The South Coast
Türkiye's Mediterranean edge, where the Taurus mountains come down to water warm enough to swim in from May to October.
Along the southern edge of Anatolia, the coast bends and curves for hundreds of kilometres, switching between long stretches of pebble beach and sheer limestone cliffs that drop straight into the sea. The water here takes on a particular stillness in the sheltered bays — millpond-flat in the mornings before the breeze picks up, pale turquoise over white sand, darkening to cobalt where the seabed drops away. This is the coastline the Lycians knew, the seafaring people who carved their tombs into the cliff faces rather than building them on flat ground, as if they wanted to keep their dead facing the water.
Walking the Ancient Coastline
The Lycian Way, a long-distance footpath of around 500 kilometres, follows much of this ancient coastal route. You walk through pine forest that smells sharp and resinous after rain, past terraced fields where citrus trees grow in neat rows and old stone walls mark the boundaries of small holdings. In spring, the verges are thick with wildflowers — yellow asphodel, scarlet poppies, the occasional Cyprus cedar standing alone on a ridge. The path drops down to small coves where a handful of fishing boats might be moored, and you hear the slap of water against hull before you see them. Some days you walk for hours without passing another person.
Ruins at the Water's Edge
The Lycian civilization left its mark everywhere. Rock-cut tombs honeycombing the cliffs above Kaş, their carved portals still visible from boats passing below. The theatre at Myra, cut into the hillside with a view over fields that were once the city's harbour, now several kilometres inland as the coastline has shifted. Near Patara, sand has drifted over the remains of a Roman city, and you walk through waist-high ruins where sea turtles come ashore to nest in the darkness. The smaller sites are often just fragments — a few columns, a stretch of paving, an archway opening onto nothing — half-reclaimed by the maquis scrub that grows everywhere the soil is thin.
Food at the Water's Edge
The coast's cooking is shaped by the sea and the orchard. You eat grilled sea bass or scorpion fish at simple restaurants whose terraces hang over the water on wooden decks. Meze arrives in small dishes — dolmas wrapped in vine leaves, hümus smooth with tahini, aubergines roasted until the flesh collapses into smoke-dark softness. In the markets inland, you find pomegranates and bergamot, dried figs and the sharp local cheese made from goat's milk. In the evenings, the breeze drops and the coastline goes quiet, the tavernas' lights reflected in still water.
Tours that visit The South Coast
No tours visit this place just yet — tell us where you want to go and we'll build one. See all tours
Before you book you should know
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Is this trip right for you?
Our groups are capped at eight travellers, which is about a third of what the industry calls a small group. Eight people share one vehicle, one table at dinner and one guide's attention, and the day can change on the road without anybody being left behind. If you are looking for a coach, a fixed script and a microphone, this is not that.
Most days involve real walking, often on ground that was laid two thousand years before walking shoes: marble worn smooth, cobbles, uneven steps and long site paths with little shade. Bring shoes you can spend a morning in.
Some days move between regions and are largely a drive, with stops along the way. Summers are hot — well over 35°C inland — and winters are colder than most people expect, so layers, a hat and sunscreen earn their place in the bag whatever the month.
How demanding a particular trip is, is written on the trip itself: the physical rating in the header, and the day-by-day itinerary above.
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Rooms, and travelling on your own
Trip prices are per person, sharing a twin room. Each traveller picks their own room while booking, so a party can mix the three:
- Twin share — two single beds, shared with someone you are travelling with or with a traveller of the same gender.
- Travelling as a couple — one double room.
- Individual room — a room of your own, for a single supplement on top of the trip price. Availability is limited, and the supplement for a given date is shown next to the option when you book.
Solo travellers are welcome on every departure, and most of our groups have one or two aboard.
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Accommodation
The hotels named in an itinerary are a guideline rather than a guarantee. Where one is full, or has dropped below the standard we booked it for, we substitute a property of a similar standard in the same area — we would rather change the hotel than the trip.
Check-in is usually mid-afternoon. If you arrive early we will ask for the room, but no hotel can promise one before its own check-in time; luggage can normally be left at reception in the meantime. If you want the room from the night before, ask us and we will add the extra night to your booking.
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Passports, visas and insurance
Entry requirements depend on your nationality and change without much notice, so the only reliable source is the official one: the government of the country you are travelling to, and your own foreign ministry's travel advice. Check both before you book a flight.
Many countries ask for a passport valid for at least six months beyond your travel dates, and for blank pages. It is worth looking at yours now rather than at the airport.
We ask every traveller to carry travel insurance covering medical treatment and repatriation, and we would strongly encourage cover for cancellation and for your luggage as well.
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Your departure is guaranteed — the day can change
Once a departure is on the calendar it runs. We do not cancel a trip for want of a minimum number of bookings, so a booked date is one you can plan flights and leave around.
What can move is the shape of a day. Museums and archaeological sites change their hours, roads close, weather turns, a local holiday lands in the middle of the week. Where that happens your guide reorders the day, or swaps a stop for one of the same weight, and tells you why. Changes to a booked itinerary are covered by our Booking Terms & Conditions.
