FARALYA
Twenty minutes beyond the bling and bright lights of Olu Deniz, the hillside village of Faralya feels like another world. The road winds along beside the sea before climbing vertiginously and snaking around the edge of Butterfly Valley, a sheer-sided gash in the mountain with a beautiful, boat-accessible beach at the bottom.
Faralya is the sort of village where the shops are still vine-clad shacks offering pide (Turkish flatbreads) and çorba (soup), and there’s a giddy, merciful lack of neon.
A good range of places to stay includes simple backpacker pensions to a couple of stylish boutique hotels (don’t let this put you off, there really isn’t much else). The Lycian Way, a long-distance walking route, runs through the village and there are other waymarked trails from its centre.
There’s good kayaking potential and it’s worth keeping an eye out for dolphins — a local pod has taken a shine to Faralya’s quiet waters and often glide by in the mornings and evenings.
Stay Cachet Travel (020-8847 8700, cachet-travel.co.uk) has a week at the Mandarin Boutique Hotel from £690pp in May, including flights.
SELIMIYE AND SOGUT
The western side of the Bozburun peninsula is a world away from the busy beaches and bright lights of Turunc and Icmeler on the eastern side. One road weaves its way up the coastline through sleepy hamlets such as Selimiye and Sogut, where simple waterfront restaurants serve fish caught each morning.
There is little to do here but laze by the sea, watch the sunsets and stroll up to one of the restaurants for dinner, so hiring a car to explore inland is a good idea. The peninsula offers some good walking and the small village of Bayir, with a delightful church and shady tea garden, is worth a visit.
If you’re looking for a lazy beach day, head for the eastern side to the long sandy bay at Kumlubuk where there’s a chic beach club, open only to Exclusive Escape guests. A scattering of wild and untended ancient sites — Amos, Loryma and Physkos — adds to the overall unspoilt feel.
Stay Exclusive Escapes (exclusiveescapes.co.uk) has a week at the Payam Evi villa from £635pp, based on six sharing, including flights, transfers and car hire.
AKYAKA
While not completely off the mainstream track, Akyaka retains a beautiful, tranquil feel, mostly because of its riverside location. It also remains a favourite destination of holidaying Turks, who come to eat at the fish restaurants, with terraces on the banks of the river, and to walk through pine woods to the small beaches.
The beach, ideal for young families as the water is shallow and clear, has a few low-key bars and restaurants. Akyaka is also ideally located for exploring the more authentic side of Turkey; 40 minutes over the mountain lies the regional capital of Mugla, with a delightful old quarter and one of the best markets in the area (on Thursdays).
Forget Turkish delight and apple tea, buy wrought-iron lamps, hand-dyed fabrics, and fresh fruit and veg before stopping at one of the roadside cafés for the best chicken kebab you’ll ever taste.
Stay Anatolian Sky (0845 3651011, anatoliansky.co.uk) has a week at the Ottoman Residence from £526pp, including flights and transfers.
SOVALYE
The bay of Fethiye is one of the most beautiful parts of Turkey’s Mediterranean coast, and staying on a car-free island surrounded by mountain scenery is an unforgettable experience. Sovalye, ten minutes across the water from the busy resort town of Fethiye, has one small hotel and a clutch of private residences dotted between the sand and shingle coves.
Staying here is about living at a slower pace: pottering around the tracks that criss-cross the island, paddling over submerged houses and city walls in a canoe and exploring the remains of a Crusader castle. Fethiye has a delightful old quarter, with great restaurants.
Stay A week at the Ece hotel on Sovalye costs from £500pp, including flights, transfers and B&B accommodation, through Exclusive Escapes (as before).
BEZIRGAN
Once an atmospheric, pretty fishing village, Kalkan has grown into a big resort and, although the old town retains its charms, it’s a place to dip in and out of rather than to stay put in. Take your lead from the local people and stay in Bezirgan, an unspoilt farming village about 15 minutes’ drive inland.
It’s a world away from the bright lights and busy streets of Kalkan: ramshackle cottages, lush farmlands and quiet lanes, watched over by forest-clad mountains. There’s no luxury , but if you want a real sense of escape, and to watch local people going about their lives as they have done for centuries, this is the place to be.
There’s only one place to stay — Owlsland, run by Erol, whose farm has been in the family for generations, and his Scottish wife, Pauline. The rooms are rustic, the breakfasts hearty and days are filled with walking, lazing with a good book or hopping into your hire car for the short journey to the stunning beach at Kaputas, or Kalkan itself. Blissful.
Stay A week at Owlsland costs €220pp, nightly rate €35pp, based on two sharing, including breakfast. Book on 00 90 242 837 5214,owlsland.com.
ORTAKENT
The long peninsula that stretches from the busy resort of Bodrum has remained surprisingly unspoilt.The sparkling coastline is scattered with small, bougainvillea-clad villages that mix simple agricultural cottages with elegant villas, the holiday homes of Turks from Istanbul and Izmir.
Ortakent, in the middle of the peninsula, has one of the best beaches in the area, separated from the village by a strip of market gardens, lush with fig, mandarin and olive trees. It is known for its tower houses, built in the 17th century to defend the village. It’s easy to spend a week here, reading and lazing on the beach and trying out the different restaurants. But if you fancy the bright lights, Bodrum is but a short dolmus ride away.
Stay Simply Travel (0871 2314050, simplytravel.co.uk) has a week at the Tamarisk Beach Resort from £610pp including flights, transfers and B&B accommodation.
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