Göcek, Türkiye

Our summers have always been on the Datça peninsula, just underneath Bodrum. My trip with Backroads began further east. Göcek, Türkiye is also on the southwestern coast of the country as is Datça, just across from Rhodes, Greece. It is twenty minutes from the Dalaman airport and a half- hour from Fethiye.

If you are looking for blue skies, crystal-clear water, and smooth sailing, this is the place. Especially if you are a boater or a sailor.

The town has a large marina that hosts massive-sized vessels of all types, even a few of the mega variety. J. K. Rowling, for example, keeps her yacht here. The video below shows the rows of sailboats (there were multiple docks just for this size boat, not just a few spaces). There were multiple docks for each size of boat. I must admit, I was a bit overwhelmed.

However, even with all the dockage area, there is still not enough room for all the boats. Be aware that the coves are no longer as secluded and private as they were when I first came to this town. Every cove on either side of Göcek is filled with yachts. There are even commercial moorings installed in the coves, with boats crammed in every available space.

Even the coves such as the one below that is not crammed with oversized motor boats still are no longer secluded. There are sailboats everywhere. For most, this isn’t a problem, but we were forced to listen one day as we hiked, to music from one of the larger yachts who entertained the entire bay with their choice of music.

Göcek is a small town that has morphed into a vacation village for the wealthy. Restaurants line the bay across from the large marina, and when shopping, the stores are those I usually see in the upscale neighborhoods of Istanbul. Every possible need a boater might have can be delivered on water. Pizza, coffee, groceries, chocolate gifts—anything you might want—just ask them to deliver it directly to your boat. One of the grocery stores has a large boat as well, where you can shop for your groceries, right on the water. Unless you wish dinner in a restaurant, your feet never need to touch land.

This is the ice cream boat below.

Backroads booked us into a very nice hotel, the D-Resort Göcek, which is more thoroughly reviewed by The Luxury Editor here. My only regret is that I did not plan enough extra time on my trip to enjoy the bicycles, spa, and pool. The banana grove below was my daily path to the restaurant and meeting place for our hikes or excursions. The staff was more than accommodating and the breakfast buffet was the largest I’ve seen in Türkiye.

On one of the excursions, we ran into these two below. Wild donkeys are part of the landscape in southwest Türkiye but these were friendlier than most.

The photos below are from one of our hikes. Every fifty feet was an opportunity for another magnificent photo. When we finished hiking, we were able to jump in the blue water, and even though it was very cold, after several hours of hiking, it was relaxing.

We were told by several people on one excursion that this is the private helipad for the owners of many of the yachts here who are from a particular country. They are retrieved by their dinghies (which are the size of normal boats) and taken to their yachts. I thought it interesting that the entrance to the marina was in Turkish and Russian, rather than the usual English.

The resort includes several restaurants with the view below for fine dining. I enjoyed always being outside to eat, and being a boat to and from our hikes and excursions rather than in a van or a bus. This town, the hiking, and constant water access was a great start to our tour.