The historic harbour town of Kalkan lies on the Lycian Coast of Turkey at the foot of the Taurus Mountains. Due to the absence of mass tourism, Kalkan, is an unspoiled haven with crystal clear waters, beautiful beaches, wonderful green nature and is steeped in history.

Kalkan

The narrow streets, lined with old whitewashed villas, small traditional shops and restaurants, wind their way down to the quaint old harbour. Kalkan has many roof terrace restaurants which offer spectacular views of the town and sea while the harbour side restaurants enable visitors to watch the fishing boats leave early in the morning and return with their catch in the evening.

Things to do and see

Kalkan Harbour

Kalkan has some of the best beaches in southwest Turkey. The public beach, east of the harbour has been awarded a Blue Flag for cleanliness. About 10 minutes from Kalkan is Kaputas Beach which is nestled in a sandy cove at the foot of a mountain gorge. Kalkan has several beach clubs, some of which can only be reached by the shuttle from the harbour. These beach clubs are made up of platform terraces and gardens which have been cut into the bottom of the mountainside and have ladders going into the sea.

Water sports, including water skiing, jet skiing, parasailing and scuba diving are on offer at the beaches and beach clubs.

Kalkan is a very popular dive spot, offering dive sites with reefs where divers can see all types of marine life, including dolphins, octopus, nurse sharks, moray eels, turtles, stingrays and much much more.

Kalkan also offers canoeing on the Xanthos River and fun river tubing on the Saklikent River.

There are many ancient Lycian sites around Kalkan (probably about 20), all of which are worthy of a visit.

For the more adventurous there is tandem paragliding near Kas which offer magnificent views of the mountains and harbour.

A mountain excursion from Kalkan along the Saklikent Gorge, to the Green Lake or to the old traditional town of Elmali offer fascinating sites to see.

Nights in Kalkan are very quiet but there is still plenty to do, like a visit to one of the trout farm restaurants which are nestled in the mountains.
 

After you visit Kalkan for your holidays, you will want to return again and again.