Put Turkey back on the menu for family holidays full of fun and sun
IT was the dream boat trip – but all afternoon our kids were at loggerheads. There were no end of shrieks piercing the lazy Mediterranean air.
But not like that, you understand. Those squeals were ones of delight — at snorkelling with loggerhead sea turtles.
It was GoPro gold for Mia, 15, and 11-year-old Orla as they pursued these fleet-of-flipper wonders of the deep.
We were holidaying in the town of Kalkan on Turkey’s Turquoise Coast where its south-west kisses the Med.
We had hired a traditional gulet — a converted wooden fishing boat — to visit the sunken city of Kekova with two other families. It cost about £25 a head.
As well as the turtle-spotting and eerie seabed ruins, we enjoyed sunbathing on deck in 35C heat, snorkel stops in dreamy coves, an ice cream break at a Byzantine castle and a gut-busting on-board BBQ.
We even got to pitch the boat’s canoe off the back for more fun and games.
But the Kekova jaunt is just one of many thrilling day trips from Kalkan — which is why I have holidayed there TEN times in 25 years and even got engaged to my wife Nicola there.
GO: Turkey
GETTING THERE: A wide range of airlines fly directly to Dalaman Airport, with return fares from about £400 in season.
Slightly cheaper Turkish Airlines flights go via Istanbul. The Dalaman-Kalkan transfer, 90 minutes each way, is best booked through your accommodation.
STAYING THERE: Korsan Apartments are £450 to £695 a week in peak season.
See or call 0090 536 7985616.
Free cocktails and hampers are provided on arrival.
Day trips are bookable through your accommodation or at agencies in town, from £20pp.
Another treat is canoeing down the Xanthos River to Patara Beach. Your day begins at the amphitheatre of Xanthos, in the wild Taurus Mountains, before a day’s gentle paddle, via a mud bath and BBQ stop, to emerge at sandy Patara Beach for beers.
Action types will love Saklikent Gorge for Indiana Jones-style, splish-splosh trekking through a watery canyon. You can also enjoy a waterside lunch of fresh fish while dipping your toes then ride on white-water rafts downstream.
But the pull of Kalkan is such that you will not want to overdo the day trips.
I have seen it grow from a small fishing village to a twinkling tourist town — spread over three or so coves and famed for its whitewashed stone guesthouses, rooftop restaurants and chic sea-bathing platforms.
Our base was the superb self-catering Korsan Apartments, a few minutes’ stroll from the old town. It is owned by Kalkan original Uluc Bilgutay and his English wife Claire.
Uluc grew up in Kalkan and he and Claire also now own the Korsan accommodation, harbour-view Korsan Fish Terrace and Korsan Meze restaurant.
They have the Ko-Co cocktail bar, too, own or run dozens of villas and even have their own olive press. Hard graft in that 35C.
Our two-bedroom apartment with bougainvillea-draped balcony overlooking the Kalkan’s main bay was the perfect Turkish delight — while two shared pools, and a bar-restaurant serving from 8am till 10pm, there or to your room, kept all our boxes double-ticked.
The mint lemonade had a lovely mid-afternoon habit of turning with a splash of rum into a magical mojito — and the apartments’ small, long-serving team of staff were always on hand to help, and fix day trips.
But to lounge all day by the pool would be a shame when that turquoise sea awaits.
One reason the town has escaped mass, high-rise tourism is that it has no sandy beaches. But its bathing platforms, perched stylishly on rocky outcrops, more than make up for it.
There are eight or so, from the ultra-chic terraces of Mahal to watersports-central Indigo by the harbour, and family-friendly Kalamar with more watersports, scuba and a sea-trampoline.
By some quirk, Kalkan’s clientele are almost entirely British — but of a more adventurous, discerning kind who like to mix with the visiting Istanbul crowd that also run businesses here.
Another reason for the lack of mega-tourism, strict planning laws aside, is Kalkan’s position in the steep foothills of the Taurus Mountains — and it is these pine-clad giants that spill icy spring water into the sea to surprise and delight bathers.
If you do want sand between your toes, 30 minutes’ bus or taxi away is epic Patara Beach, stretching for mile after mile and with more ancient ruins nearby.
The world-famous white-shingle cove of Kaputas is quarter of an hour’s drive, and in Kalkan the white-pebble town beach is a favourite of ours for a moonlit dip.
Of an evening, talk of which Kalkan bathing platforms are best turns to which of its 200-odd restaurants and bars to try.
The many family-run rooftop restaurants are works of art and where the hosts’ creativity and attentiveness are as entrancing as the candles and calls to prayer from the local mosque.
The food ranges from old-school Turkish meze, meatballs and kebabs, to the fanciest fish and seafood, from cheap as chips on the outskirts of town to nearly London prices at top spots in the old town.
Uluc’s terraced fish and meze places are at the more sophisticated end of the scale, but worth every penny. Other tip-top rooftop bites include Baharat, Sade and Olive Garden, and as well as Ko.Co. Another fabulous cocktail bar is Botanik Garden, in a glade with treehouse and hammocks.
There is a growing number of music bars, though they are often still drowned out by those calls to prayer.
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Turkey has had a rough press because of trouble in Istanbul. But all that is as far from Kalkan as from London to Scotland, and most visitors to Kalkan fly in to Dalaman Airport, about 90 minutes’ drive away.
The Pound is also strong against the Turkish Lira nowadays — making holidays cheaper than in the eurozone. I, for sure, will be hurtling back for some more turtling.
