The view from atop Kalekoy.

The vast majority of yachts cruising in Turkey are gulets. They are motorsailers usually built of mahogany that have carried goods and people through Turkey’s waters for generations. Gulets are generally slow, with top speeds around 6 knots, but also quite steady and economical on fuel. Gulets are available for charter by the day, by the cabin for a week, or fully crewed for luxury charters of any duration. A handful of international sailing yachts and motoryachts are often available for charter in Turkey, as well.

Opportunities to charter in Turkey are many, as both the air and water are seasonably warm from April through October. Airports within an hour’s drive of Bodrum, Marmaris, and Goҫek connect to international flights in Istanbul, while the airport a few hours’ drive away at Izmir (close to the excavated ruins of Ephesus) offers direct flights into London, Munich, and other European cities.

Mare Nostrum is one of the largest crewed charter yachts in Turkey.

Most Turkish-flagged charter yachts offer one-week, one-way itineraries between the port cities of Bodrum and Goҫek, a stretch of shore that offers everything from shopping bazaars to ancient ruins to aquamarine bays. Round-trip itineraries from Goҫek take charter clients farther to the east, into the part of Turkey that is considered to be a section of western Asia as opposed to eastern Europe. Often, such itineraries are advertised as being along Turkey’s Lycian Coast, which references the Lycian people who inhabited the region in pre-Roman times.

If you begin your charter in Bodrum, then your yacht will be tied up or anchored in view of Bodrum Castle, which was built in the early 1400s. The castle is significant in the region’s history, having once served as a refuge for Christians all across Asia Minor. Today, it is lighted at night and is home to a museum that you can tour. Many of the items inside came from shipwrecks found in the region where today’s charter yachts cruise.

The ruins of the amphitheater at Knidos

While Bodrum is a modern city that combines tourist offerings with local history, the harbor at Knidos is still much as the ancients left it. Your charter yacht will anchor in the same protected harbor where sailboats tied up centuries ago, within plain view of an excavated stone amphitheater where ancient people used to go for entertainment. You can walk all around the amphitheater as well as the ruins of the town, with your sandals scraping the same dirt paths that theirs once did.

A waterside walking path in Marmaris. The restaurants line the marina for guests to enjoy.

In Marmaris, you will find a bustling port filled with marinas, waterfront restaurants, and a sprawling bazaar. You can haggle with the shop owners for everything from local spices to handmade rugs to leather goods and wooden backgammon sets. Many of the shop owners will offer you a glass of chilled or hot apple tea, which is meant as a friendly gift. You can sip it while trying on silk scarves, tasting the various flavors of Turkish delight, or examining hand-painted pottery before deciding whether to buy.

The Dalyan River is well worth a look if you are interested in seeing the cliff-side tombs where the Lycian people buried their dead. Charter yachts may not enter the river, but licensed guides with tour boats will meet you at your yacht and show you around. The tombs are exquisite, often resembling miniature palace facades. Many tour guides speak English and can give you a good overview of the region’s history in addition to the immediate sights.

The Lycian Tombs are quite distinctive from a passing riverboat.

Goҫek is a port town like Marmaris, only smaller and less touristy. Plenty of waterfront restaurants await, as do a good number of shops where you can haggle for local crafts. Building regulations prohibit structures from being more than two stories tall, so the town retains a charming feel even though there are hotels all around.

East of Goҫek is Gemiler Island, also known as St. Nicholas Island because it was once the bishop’s home. This is a popular spot for day-trip boats from Goҫek, so you need to time your visit either early in the morning or later in the afternoon to enjoy the place without crowds. Walking trails will lead you all the way to the top, allowing unfettered access to stone ruins of everything from buildings to aboveground tunnels. The view from atop Gemiler Island is spectacular and well worth the hike.

Looking down from the top of Gemiler (St. Nicholas) Island

A slightly more touristy but easily as impressive hike and view are the reward for cruising to Kalekӧy. The name translates to “castle’s village” in Turkish, and that is exactly what you will find—a village at sea level with the remains of an ancient stone castle atop the hill. After you make the climb up the ancient stone steps and the modern wooden ones, you can stand as sentinels once did with a clear view of all approaching boats from every direction.

Also worth a visit in this area is Kas, a port town trying to cater to high-end tourists. The shops sell plenty of knickknacks, but there are also boutiques with one-of-a-kind clothing, much of it handmade. The restaurants have local fare as well as gourmet offerings. Kas is especially beautiful to meander at night, with the old stone streets wonderfully lighted by the glow from inside the boutiques.

Shanti is one example of a luxury gulet.

Turkish gulets (gooh-LET) are traditional Turkish Mediterranean-designed broad-beamed wooden coastal sailing vessels that originated as a design that would keep cargo safe and dry at sea year-round. The vessel’s broad beam provides expansive decks and spacious cabins below. Some are extremely large and luxurious, others much more modest.

Today’s two-masted yachts use that stability to keep guests comfortable; many charter guests comment on how surprisingly stable gulets feel, an experience similar to that of cruising on a trawler yacht. People prone to seasickness often find gulets to be more comfortable than other styles of yacht, too.

Gulets are traditionally built of wood. A gulet owner who invests in proper maintenance can keep a charter yacht looking and operating beautifully for many years, but it is not uncommon in Turkey to find gulets that are rotting from the inside out. For this reason, it is important to book a gulet charter through a broker who has stepped aboard the actual boat within the past 12 months.

For more on the affordable charter vacation in the islands of the Aegean, read my story “Turkish Gulets — Best Charter Value.” To read more on the gulet design and experience, visit our YachtWorldCharters.com page on Gulet Charters.

Turkey offers gulet charters literally within sight of the Greek Isles, and often at prices that are an absolute steal.

Greece has long received the most attention from boaters who dream of cruising in the Eastern Mediterranean. Rhodes, Mykonos, and Crete are legendary, must-visit islands in many sailors’ minds. Far fewer people have heard of the ports in Bodrum, Marmaris, and Gocek, which are the main stops on the “milk run” along neighboring Turkey’s southwestern coast. It’s a shame, really, because Turkey offers just as much history, culture, and beauty as Greece—sometimes literally within sight of the Greek Isles, and often at prices that are an absolute steal.

The gulet (properly pronounced gooh-LET) is the type of boat most readily available for crewed charter in Turkey. Today’s gulets are modern adaptations of the slow, stable, wide-beamed sailboats that moved goods among Turkey’s cities before the invention of trains, trucks, and airplanes. The newest of these wooden motorsailers are far from being high-performance sailing yachts, but they are beloved because they rival some motoryachts in terms of roominess and ease of motion. Just as sailing catamarans make great yachts for first-time visitors to the Virgin Islands, gulets are ideal for cruising the Turkish coast.

And in many cases today, gulets are an exceptional crewed charter value. While you could easily pay about €26,000 for a week aboard a top-quality, 98-foot gulet taking 10 guests in Greece, a similar investment can often get you a 118-foot yacht—meaning way more interior and on-deck space—for those same 10 guests in Turkey. These boats may literally be docked across a few miles of water from one another, with one in Greece’s Dodecanese chain and the other on Turkey’s coast, both well within cruising reach of the ancient ruins, local bazaars, and cultural heritage that make chartering in this region so memorable.

The one must-heed piece of advice I can give for booking a gulet in Turkey—based on several trips I have made to the region myself—is to work with a broker who has been aboard the local gulets within the past 12 months. Industry experts are invited each summer to Marmaris to inspect the boats, some of which deteriorate rapidly from one year to the next. It’s important that you have current information about maintenance and upkeep before selecting a gulet in Turkey.

California-based Beverly Parsons at Interpac Yachts has attended the Marmaris show all but one year since 1983. Missy Johnston at the Newport office of Northrop and Johnson Worldwide Yacht Charters makes a point of personally cruising the various Turkish itineraries before or after the boat show each year. Both of them recently cruised for several days onboard a gulet with me, and I not only found their knowledge bases strong, but also their personal love for the region absolutely enchanting.

Editor’s Note: For charter listings in Turkey, visit the Yachtworldcharters.com Turkey destination page. For more information about gulets, visit the YachtWorldCharters.com Gulet Charter page.

Va Bene underway to the next excellent charter destination. Photo courtesy of Burgess Charter.

Where to go for that perfect charter getaway? It’s an all-important question and one that deserves just as much thought as deciding which yacht to book. And within each cruising area there are a multitude of itinerary options. How do you decide what is appropriate and what is feasible? Are you planning too ambitious a trip, with too much time underway? How can you balance the needs of young children (water toys and plenty of time at anchor) with teenagers (nightlife and trendy shops) and culture vultures (history, art and museums)?

This is where the knowledge and experience of a quality charter team is invaluable. Experts from Burgess Charter supply the inside track on their personal recommendations and favourite destinations.

Yacht chartering in the Indian Ocean

Indian Ocean

“If you want unspoilt nature, unashamed luxury, and you’re happy to explore beyond the traditional cruising waters, the islands of the Indian Ocean are hard to beat,” says Neil Hornsby.

“For me, the islands of the Indian Ocean come closest to my idea of paradise. Chartering here is completely stress-free, and there’s something for everyone. There is plenty of space for adrenaline-inducing activities, from diving to big-game fishing and wakeboarding. And if you just want to laze in the tropical sunshine, don’t forget you are staying in your own floating palace, with every conceivable luxury at your fingertips.

“There are over 125 islands to explore in the Seychelles alone, ranging from barely touched coral atolls, fringed with perfect sands, to Mahé, the largest and most geared up for tourism. They combined majestic mountains, lush jungle and some of the most beautiful beaches in the world, with fantastic diving and snorkelling on hundreds of glistening reefs.

“Then there are the Amirantes, a chain of some 28 islands and islets: the perfect place to make the most of your yacht’s ‘toys’ for fishing, water-skiing and snorkelling. More secluded coves and idyllic white sand beaches can be found in the Farquhar islands.

“My personal must-see island is Aldabra, a remote uninhabited coral atoll, where human visitors are far outnumbered by 16,000 giant tortoises. The lagoon is filled with bright tropical fish at high tide and robber crabs when the tide is out, and there are green turtles and rare hawksbill turtles here too.

“Alternatively, for fine sandy beaches and spectacular coral garden, I’d recommend the Maldives. Although only six of the 26 islands in the group are open to tourism, there are more anchorages, reefs and dive sites here than you could hope to visit in a two or three week charter. My tip would be to extend your stay for a few days pampering at Soneva Fushi Resort, north of Malé Atoll: a glorious Robinson Crusoe style hideaway. Whatever our clients are looking for in yacht charter, the Indian Ocean offers endless cruising opportunities in a totally pristine environment.”

For more details, visit YWC’s Indian Ocean page.

Most of the harbors on the Turkish coastline are within easy walking distance of the local shops, restaurants, and bazaars, where you can find leather goods, exotic spices, and handcrafted rugs.

Turkey and Greece

“If I had years, I wouldn’t get tired of the wealth of history, dramatic scenery and great sailing offered by the Aegean Coastline”, says Amanda Armstrong. “The southern coast of Turkey offers a marvellous combination of small picturesque towns, quiet beautiful bays and rich archaeological sites that give the place a timeless quality I love. Depending on what your interests are, when planning a cruising itinerary, I might suggest exploring the many inlets in the Gulf of Fethiye, or venturing up the Dalyan River past the dramatic Lycian rock tombs to the site of Ancient Caunos and the hot sulphur mud baths upstream. Other highlights include the ruined city of Ancient Knidos, the imposing Castle of St Peter in Bodrum with its museum of underwater archaeology and snorkelling amongst the ruins off the spectacular island of Kekova.

“Göçek is a good starting point for a Turkish Coast cruise, while boarding in Duadasi enables a convenient visit to magnificent Ephesus and is ideal for combining Turkey with island hopping through the nearby Dodecanese Islands of Greece, such as Samos, Patmos, Leros, Kalymnos and Kos.

“If you are looking for a purely Greek experience, it is best to start in Athens to take in (amongst others) the fabled islands of Hydra, Mykonos, Paros, Ios and Santorini. I’d also recommend the Ionian islands in July and August, as they offer good shelter from the prevailing Aegean winds. Start in Corfu, with its endless sandy beaches in the south and quiet, unspoilt villages in the north. Don’t miss the islands of Paxos and Anti-Paxos, which both have lovely harbours to moor in on calm evenings, and visit Ithaca, Cephalonia and Zakinthos for a range of culture, beaches and villages, with really good seafront tavernas.
For an ideal itinerary, I’d suggest a cruise of at least ten days in order to get an abundant taste of this unique part of the world.”

Short hops between ports make it easy to put together a relaxing itinerary along the French and Italian Rivieras.

For more details, visit YWC’s Turkey and Greece pages.

French and Italian Riviera

“When you charter a superyacht you can easily combine both French and Italian Riviera in one itinerary,” says Gaye Joyeau-Bourgeois. “The Côte d’Azur has always been wonderful cruising territory. Short hops between ports make it easy to put together a relaxing itinerary, and as you head east to the Italian coastline, the only longer crossing is overnight from Monaco or San Remo to Portofino. On the other hand, every port is packed in high season, so we have to be on our toes to book berths for our clients.

“A lot of the time, we’re helping our clients make the most of what’s available ashore – whether that’s tickets for a concert at the Salle d’Etoiles in Monaco, or the Juan les Pins Jazz Festival; a round of golf at a members only club; an afternoon of pampering at one of the world’s best spas; or a drive on the F3 circuit at St Luc near St Tropez. You’d be amazed at what we can organise, with the help of our yacht captains and crews!

“I like to ask what kind of experience a charter party is looking for, so that I can let them in on a few local secrets – like the Provençal food market of Forville in Cannes, or the flower and antique markets on the Cours Saleya in Nice. We can tell you where to get the best view of summer’s sailing regattas, where you can try paragliding or learn to scuba dive – and we can also provide multilingual guides.
For authentic simplicity, try the unspoilt Porqueroles Islands (cycling and beautiful, unspoilt beaches) with their Marine Reserve, or the Unesco world heritage site of the Cinque Terre’s five villages: Riomaggiore, Manarola, Corniglia, Vernazza (delicious local wine) and Monterosso.

“Of course, it could be that all you want to do is to bask in the sun, anchored off one of the Caps or the beach clubs in St Tropez. We can book you a table at any of the great restaurants all along the coast: from the Oasis in Cannes, to Le Moulin de Mougins; from Alain Ducasse’s celebrated Louis XV at the Hotel de Paris to La Terrazza of Portofino’s Hotel Splendido … all you have to do is ask!”

The Caribbean is a versatile and varied cruising ground.

For more details, visit YWC’s Mediterranean page.

Caribbean

“The Caribbean is my choice every time for a yachting vacation: hundreds of islands and thousands of beaches just begging to be explored …” says Tom Collins.

“The Virgin islands are one of my favourite island groups. There are about 18 mountainous islands all within about a few miles of one another, so you can cruise in calm waters with an abundance of beautiful anchorages to choose from along the way. Sunbathe in privacy, or enjoy the shade of the awning on the sundeck.

“At the Baths in Virgin Gorda, the view is picture postcards perfect with giant granite boulders surrounded by brilliant white sand and gin clear water. Meanwhile, your chef will be preparing a sumptuous lunch to be served on the aft deck. What resort can compete? You can spend a great afternoon playing on and in the water, followed by an evening at Foxy’s in Jost Van Dyke, dancing on the sand to live local bands.

“The Caribbean is such a versatile and varied cruising ground. St Martin and Anguilla are also close by the Virgin Islands. When my clients are heading for Anguilla I recommend Johnno’s in Road Bay – it’s right on the beach with live jazz on Sunday afternoons and often a local reggae band on Saturday night. Chic and trendy St Barths is also a ‘must visit’ when cruising the Northern Leeward Isles.
Many first-time Caribbean charterers are surprised by the diversity they find. Guadeloupe and Martinique mix French and Creole. Dominica offers spectacular rainforests. The Pitons of St Lucia are right out of the South Pacific. The Grenadines are mountainous one minute, and the next they are no more than low, reef-enclosed sand cays with nothing but a few palm trees. Whether you live in a cold winter climate or not, the Caribbean is calling.”

For more details, visit YWC’s Caribbean page.

On a modern gulet, life is one long list of heavenly pleasures, including a morning dip into the warm turquoise waters.

Lycia in southern Turkey is packed with some of the finest wonders of the world, with a coastline perfect for sailing. Today there is a whole raft of nautical charts and coastal pilots available for people cruising there. Yet only 200 years ago this coast in the Eastern Mediterranean was a complete blank on the earth’s atlases. The man we have to thank for its transformation, for literally putting this part of Turkey on the map, is a celebrated figure in all things maritime. His name is an absolute constant on shipping forecasts and various instruments, for it became the scale on which all winds are rated: Beaufort.

Butterfly valley, a great chasm in the limestone massif on Lycia's western coast.

Of course the coast of Lycia was well known and used long before Francis Beaufort, a British Admiral, began his survey in 1810. It was directly on one of the main shipping routes in antiquity, the way between Greece and Egypt and in Christian times on the pilgrim trail from Constantinople to Jerusalem. Anybody who was anybody in ancient times seems to have sailed along its coast or changed ships there – from Anthony and Cleopatra to St Paul, Brutus to Hadrian.

Yet these sailors are relatively recent compared with those who were travelling on one of the greatest archaeological discoveries ever made. The world’s oldest shipwreck lies off the Lycian shore, revealing the extraordinary length of time that people have been navigating along this coast. When the Ülü Burun wreck was dated to 1,350 bc, it sent shockwaves through maritime history. Here was a 3,350-year-old vessel – a time capsule from the Bronze Age – and no ordinary little boat at that, but one carrying an extraordinary cargo that gives some idea of the sophisticated trade going on here in the dim and distant past. Aboard were tons of copper, ingots of glass and lapis lazuli, pellets of purple dye, swords and tridents, a wax book and even a musical instrument similar to a lyre, probably used by crew members to entertain themselves of an evening. A golden scarab of the Egyptian queen Nefertiti is a clue to the ship’s possible origin.

Today’s travellers can cruise in comfort unimaginable in the Bronze Age or even Beaufort’s time. The very best way to see the Lycian shore is aboard a gulet. The word probably derives from the French goulette, or schooner. For generations these two-masted wooden vessels, sometimes also known as caiques, have been used for transport and fishing along the southern coasts of Turkey. Typically designed with a sharp bow, broad beam and rounded aft, they are now designed and fitted with comfort, not trade in mind. Hand crafted in Turkey they come fully crewed, with a captain, cook, and additional deck hands. All passengers have to do is lie back, gaze at the horizon, and relax.

Much of the Lycian coast remains completely unspoilt. Soaring limestone mountains drop sheer into azure seas, carving the shore into a cavalcade of tiny coves, hidden bays and pristine beaches. Hillsides are swathed in pine and olives trees. The ruins of countless ancient cities, Greek, Roman, and Byzantine, cram the coast, limiting development to a few isolated areas. It’s the incredible combination of historical wonders, sailing, and superb swimming that make this coastline a truly magical destination.

Back in 1952 Freya Stark, one of the greatest women travellers of the twentieth century, sailed along this shore and fell madly in love with it:

“Every bay or headland of these shores, every mountain top round whose classic name the legends and clouds are floating, carries visible and invisible signs of its past … There are not so many places left where magic reigns without interruption … and of all those I know, the coast of Lycia is the most magical.”

From where and when the native Lycians came is shrouded in the mists of time, but the civilisation they developed is utterly unique. Set between the Persian Empire to the east, and the ancient Greeks to the west, they borrowed ideas from both, fusing them into an exceptional architectural style, best seen in the tombs they’ve left behind. There are giant monolithic pillars crowned with grave chambers made of marble and dating back some 2,500 years. Hewn out of cliff faces are gigantic tombs fashioned to look like Greek temples. Other burials were constructed from the living rock to look like houses, complete with roof timbers, exactly like the wooden grain stores used in the surrounding countryside to this very day. Most common are the Gothic-looking sarcophagi; thousands of them still litter the region, some decorated with the head of Medusa or ferocious lions to ward off tomb robbers. The lids of these sarcophagi curve up to a narrow point, which if you look at them upside down, appear like a ship’s hull and keel, a significant motif for such a seafaring people.

Many of the greatest Lycian sites are directly accessible from the coast. Cast off after breakfast from Göçek, one of the main yachting centres in the region, and within a couple of hours you can have travelled back 1,400 years. Moor up at Gemiler island, less than a kilometre in length, and you’ll be able to explore the remains of a small Christian community from Byzantine times which has been surveyed by Japanese archaeologists over the past two decades. Clinging to the island’s slopes are no less than five churches, littered with geometric mosaics and fallen columns carved with crosses. The northern shore is packed with houses and shops equipped with cisterns where rainwater was collected and probably sold on for a tidy sum to passing shipping. Climb up through the trees and you’ll find an ancient processional way used by pilgrims en route to the cathedral church on the island’s peak. Time your visit correctly and you’ll reach the top ready to experience one of the very finest sunsets imaginable: the sea sparkling with gold as ranges of craggy hills turn into shimmering silhouettes.

Just inland from Gemiler lies Kaya Koy, a place brimming with atmosphere and mystery, the setting for Louis de Berniere’s latest novel. This is a genuine ghost town, abandoned by its Greek inhabitants when Turkey and Greece swapped populations in 1923. It’s not very old by the standards of other ruined towns along the coast, but wandering along its empty streets past crumbling houses and chapels is both pleasurable and inspiring, and makes you realise quite how well the truly ancient sites have survived.

Lycia is a perfect area for walking, with a national trail, the Lycian Way, stretching 500km around the coast.

Back on the gulet, life is like one long list of heavenly pleasures: a morning dip into the warm turquoise waters; a spot of snorkeling beside the rocky shore; an adventurous turn on the windsurfer as a breeze comes up; a short expedition in the kayak to scout out a hidden inlet. Needless to say if you want to conserve your energy, there are relaxation opportunities galore, from reading and sunbathing to a full blown snooze. Then there’s the parade of tasty treats sent out from the galley, a real cornucopia of freshly prepared mezes and main dishes: stuffed eggplants, grilled lamb, multicoloured olives, spicy meatballs, feta cheese, and a whole host of salads tossed with local lemons and olive oil. On top of that is the bounty of fresh seasonal fruit: from mulberries to melons, pomegranates to strawberries. Turkey is a gastronome’s paradise and the ship’s cook never fails to conjure up mouthwatering sensations each and every day.

As you set sail from another languid lunch stop and the boat’s captain checks his position on the GPS, spare a thought for Captain Beaufort cruising along this coast at the start of the nineteenth century. He complained in his diary how little he had to go on to find his way: “The only accounts extant were those left by the ancient geographers … there was no nautical description of the coast, nor any charts whatever by which the mariner could steer.”

His task was utterly painstaking. Dragging a 100-yard-long steel chain marked with flags and poles on the shore, they took meticulous sightings and sextant angles, and plotted the resulting position points. Slowly but surely his team of surveyors worked their way along the coast, putting Lycia on the map, despite the heat and overgrown vegetation: “Their shoes cut on the rocks, soaked by the quagmires, or burned in the red hot sands were of but little use.”

One of the prettiest places along the whole coast is Üçağız, which means “three mouths”. This tiny fishing village is connected to the interior by a thin rutted road that twists tortuously through a wild landscape of knife edge rocks. Not surprisingly the village is there because of the sea. It’s beautifully protected by two giant spits of land as well as the long thin mass of Kekova Island which forms a natural breakwater. This has been a vital harbourage for some 2,500 years, and its history lies all about. On one side is an incredible necropolis (literally “city of the dead”) of stone sarcophagi standing up to ten foot tall and dating back to the fifth century bc; on the other are the storage buildings, churches and houses of the Byzantine town 1,000 years later. The modern village of Üçağız is tiny compared to its predecessors. Here you can find a few small places to stay, a couple of shops selling food and carpets, a tiny mosque, some restaurants and a bar. That’s it. It’s a perfect place to moor up and idle away a couple of days.

Sail east and the Taurus Mountains suddenly recede from the shore revealing a large fertile plain at Finike, which is the source of many of Turkey’s oranges. A glorious hour’s drive inland rises up and up to the ancient site of Arykanda. Set high on the side of a mountain this Greek and then Roman town literally has it all. It’s been dubbed the “Turkish Delphi” because of its spectacular location and excellent preservation, but unlike the site in Greece you’re more than likely to be the only visitors there. There are all the usual trappings of a prosperous antique city – agora, stadium, temples, baths – but the setting makes it truly stand out. The view from the top of the theatre down a steep-sided valley to the distant mountains is simply heart-stopping.

There is more to Lycia than sailing and archaeology. One of the great highlights of the region now is the Lycian Way, Turkey’s first long distance footpath. Rated by the UK’s Sunday Times as one of the ten best walks in the world, the trail follows 500 km of ancient tracks and mule roads that linked the region before the arrival of the car. Waymarked with red and white stripes, many sections of it follow the coast, so it’s perfectly possible to drop anchor and venture off for either a gentle stroll or serious hike. Some gulet operators now offer specialist walking cruises, so you can trek along some of the very best stretches of the Lycian Way, with a boat ever present offshore, providing luxurious transport, dining and accommodation. What could be finer than walking along a Roman road or shepherd’s track, discovering remote ancient cities with breathtaking vistas, and then having a swim off the gulet at the end of the day?
In many parts of Lycia you can head a short distance inland and step back in time to a simpler, pre-industrial age – to a countryside worked much as it would have been in America and Europe a few centuries back. Go in the right month and you’ll find women in colourful trousers scything golden wheat grown on slender hill terraces. Walk along dirt roads and you’ll hear the tinkle of goat bells filling the air, a goatherd ushering on his flock of shiny black charges. Very occasionally you might even come across some semi-nomadic charcoal burners arriving into harbour with the fruits of their labours after several months living and working in the forests.

It’s the timeless quality of Lycia that is one of its greatest attractions. Although a lot has changed since Francis Beaufort first mapped the coast and many of its ancient cities, there’s a great deal that he would recognise today. His survey revealed a magnificent coastline and an untapped wealth of archaeological wonders. It wasn’t long before a whole army of European treasure hunters were out looking for the best ruins to ship home. When the first consignment of Lycian “marbles” – statues, temples, and tombs – arrived at the British Museum in London they caused such interest and excitement among the public that there was a Gothic architectural revival. Fortunately there’s a vast amount left to be seen in Lycia, and more and more is being uncovered by archaeologists every year. These ancient sites form a perfect backdrop to a splendid sailing vacation. In many cases it’s possible to sail directly into the ancient harbour of a Lycian city and moor for the night. How much better can cruising get? Sailing the Lycian Shore really is the experience of a lifetime.

Editor’s Note: Peter Sommer runs a specialist travel company, Peter Sommer Travels, offering archaeological tours and gulet charters in Turkey. In 1994 he walked 2,000 miles retracing Alexander the Great’s route across Turkey and fell in love with the country, its ancient civilisations and its people. An archaeologist and documentary producer, he has worked on many acclaimed BBC TV series including “In the footsteps of Alexander the Great” and “Tales from the Green Valley.”

For more information about charters in Lycia, visit the Turkey charter page.