About Turkey and Dalyan

Dalyan is situated on the Turquoise Coast region of Turkey and offers a lovely year-round Mediterranean climate.

The town is 25 kms from Dalaman International Airport, 2 hours from Marmaris and 1 ½ hours from Fetihye.

This part of Turkey is an area of immense natural beauty, often described as one of the last corners of paradise.

Dalyan sits on a beautiful river, travel for ten minutes by boat in one direction and you reach the stunning Iztuzu beach.  Five kilometres of fabulous beach with fine sand and sparkling water.  The beach is one of the worlds only remaining nesting sites of the endangered loggerhead turtles, known locally as “caretta caretta”.  For this reason the Dalyan area has been classified as a conservation area – you won’t find high-rise hotels and congestion here, ever!

Building proposals on this unspoilt stretch of beach were halted in 1985 when famous conservationist, David Bellamy led a successful worldwide campaign to prevent development to enable protection of the Loggerhead sea turtle nesting sites. Walk 300m from either end of the beach and you will be completely alone. This whole area is now deemed environmentally protected and a wildlife sanctuary.

Mud bathsTake a boat upriver for a few minutes and the river breaks into a beautiful lake.  Swim from the boat, visit the mud baths or just take in the breathtaking scenery.

Across the river, in the cliffs overlooking Dalyan are the ancient rock tombs of ancient Lycian nobles.  Chiselled from the rock over 2000 years ago these tombs dominate the cliff face and offer fantastic photography opportunities from the comfort of the riverfront restaurants.

Cross the river and walk for around 20 minutes and you’ll come to the ancient city of Caunos (Kaunos) – the ruins to be found there are mainly from the Roman period, but excavations have unearthed evidence of much earlier civilisation.

Dalyan town centre offers plenty of restaurants, shops and bars.  The Mosque overlooks the town square and the Turkish village life ambles by - Dalyan has culture, history wonderful people and life - more than enough to keep us coming back year after year.

Dalyan truly is a beautiful place and was nominated by the Independent Newspaper in July 2003 as one of the best-unspoilt holiday destinations in the world.