Fethiye is the perfect launching pad to explore the many tourist attractions of Turkey'sTurquoise Coast. This harbour-side town is in prime position for heading out to the surrounding beaches, or going inland to discover crumbling remnants of this region's ancient Lycian culture. If it's all about location, then Fethiye provides it all. The town itself is a prosperous but laid-back kind of place - just what you want to come back to after sightseeing at mighty rock-cut tombs and mountaintop UNESCO protected ruins, or enjoying the bliss of sunbathing bliss, boating and paragliding.
1 Lycian Sites
The Lycians ruled over this stretch of Turkey's coast from 200 BC, and Fethiye stands on the site of the important Lycian city of Telmessos. There are plenty of monuments scattered throughout the city, but the most famous is the rock-cut Tomb of Amyntas in the south of Fethiye. On Kaya Caddesi, as you walk uphill towards the tomb, you can see Lycian sarcophagi along the way. There are more Lycian sarcophagi by the town hall in the city centre.
Location: Off Kaya Caddesi, Fethiye
Accomodation: Where to Stay in Fethiye - TripAdvisor.com
2 Roman Theatre
When the Romans conquered Turkey, they did allow the Lycians self-rule but that didn't stop them making their own mark on the Lycian cities. Fethiye's small and only partially excavatedtheatre was built in the 2nd century BC, when Telmessos had become part of the Rome's Asia Minor dominion. It would have originally seated 6,000 spectators.
Location: Fevzi Çakmak Caddesi
3 Fethiye Museum
It may be small, but Fethiye Museum is an excellent place to while away a few hours, especially if you're planning to head on to attractions such as Tlos and Letoön. There are brilliant information panels that clearly explain Lycian history and the exhibits of pottery, jewellery and steles are beautifully displayed. The museum's pride and glory is the Trilingual Stele (inscribed with Lycian, ancient Greek and Aramaic) found while excavating Letoön. This stone helped archaeologists to finally crack the Lycian language.
Address: 505 Sokak, Fethiye
4 Ölüdeniz Lagoon
Turkey's most famous beach is 15 km from Fethiye. The calm turquoise water, with its white sand beach sheltered from the sea and rimmed by dense pine forest, is impossibly perfect. There's a reason why people have been flocking here for years now. Some of Ölüdeniz's sheen has been shaken off over the past two decades as package tourism arrived on the scene, but the lagoon area has not seen the ugly construction development of other tourism hot-spots and the village attached to the lagoon is still a low-storey unobtrusive affair.
If you don't want to swim or sunbathe, then the other big activity here is paragliding. Mt Baba(Baba Daǧ) dominates the scenery inland and paragliders launch themselves off the peak throughout the summer months. Even beginners can have a go with a tandem paragliding flight.
5 Kayaköy
Up until the 1920s, Kayaköy (ancient Karmylassos) had a thriving mixed population of Greeks and Turks who had lived together for centuries. The 1923 Population Exchange changed all of that, uprooting ethnic Greeks across Turkey and sending them to live in Greece and making ethnic Turks who lived in Greece abandon their lives there. The exchange created heartbreak and much trauma among those who were made to leave and the sombre results of this are no better seen than in Kayaköy. The dilapidated eerie stone village that snakes across the hillside here has been left to slowly decay since its Greek owners said goodbye. Among the ruins is theKatapongagia Church and Taxiarkis Church, which both still have some beautiful interior decoration. The village is 8 km from Fethiye.
Location: Avanos-Goreme Highway
6 Saklıkent Gorge
This ravine, 30 km from Fethiye, cuts deeply into the mountains of the Akdaǧlar Range. Most visitors come to trek the gorge, which has wooden boardwalks along part of the trail high above the river. The last section of the trail is reached by fording the swift-running river itself to then walk through the narrow fissure to the end. There are cushion-strewn tea houses beside the river if you don't fancy walking through the freezing cold water. There are also canyoning and rafting trips along the river.
7 Pınara
In the hills southeast of Fethiye, the ruins of the Lycian city of Pinara have an interesting honeycombed cliff of more than 900 rock tombs and monolithic house tombs. The site was so inaccessible that the tomb-builders had to be lowered on stages secured with ropes. The beautiful scenery that surrounds the ruins is quite stunning, especially around the theatre area overlooked by snow-topped peaks and rimmed by verdant forest.
8 Letoön
This UNESCO protected ruin was an important Lycian religious centre dedicated to the Greek goddess Leto who, so local mythology says, was banished to Lycia by Zeus' jealous wife Hera after an affair with the great Greek god. Three temples are dedicated to Leto and her twin children by Zeus, Apollo and Artemis. A particularly well-preserved mosaic can be seen in the floor of the Apollo temple.
9 Xanthos
Xanthos was the capital of ancient Lycia, sometimes called the oldest republic in the world. This league of 20 cities was governed by a popular assembly and a president who ruled from Xanthos. It's now listed as a UNESCO site. Although many of Xanthos' most beautiful monuments were taken to England in the 19th century, there are some fine mosaics still in situ. And the theatre, agora and acropolis can still be seen.
Beyond the Roman theatre, to the left of the road, is the plinth that once held the Nereid Monument - an ionic temple with rich sculptural decoration (now displayed in the British Museum). To the right of the road is the Hellenistic city gate. The city walls, considerable stretches of which are still visible, probably date from the 3rd century BC.
10 Butterfly Valley
Secreted between two sharp cliffs, this lovely beach is home to the Jersey Tiger Butterfly. One of the joys of Butterfly Valley is that it is unreachable by road. You either have to trek there fromFaralya village or take a boat from Ölüdeniz. There are some great hiking opportunities in the lush forested gorge behind the beach, though most people are happy to just stretch out on the sand.
11 Tlos
Situated high up in the hills about 36 km east of Fethiye, Tlos is another Lycian city ruin. Crowning the rounded acropolis hill are the remnants of an Ottoman fortress. The Lycians weren't the only ones to appreciate a good mountain stronghold position, and various local brigands used this fortress during Ottoman rule. On the east side of the acropolis the remains of the Lycian and Roman city walls can still be seen. Beyond, lie the scattered ruins of houses and public buildings including a hall-like edifice (possibly an indoor market), an agora, necropolis, and a restored theatre.
12 Patara
Patara is home to Turkey's longest strip of sand so it's the perfect spot for a beach break. If you still want some sightseeing in your day though, this was also once an important city in the Lycian League and there are plenty of ruins just off the beach area for when you've had enough of the sand and sea. The ruins of ancient Patara are entered through a Roman era triple-arched gatefrom where there is a well-preserved theatre, colonnaded street, a bath complex, and plenty oftombs. The city was used right up to the Byzantine period and a basilica can also be seen. Patara's other claim to fame is it's also the birthplace of St Nicholas of Myra, the 4th century bishop who became Santa Claus.
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