Which Mediterranean town to base for 3 nights for sea views and relaxing?
 

We can't decide which town to stay for 3-4 nights on the coast. Would like to find a scenic beach town where we can day trip on a boat, take a scenic drive, and enjoy gorgeous views. The catch is we'd like to be a couple of hours from an airport (Dalaman or Antalya). We will have a car and will be driving from Pamukkale to the coast. Also, any suggestions on how to book reasonable fairs in Turkish Airlines? Thanks so much for any advise.

Kaş? Antalya itself -- the Old Town (Kaleici)?

I second kja's suggestion re Kas:

Scenic drives to Myra and Patara

Day boat trip to Kekova

Decent restaurants

Very beautiful scenery from your hotel almost guaranteed.


About 5 hours drive from Pamukkale directly. About 90 minutes from Dalaman airport.


Best fares will be on the THY site. check for specials and promotions. The earlier you book, the cheaper it will be. (you also get the best service and the hifghest baggage allowance)

A second option is Fethiye. It is a larger town. Good scenery from certain locations. Day boat trips, good scenic drives to Faralya/Butterfly Valley/Kaya Koy/Gemiler Bay/ Tlos/Saklikent Gorge, etc. Good dining.Closer to Dalaman airport. Closer to Pamukkale.

If you have time, have a look at my trip report:

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...-2010-trip.cfm

@ Other -- wouldn't Kas also be a decent base for Arykanda? I could easily be wrong... Tuni01 would do well to listen to your advice!

kja, thanks. my trip report does include Arycanda and a few other places.

I hate to sound like a tour organizer here and try to give hints rather than complete tour schedules which can be very boring and often not suitable for the OP.

It's been over 10 years, but we stayed in Kalkan, a small but beautifully-sited town, and took day trips from there.

It had a charming atmosphere & good local restaurants. Of course, it's been a while, so I don't know if it still has such a wonderful atmostphere, but we enjoyed it and found it a great location for day trips.

Thanks everyone! So many wonderful places and great information from your trip reports. We're considering 2 options: 4 nights in Fethiye and fly out of Dalaman or 3 nights in Kas and 1 night in Antalya (fly out from here and see the museum). The drive from Kas to Antalya seems very scenic and would be an enjoyable drive? Thanks again for suggestions and please keep them coming!

I thought the scenery between Kas and Antalya quite lovely, and the museum in Antalya is very good. If you take this option, you might consider stopping briefly in Phaselis en route.

We've been doing a lot of research and love the look of Kas. Looking at which hotel to book now. One additional question please. We'd like to take a modest hike (couple of hours) with great views if possible. Any suggestions on finding good walks near Kas? Thanks again for your excellent advise.

Well, visiting Arykanda was enough hiking for me while in that area! ;-) And the views from the highest part of those ruins are, IMO, stunning. YMMV.

As I recall, visiting Xanthos also involved some hiking, and could have offered more extensive hikes than those I took to see the site itself.

I'm sure otherchelebi will have much better advice than I.

And FWIW, you might want to check the Rough Guide and Lonely Planet -- they usually cover that kind of thing.

Tlos rather than Xanthos offers good hiking opportunities and views as well as Pınara.
Tlos has the more impressive ruins out in the open while Pinara ruins are scattered in forested hilly slopes with pathways in between the crumbling unexcavated structures overgrown with trees and ivy.

Tlos is also close to Saklikent canyon.

Xanthos is almost next to a small town and occupies a small hill of its own. Although a world heritage site, I took more pleasure from the remnants of the temples and the theatre at Letoon some miles away through small villages on partially marshy ground where the imagination recalls the frogs of more than 2000 years ago while watching for the modest modern residents of the marshy part of the ruins.

google for the distances of all from your hotel. It is possible that a hike at Kalekoy, reached by boat from Ucagiz will be the easiest while climbing the hill above Myra at Demre the closest and the others further away than you may wish.

A scenic hike at Kaş would be to take a dolmuş up to Çukurbağ and follow the Lycian Way back down to Kaş - http://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=13....6682&layers=C

Visiting Phellos up there would take a bit longer.

Thank you very much. This gives us several places to research! otherchelebi, now that we have our plans made for mid-May I'll be following your ongoing post on visiting Turkey during restoration.