Destinations by boat and/or by car

[travelingirls]

Hi, new to site.  Thanks for any advice.  Spending a week in Kalkan and am curious about doable day excursions.  Would ultimately like to get over to Fethiye, Olu Deniz and that general area.  Is it possible to charter a boat or this or is it too far? How are the roads along that coastline and heading  towards Antalya? Also planning on heading up to Ephesus for a few days before ultimately ending the trip in Istanbul.  Trying to figure out logistics.  Anyone know of a boat that would cruise us to Ephesus  and drop us off?  How long would a boat trip like that take?

We are scuba divers and wonder if anyone has any dive site recommendations in this region.  Snorkeling recommendations welcome as well.

Thanks,
Travelingirls

Linkback: https://www.enjoykalkan.com/forum/index.php?topic=1553.0

[felicity]

Hi Travelingirls - welcome to our friendly forum...!

Wow - lots of questions - so I hurried reply from me - and will leave others to give their views too..but in a nutshell Turkey is a BIG place and there is no way you can possibly cruise to Ephesus or even Fethiye by boat unless you have all the time in the world..but then thinking about your forum name - perhaps you DO have all the time in the world..?? 

Fethiye and Olu Deniz are about 1 hour away by car - and will take you day(s) to reach by boat.  There are possibly cruises out of Fethiye to Ephesus (I really don''t know) - but it would be a whole vacation in itself coz Ephesus across country - must be best part of 6-8 hours drive (at a guess - we have only been as far as Pammukale and Ephesus is an hour or so further on than that).  So I wouldn''t have thought that is doable!

There are plenty of lovely day excursions (including diving excursions) out of Kalkan harbour itself - lovely relaxed days out.  For another really good day out - drive to Kekova and take a boat trip from there to see the sunken city of Kekova and do the boat trip around the islands there - simply spectacular.  The roads along the coastline are very good - both ways and oh such beautiful drives too! 

Loads of places to go diving and snorkelling from - Kalamar beach club being one and I know others will chip in with their experiences!

I hope that helps for starters!

[travelingirls]

Thanks Felicity - that does help for starters.  Just in the beginning stages of planning the trip.  Anyone have any suggestions for villas for rent in Kalkan?

Also, we''re coming from Rhodes and would love to squeeze in some boating time.  Is it feasible to think we might find a boat from Rhodes to Kalkan or somewhere nearby Kalkan?

[DRBD]

From Rhodes to Meis then from Meis to Kas onwards to Kalkan.

[kalkan4eva]

Hi travelingirls,
I think the nearest you could cruise to Ephesus would be Kusadasi, as the site is further inland - it''s amazing though and well worth a visit. Perhaps you can get a ferry to Kusadasi from Fethiye, which has a bigger port, which would be much quicker than a boat. I''m sure someone on the forum would know. We went on a dolmus to Ephesus from the centre of Kusadasi - although it was 20 years ago, so things may have changed 

[itstime]

Ephesus definitely worth a visit. A truly amazing place. Visited many years ago on a trip from the Altinkum area ( hated Altinkum though ) Think I''ve seen some trips advertised from Kalkan which involve at least one overnight stay en-route.

[kevincat99]

DRBD Meis is not an entry point into Turkey - so no way Jose 

[yoyo]

Hi,
I have a Euro Road Atlas of Turkey which I bought some years ago (around 1989!), so am unsure if the routes would still be up to date but it shows that there are ferry routes from Rhodes to Bodrum, Marmaris and Fethiye.  It also shows a route from Bodrum up to Kusadasi which would be the base for getting across by road to Ephasus.  Though if you did all the travelling via boat I think you would miss out on quite a bit of Turkey''s fantastic sights.

[travelingirls]

Thanks to everyone for the info.  This gives me great info from which to formulate a plan.  Did find out that I can travel by hydrofoil from Rhodes to Fethiye in less than 2 hours.  Pretty cool.

[yelkenite]

actually travelinggirls, while outside the remit a little of this thread, if that Hydrofoil is reasonably reliable, offers a possible alternative way of getting to Kalkan.  Interesting, thank you.  Bill

[Shirley Burley]

My sister did it a few years ago - she flew to Rhodes and got the hydrofoil to Marmaris and the bus to Kalkan.  It took a while but she was on a student budget at the time and the flights to Rhodes were considerably cheaper.  Obviously the hydrofoil to Fethiye would be quicker in terms of transfer time to Kalkan, but at that time (may have changed) the hydrofoil only went to Fethiye on Thursdays and was daily to Marmaris.

Having said that, she only did it the once so it can''t have been that great an alternative!

[yelkenite]

you hit the nail on the head Shirley re the flights but unless that schedule to Fethiye has changed, it''d mean I couldn''t take advtantage of it I''m afraid. Nice hearing from somebody else if they manage it; Cost etc.   hmmmm   Bill

[Mercimek]

Have done in the other direction but via Marmaris (fortunately have friends that way to stay the night) it was about 3 yrs ago, took the 9 am catarmaran (but you have to be there at , I had some spare time in Rhodes town, took taxi to airport (approx 15 euros at the time) and in fact was flying to another Greek Island so had to go via Athens. It is possible but not sure I would choose to do it unless I had to get to Greece, wouldn''t use as a short cut to UK.