastic community built on the island ridge. The island is associated by Byzantine scholars with Saint Nicholas of Myra and may have housed his relics before their transfer to Myra and subsequently to Bari in Italy. The sea kayak circuit around Gemiler Island with the swimming stop at the Byzantine church ruins is the most historically combined single water sports excursion from Oludeniz.
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Ovacik Village: The Hiking Base
Ovacik village, 3 kilometers from Oludeniz at the start of the Lycian Way, is the most conveniently positioned single hiking base on the Turquoise Coast with the Lycian Way starting markers, the trekking supply shops, the gulet transfer to the trailheads, and the accommodation ranging from the pension to the self-catering apartment. The Ovacik outdoor recreation infrastructure - the mountain bike hire, the trekking guide services, the sea kayak rental, and the paragliding transfer to Babadag - makes it the most completely equipped single outdoor activity hub on the Fethiye section of the Turquoise Coast.
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Fethiye Market: The Tuesday Bazaar
The Fethiye Tuesday market is the largest and most authentic single weekly market on the Turquoise Coast with the local farmers selling the Fethiye honey, the Mugla black pine honey, the dried fig, the pomegranate molasses, the fresh vegetable, and the regional textile and household goods in the most completely non-tourist single market environment accessible from a major resort town. The Fethiye Tuesday market is the most complete single sensory immersion in the local Turquoise Coast food and agriculture culture and the best single opportunity to taste the Fethiye honey varieties that are sold nowhere else.
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Sea Kayaking: The Coastal Exploration
The sea kayaking circuit from Oludeniz along the Turquoise Coast to the Butterfly Valley, Gemiler Island, and the Twelve Islands Bay provides the most direct single engagement with the Fethiye coastal landscape that is most rewarding when experienced from water level rather than the hilltop paraglider or the boat deck. The guided day sea kayak from Oludeniz covers 15 to 25 kilometers of coastline through the sea caves, around the Byzantine island ruins, and into the calm bays that the larger boats cannot access, making the kayak the most exploratorily intimate single watercraft available on the Fethiye coast.