Seven places around Dalyan worth the day
Two of these are on every list. The other five are the ones I send people to when they ask what else there is — and they are usually the ones people talk about afterwards.
Yuvarlakçay
Inland, towards Köyceğiz · car needed
A cold, clear river running out of the mountains, shaded the whole way by plane trees. There are a handful of cafés along it with wooden platforms built out over the water — you sit with your feet in the current and eat trout, and the temperature drops ten degrees the moment you arrive.
This is where locals go in August. There is a small waterfall a walk upstream, quiet enough that you will usually have it to yourself.
Easiest with a car — it is not on the boat circuit. Some jeep safari tours include it along with Köyceğiz lake.
Jeep safari tours → or hire a car
Sultaniye thermal springs
Shore of Köyceğiz lake · by boat or road
Hot mineral water on the far shore of the lake, used continuously for a very long time. It is a proper soak rather than a spa — warm, sulphurous, and looking straight out at the mountains across the water.
Quieter than the mud baths and better in the shoulder season, when the air is cool enough to make the heat pleasant rather than punishing.
Some river boats include it on the longer route; otherwise it is a drive round the lake.
Kaunos ancient city
Across the channel · short boat crossing then a climb
The city the rock tombs belong to. There is a theatre cut into the hillside, a basilica, city walls, and a view back down over the whole delta that explains in one glance why anyone built here.
Go early. There is almost no shade on the site and the climb up is steeper than it looks from the water.
Small boat across the channel from town, then about fifteen minutes on foot uphill. Full guide to Kaunos.
Köyceğiz lake
Upriver from Dalyan
The river opens out into a wide, still lake with mountains standing behind it. Some boat tours run this far up and stop for a swim; otherwise the town of Köyceğiz on the far shore is a pleasant half-day on its own, with a lakeside promenade and a market of its own.
Longer river tours, or twenty minutes by road.
The mud baths
On the river, north of town
Grey mineral mud, applied thickly, dried in the sun, then washed off in a warm sulphur pool. It is undignified and everybody enjoys it.
Go early in the day. In July and August the pools are busy by late morning, and there is a queue for the rinse-off showers that nobody warns you about.
On the standard river boat circuit — most day tours stop here. See the boat tour guide.
İztuzu beach
Where the river meets the sea
Four and a half kilometres of sand between the river mouth and the open sea, and a loggerhead nesting ground long before it was a beach. No hotels behind it, no development along it — the whole strip is protected.
During nesting season the beach closes to visitors overnight so the turtles can come ashore. Walk to the far end if you want it to yourself; most people stay near where the boats arrive.
By boat down the channel, or by road over the hill. Full İztuzu guide.
The river itself
Through the middle of everything
Everything above is connected by the same water. The reed channels between town and the sea are narrow enough that a boat feels like it is threading through them, and the birdlife is constant — herons, egrets, a kingfisher going past like a thrown stone.
Late afternoon is the hour. The light goes gold, the tombs warm up, and the water flattens out.
Any river boat. Which boat to take.
If you only have one day
Take the river boat. It covers the tombs, the mud baths and İztuzu in a single day, and it is the version of Dalyan people remember.
If you have a second day and a car, go to Yuvarlakçay instead of doing the river twice. It is the one that surprises people.
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