Kalkan Water Activities
There are lots of ways to keep cool
during the hot summer
months...
Kalkan
Area Beaches
The Kalkan area has several beautiful beaches. A very
pleasant pebbly public beach with crystal-clear water is located just to the
east of Kalkan's harbour; it (and the surrounding water) has earned a Blue Flag
award for cleanliness. The water depth drops off close to the shore, so you
don't have to walk over the pebbles for long. Many cafés are nearby and
sun beds with umbrellas are available for rent.
Otherwise, hop on a "dolmuş" (a Turkish
minibus - cheap, frequent and very convenient) and head for one of the two beaches
near Kalkan.
Gorgeous Kaputaş Beach
is a lovely sandy swimming cove nestled at the foot of a
striking mountain gorge, about 10 minutes from Kalkan.
This is the beach often pictured in travel brochures for
Turkey, although it doesn't get crowded as one would
expect. The water is always a brilliant colour of
turquoise. Umbrellas can be hired here and a few
enterprising locals sell snacks and cold drinks.
Dolmuşes (shared minibuses) make frequent runs to this
beach daily from the centre of Kalkan. Quite a few
steps lead down to the beach, so take this into
consideration if you have a walking problem.
More pictures of
Kalkan's Kaputaş Beach.
Another option,
Patara Beach, part of a national
park, is a beautiful 12 kilometre stretch of sand backed
by dunes with only a small snack shop/tea house built
upon it (it also rents out umbrellas and sunbeds).
It was voted one of the top beaches in the world by Times
Online - Best of 2005
Some very nice Lycian
ruins are a short stroll away, part of the national
park.
Patara was once an
important port city of ancient
Lycia and the ruins there are quite extensive. The beach is closed after sunset as it is one of the few places in the world where
the endangered Loggerhead turtles come to lay their eggs.
This year (2006) entry tickets
to the national park are for a single day, rather than
for a week. The cost is 2 TL (approximately
.85 GBP) per person. Dolmuşes (minibuses) make
frequent runs to this beach daily from the centre of
Kalkan.
More more information and pictures of Patara Beach,
visit our Lycian Turkey site
here.
Satellite image of Patara Beach (entrance to Kalkan Bay at the
top of the photo). You can also see a satellite image of Kalkan
here (Kaputas Beach is just below the two islands in the
centre of the photo).
Kalkan's
Beach
Clubs and Swimming Pools
Kalkan has
six popular beach clubs (several of which are reached by
shuttle from the harbour), making it easy to enjoy the
sea. These are wonderful paved platform terraces and gardens cut into the
bottom of the mountainside, with ladders going into the
sea. They
offer everything from swimming and sunbathing to water
sports and restaurant/bar facilities, with sunbed and
umbrellas for hire. The beach clubs across the bay
have free water taxi service that you can pick up in the
harbour.
The Kalamar Beach Club (located in a
quiet turquoise cove of Kalamar Bay) will provide you with free
transportation. They will pay for your taxi upon
arrival and give you shuttle service back to your
accommodation. Snorkelling is pretty good here -
you can see some beautiful fish, starfish and other
creatures (snorkles for rent).
If you'd
rather spend your day relaxing by the pool but your
hotel or pension hasn’t got one, there are several hotels in
Kalkan with excellent pools open to the public.
Kalamar Beach Club
More photos of this beach club
Water
Sports
You can find
water sports
such as jet skiing, water skiing, parasailing, Ringo and
Banana near Kalkan's beach clubs. Snorkles are
also often available for rent (2 TL per day at the
Kalamar Beach Club, you can see a lot of fish there).
Scuba Diving
Kalkan is an popular place for scuba
diving due to its crystal clear waters and the fact that the area is
known as one of the top locations for scuba diving along Turkey's
coast. It has several dive sites including islands, reefs and wall
with a huge variety of marine life (including
groupers, sardines, moray eels, turtles, stingrays, barracudas, sea bream, rainbow wrasse, damsel fish,
bonita, sea mullet,
starfish, octopus, dolphins, nurse sharks, squid, mackerel, etc.)
Lessons for beginners through advanced. Contact the Kalkan Dive
Centre for
further details - see their website at www.kalkandiving.com
River
Canoeing
You can
enjoy a fun day river canoeing on the nearby Xanthos
River. Experienced river guides take you on a
journey across ancient Lycian lands of tranquil, lush
nature. The ride is downstream, so it isn't hard going!
The journey ends at Patara Beach, with a swim. A fun
family day with a BBQ picnic lunch along the way, as
well as a very enjoyable mud bath! Enquire at a
local tour agent.
River
Tubing
Have
easy and great fun river tubing through beautiful nature on the Saklikent River with your tube
and paddle. The water is actually quite shallow and very
refreshing in the summer heat. Rides last from 45
minutes to two hours, depending on which you choose.
Enquire at a local tour agent or you can join a tour
just outside of Saklikent
Gorge.
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