The little islands protect most of the beach, making the water very calm.
The little islands protect most of the beach, making the water very calm.
Ölü Deniz beach is about 15 km from Fethiye, and one of the most famous beaches in Turkey. This beach is well known for a number of reasons – its image is on many posters promoting Turkish tourism, it’s a paragliders paradise, calm water, its beautiful setting, a long stretch of lengthy, clean white pebbly “sand,” and a shallow lagoon behind the main beach that’s perfect for toddlers. (Ölü Deniz means ‘dead sea,’ an apt description since the water is so calm).
The long beach at Ölü Deniz.
There is a roped-off safe swim area.
The beach is well-developed, with bathroom facilities, lounge chairs for rent and several snack bars. The entry fee was 7 TL (1.8 TL to 1 USD) per car. The nearby little village of Ölü Deniz is a hangout for tourists and backpackers, since this is the start of the Lycian Way, which winds its way eastward, ending near Antalya.
This end of the beach (near the lagoon) is quite crowded in the afternoon. Oh well, still a good spot (note the paragliders above the mountain ridge, known as Baba Daği).
Although crowded in late afternoon, we still loved it and I would go back in a hearbeat! We stayed in Fethiye at the Hotel Doruk, a great hotel with a view of Fethiye harbor, although parking a car was a challenge (just a narrow little side street for parking). The hotel was 75 Euros/night. There are some ruins in Fethiye also, but given our short stay and many other stops for ruins we didn’t take the time to visit the ones here.
The restaurant at the Hotel Doruk, overlooking the pool and harbor.