A Beach Vacation Along The Turkish Riviera.
Most tourist would associate a beach holiday in Turkey with the towns Bodrum, Kemer or Fethiye. There is nothing against that, after all you’ll come across beaches here, but we’re always looking for those lesser known regions and the mentioned towns are definitely not our cup of tea. But although Turkey is a very popular tourist destination, we were sure to find these unspoiled beaches somewhere along the Turkish Riviera. And we did.
Thunderstorms In Bodrum: Was Our Beach Holiday At Risk?
After our road trip through Cappadocia, we wanted to explore the beautiful coastal region, which would give us a couple of more sun-days before autumn really hit Austria. After a short pit-stop (which turned into a night stop) in Pamukkale, Bodrum was our goal destination. For the last 50 kilometres, a really (!) dark cloud kept following us – this meant nothing good for sure. And this is how it came: That night, Bodrum was hit with the worst thunderstorms of the past 50 years. Three hours of stop-and-go traffic gave us the rest. We ended up at the hotel completely soaked from tip to toe. One thing was sure: our beach holiday would not start here. So we continued our trip the next morning with Dalyan as our final stop before heading back to Antalya.
Pine Woods And Small Bays Along A Picturesque Coast.
The drive along the coast would quickly let us forget the bad weather. The further we drove, the more sun-rays we got. This made us stop frequently in between for short swimming breaks. The water along the southern Turkish coast is crystal clear and super clean (even when you’re at more densely populated areas), which makes swimming here absolutely beautiful. Just before we got to Akyaka, we came across a small bay, which was perfect for the afternoon sun. We decided to spend the night in Akyaka so that we could also enjoy the morning sun here before hitting the road again.
Dalyan: Lycian Tombs And An (Almost) Endless Beach.
You won’t believe how strong the sun actually is down here at the end of September. To avoid getting completely burnt, we continued our trip after a few hours. After all, we still had a long way to go. Up to this point, the beaches were nice, but pebbles to get annoying as well. Thanks to Google Earth, we had our eyes set on Iztuzu Beach near Dalyan.
It takes about 15 minutes to get to Iztuzu Beach from the city centre of Dalyan by car. For sports enthusiasts, you can also rent bicycles to get there. Although more people come to this beach, they spread out on the three kilometres pretty nicely and you can be all by yourself if that’s what you’re in to. Apart from Iztuzu Beach, we were also interested in the surrounding area of course. Especially a building that could be seen from the distance, that seemed to be the highest point of the region.
The way up there was quite easy to find and we were rewarded with an amazing view of the area. And not only that: we came across an even more remote and beautiful sand bay where we would spend the next hours. You can only reach this beach by boat or if you decided to take a leap down the steep gravel road.
Dalyan offers beached, but also other interesting highlight. For example impressive Lycian tombs carved into the cliffs, seen right from the river promenade or the several waterways that can be explored by boat.
Resume Of Our Adventurous Turkey Trip.
After 2.452 kilometres across Turkey, we collected lots of great impressions. But the especially the marvellous coast along isolated gravel roads fascinated us. Here you will come across several remote villages, beaches and forests that make a trip down here well worth it!
