6 things you must do in Bozburun: Hop from bay to bay and try honey from the mountains for a taste of real Turkey
By GARETH HUW DAVIES, THE MAIL ON SUNDAY
Published: 12:06 GMT, 4 May 2014 | Updated: 12:06 GMT, 4 May 2014
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Dalaman in Turkey will be a popular destination airport for Britons this summer.
Many will head straight for the big resorts, but there are quieter alternatives on the south-west coast.
Gareth Huw Davies recommends the Bozburun Peninsula, a short drive from Marmaris, if you're looking for a taste of real Turkey.
Serene: The pretty waterfront at Bozburun town
UNSPOILED BEAUTY
On the Bozburun Peninsula, accommodation is mainly small boutique hotels and self-catering. Visitors will find a slowpaced, largely unspoiled place of majestic wooded mountains and villages on miles of rugged coast, but with plenty of chances to swim.
A favourite waterfront restaurant is the Mermaid at Saranda on the north coast, where you can sit all afternoon in the shade reading and watching the boats tie up. Then a drink in a cafe over-arched by a 2,000- year-old plane tree in the mountain village of Bayir.
ROOM WITH A VIEW
Big hotels are banned on the peninsula. Tucking 43 villas away a mile up a steep canyon, so they can hardly be seen among the olive groves, vineyards, herb gardens and fruit trees, is the way to go.
The Dionysos, on the peninsula's south side, is one of the most secluded places I know on this holiday coast. From my balcony I could see the passing boats in the Bay of Kumlubuk, but no other clue to which century I was in. dionysoshotel.net
Quiet: Dionysos Hotel is situated on the Bozburun Peninsula south side
WATER WANDER
No Mediterranean country does the slow, lazy, coast-hugging daytrip on water better than Turkey. The shore is scattered with random stones and pillars from classical Greek and Byzantine history.
I travelled in one of the Dionysos resort's two converted lifeboats, polished to a dazzle. Trips follow a simple formula. We hop from bay to bay, dropping anchor where it's quiet. Then everybody overboard. Except the crew, who prepare a sumptuous feast.
BEE HAPPY
It 's a familiar sight in the mountains here, villagers sitting by the roadside by a table piled high with jars of honey. Now they have the promotion they deserve. The Honey House Museum, built in the hexagonal shape of a honeycomb, opened in the village of Osmaniye in 2012. I recommend a visit. Turkey is the biggest producer of pine honey (92 per cent of the world's total comes from the Aegean region), and this area is a stronghold. marmarisbalevi.com.tr
Room with a view: Dionysos hotel overlooks the Bay of Kumlubuk
TAKE THE TRAIL
The 500-mile-long Carian Trail, Turkey's latest longdistance path, opened in 2013. It winds through this peninsula, with many places where you can join it for a short stroll. Obliging bright yellow roadside signposts offer multiple options.
Paths on the hillsides around Bozburun have a red and white flash painted on a stone every 50 metres, so you shouldn't get lost. Walking early in the day is blissful. cariantrail.com
TURTLE TREASURE
I like to fit in a visit to the inspirational turtle beach at dalyan boat tours. Saving this place in the 1980s was a conservation triumph. Plans to build a hotel, which would have wiped out a prime loggerhead turtle habitat, were shelved.
Turtles still haul themselves up the beach at night to lay eggs. Three months later the hatchlings skitter back down the beach to the sea.
Turkey
By GARETH HUW DAVIES, THE MAIL ON SUNDAY
Published: 12:06 GMT, 4 May 2014 | Updated: 12:06 GMT, 4 May 2014
3
View
comments
Dalaman in Turkey will be a popular destination airport for Britons this summer.
Many will head straight for the big resorts, but there are quieter alternatives on the south-west coast.
Gareth Huw Davies recommends the Bozburun Peninsula, a short drive from Marmaris, if you're looking for a taste of real Turkey.
Serene: The pretty waterfront at Bozburun town
UNSPOILED BEAUTY
On the Bozburun Peninsula, accommodation is mainly small boutique hotels and self-catering. Visitors will find a slowpaced, largely unspoiled place of majestic wooded mountains and villages on miles of rugged coast, but with plenty of chances to swim.
A favourite waterfront restaurant is the Mermaid at Saranda on the north coast, where you can sit all afternoon in the shade reading and watching the boats tie up. Then a drink in a cafe over-arched by a 2,000- year-old plane tree in the mountain village of Bayir.
ROOM WITH A VIEW
Big hotels are banned on the peninsula. Tucking 43 villas away a mile up a steep canyon, so they can hardly be seen among the olive groves, vineyards, herb gardens and fruit trees, is the way to go.
The Dionysos, on the peninsula's south side, is one of the most secluded places I know on this holiday coast. From my balcony I could see the passing boats in the Bay of Kumlubuk, but no other clue to which century I was in. dionysoshotel.net
Quiet: Dionysos Hotel is situated on the Bozburun Peninsula south side
WATER WANDER
No Mediterranean country does the slow, lazy, coast-hugging daytrip on water better than Turkey. The shore is scattered with random stones and pillars from classical Greek and Byzantine history.
I travelled in one of the Dionysos resort's two converted lifeboats, polished to a dazzle. Trips follow a simple formula. We hop from bay to bay, dropping anchor where it's quiet. Then everybody overboard. Except the crew, who prepare a sumptuous feast.
BEE HAPPY
It 's a familiar sight in the mountains here, villagers sitting by the roadside by a table piled high with jars of honey. Now they have the promotion they deserve. The Honey House Museum, built in the hexagonal shape of a honeycomb, opened in the village of Osmaniye in 2012. I recommend a visit. Turkey is the biggest producer of pine honey (92 per cent of the world's total comes from the Aegean region), and this area is a stronghold. marmarisbalevi.com.tr
Room with a view: Dionysos hotel overlooks the Bay of Kumlubuk
TAKE THE TRAIL
The 500-mile-long Carian Trail, Turkey's latest longdistance path, opened in 2013. It winds through this peninsula, with many places where you can join it for a short stroll. Obliging bright yellow roadside signposts offer multiple options.
Paths on the hillsides around Bozburun have a red and white flash painted on a stone every 50 metres, so you shouldn't get lost. Walking early in the day is blissful. cariantrail.com
TURTLE TREASURE
I like to fit in a visit to the inspirational turtle beach at dalyan boat tours. Saving this place in the 1980s was a conservation triumph. Plans to build a hotel, which would have wiped out a prime loggerhead turtle habitat, were shelved.
Turtles still haul themselves up the beach at night to lay eggs. Three months later the hatchlings skitter back down the beach to the sea.
Turkey