Datça, Türkiye

If you’ve been reading my posts, you know I enjoy spending time off the typical path. While I may visit the larger cities, and of course, I love Istanbul, other places you may not have heard of are absolutely beautiful. The area around Datça, Türkiye, is one of them. The mountains tumbling down to the Mediterranean Sea make for terrific views.

My husband took this photo above when hiking to the top of the hill that overlooks the summer houses at Aktur, a small vacation village on the road from Marmaris to Datça. It sits directly across the Mediterranean from the Greek island of Symi and diagonally across from Rhodes. Here’s a shot of Symi.

For the past twenty-plus years, we have been here in the summers, visiting our Turkish family and enjoying the water. We have many memories of this place, the ones you never quite let go of, whether good or bad.

Vacation villages, tatil sitesi, are all over this country. This one was built in the 1970s and has been loved by families since then. It is a quiet place where children can run free, with older open-air apartments among the trees.

I have been told that these apartments are pretty valuable now. Many have been significantly renovated, removing the open-air qualities and enclosing them with fancy kitchens, bathrooms, and air conditioning. Ours is still the old-school variety.

But the natural attraction here is the sea. It is bright blue, crystal clear, and freezing for much of the year. Only in August and September does the water get warm. Fish swim thirty feet beneath your feet, and you’ll see a turtle occasionally.

I was surprised to see that this year, the site was catering to Instagram folks, but here it is. While this vacation site is technically in the Datça area, the town itself is about twenty-five minutes away. But that’s for another post.

We have heard donkeys braying in the evenings for years, but seeing them near the highway is rare. These two are apparently lost.

In the village's center, a canal drains mountain water to the sea. Aktur has created a duck pond, which has expanded over the years, and the landscaping is prettier.

You must cross the mountainous terrain using the Marmaris road or take the ferry from Bodrum. Both methods of travel have terrific views, so you may want to arrive from one direction and leave using the other.

When I first came here over thirty years ago, the road was almost a single lane, with no guard rails and poor paving. That was when I discovered my new husband was a typical Turkish driver, i.e., a maniac. Some of the road was gravel, and sliding off the side of the mountain was a real possibility. Even today, the well-paved, well-secured road still requires careful driving.

One of my favorite memories involves taking our jet ski from Turkey into the middle of the Mediterranean, halfway to Symi. Flying alone in a large expanse of water on a jet ski is very freeing. You can scream, cry, laugh, and generally do whatever you want alone in the Mediterranean. I always knew from the Turkcell telephone company’s message on my cell phone blaring, “Welcome to Greece,” when I’d gone far enough, and it was time to turn around and come home.

If you prefer a few comforts and normalcy when traveling and want to visit a small town in southwestern Türkiye, Datça would be a good choice. The people are used to tourists, and there are lovely places to stay and excellent restaurants. Visit during the shoulder seasons if possible to avoid the crowds. Outside the town, there are vacation sites like ours where you can rent a private apartment on Airbnb or through your travel agent. I’ve planned a future post with recommendations for specific details.

Maybe you will make a few memories of your own here along the crystal clear blue water of the Mediterranean.