Fethiye, Turkey
Visiting Turkey is an experience you will never forget. While travel is a privilege, Turkey stands out as a highly accessible and affordable destination offering numerous accommodation options. Although popular places like Istanbul and Cappadocia are often the go-to destinations, we chose to venture slightly off the tourist path, discovering the charming town of Fethiye.
Nestled approximately an hour away from the Dalaman airport, Fethiye offers an idyllic setting along the "Turquoise Coast." The town is renowned for its azure waters, ancient rock tombs, including the striking 4th-century B.C. Tomb of Amyntas nestled in the mountainside overlooking the city, and its natural harbor.
Travelers can choose to fly into Antalya and drive up to Fethiye, but our preference was a direct flight to Dalaman, followed by renting a car through SunnyCars to explore this enchanting region.
We were fortunate that we chose a quiet time of year to experience Fethiye which meant we were spoilt for choice when it came to accommodation. Depending on your personal preference and budget, there is a range of accommodation sources on offer.
We decided to stay at the
The Yacht Bohemian hotel, located on the marina of Fethiye, was brilliant from start to finish! It’s located on the marina and a 5 minute walk from the Old Town Market, it is well situated yet so peaceful & relaxing. It offers an all morning breakfast that is very local and features delicious varieties of local ingredients and dishes and mimosas are a part of it (just FYI 😉). Depending on your budget, you can really splash out on luxurious rooms, however we opted for the Comfort room and it was perfect. The pool area is tastefully decorated, creating the perfect environment to relax, featuring a magnificent salt water pool, hot tub, fresh water shower and a range of very comfortable loungers. Perfect for sipping a cocktail in the Turkish sun, which we did often. The hotel has a bar (Mandala Bar), offering an amazing selection of cocktails, wines, beers & food… Needless to say, we loved our time here and would highly recommend choosing to stay here.
What to do in Fethiye
As mentioned, Fethiye has its touristy areas but don’t let that keep you from experiencing what is has to offer. We loved exploring the Old Town, trying local restaurants (which we’ll get to in a moment), walking the town streets, spice markets and local jewellery stores. English was not widely spoken which we enjoyed, it made us feel like we were on holiday.
Fethiye is near Ölüdeniz, which boasts one of the most beautiful beaches we’ve ever seen, however during the high season it does become overcrowded with many tourists & buses... When visiting, we would recommend trying to stay away from the main tourist areas, finding somewhere more secluded. If you are looking for paragliding, boat cruises, many restaurants & bars, Ölüdeniz is the place for it.
On day 3, weather conditions were right and we drove to Kabak beach for a day on the ocean with faralyabotanica. These guys do not market themselves to avoid commercialising what they do and rather word of mouth to run this incredible service. We arranged a day out (max 2 people per boat) exploring the (inaccessible by land) coves and beaches of the Turquoise coast.
This was an experience of a lifetime and the best thing is, we saw no one else for most of the day. We suggest you pack light snacks & drinks, a towel and be ready to embrace the bluest water you’ll EVER see! The beauty of this experience was getting to stop whenever we wanted and getting to dive into the clear water, walk on pristine beaches and appreciate nature at its finest.
Justine found Diana on Instagram, she’s a local and provides insightful posts about this whole region of Turkey from its beaches, to restaurants, hotels and more. We found her to be very helpful when exploring and looking for places to visit.
You may be wondering if we had a favorite beach spot and yes we did. It is called Könül Plaji and it’s a short drive past Ölüdeniz on route to Faralya. The location of where to park is here - do take note that the beach isn’t visible from the road, so you’re going to need to walk down, it’s a part of the adventure and so worth it... Park on the right side of the road and climb under the barrier, and hike down through the trees looking for yellow and red stripes painted on the rocks. If you don’t see these, keep making your way left along the rocks until you reach the beach. Although a tricky path down to this secluded beach, it’s worth making the effort.
Highlight restaurants & coffee spots
We loved exploring Fethiye’s food scene. As usual we shared a lot, so that we could try more dishes. We were impressed with the flavours and options across Fethiye old town. We have put together a couple of spots for you to definitely try. We have given recommendations of mostly food places and the our favorite coffee spot, which happened to be just down the road from our hotel. So let’s get into it…
Mozaik Bahçe - They specialise in South east Turkish food including secret recipes that have been made since 1934. We shared the Mosaik Kebab and it was incredible, some of the best food we had on our trip.
Yengec Restaurant - Situated on the marina front, you are spoilt with a view here and accompanied with delicious food. We recommend booking a front row table at sunset, it really is a bucket list location for a meal.
Lokanta - The nicest food we ate in Turkey. A Mediterranean restaurant which specialises in local dishes using the freshest produce. We ordered the shrimp salad, Falafel with tahini sauce & pickled red onion (Tims absolute favorite) and to end we shared a cheeky Lotus Biscoff Cheesecake. This was a highlight spot and we would highly recommend going to experience all that Lokanta has to offer.
Incir Restaurant - This restaurant was a spoil and where we ended our week in Fethiye. It’s a spectacular spot for a sunset with an unspoiled 180 degree views above the old town. We shared a couple of dishes, and so glad we did, it gave us a great experience of what they offer.
Last, but no least, our favorite coffee was from a local spot called La Farine Hotel & Patisserie. It was hot everyday during our time in Fethiye, so we had cold coffee’s only, but they hit the spot and we would recommend grabbing at least one.
We hope you have enjoyed reading our experience in this beautiful region of Turkey. This was a super special, relaxing holiday as you may be able to tell and we hope this inspires you to plan your own adventure. Like always, we are more than happy to help so please do get in touch.
Tim & Justine
If you book a trip to Fethiye because you were inspired by this feature, we would love to hear from you 🙂