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April 1, 2026
April 1, 2026
Twelve Islands & Ghost Towns: Yacht Honeymoon in Turkey
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Evgenia Dobrovaauthor
The "Small Square" cruise around Fethiye Bay with Captain Evgeny Kushnarenko.
The cost of a private yacht vacation in Turkey is comparable to staying at an upper-mid-range hotel — starting from €600 per person per week, plus airfare, and more and more travelers are choosing sea holidays over land-based ones in a country they may have already visited a dozen times.
Cruises have both pros and cons. The downsides include possible rough seas and smaller cabin sizes compared to hotel rooms. The upsides are seclusion, exclusivity, access to more beautiful places and attractions that aren't easy to reach without a yacht, and unique experiences.
Our expert, captain-instructor (and yacht owner) Evgeny Kushnarenko, who knows all the locations along Turkey's Aegean coast well, shared information and tips for organizing such a cruise.
Yacht or Catamaran?
You can book a cruise on a yacht or a catamaran. Yachts are cheaper; catamarans are more expensive (less heeling, more space, spacious cockpit, more room at the bow, toilets in each cabin, usually air-conditioned).
The cost of a yacht tour breaks down as follows: €400 per person per week for a double cabin, plus a contribution to the boat fund (to cover actual expenses: fuel, internet, marina fees). On average, the boat fund contribution is €200 per person. Food and alcohol are not included; everyone cooks for themselves or eats at restaurants.
If you book the entire yacht rather than just a cabin, prices start at €2,200 per week, plus the boat fund. Captain services are included.
Since marina berths (yacht parking spots) are paid, the captain often anchors nearby and ferries passengers to shore by dinghy. This can be inconvenient for passengers with limited mobility who have difficulty getting in and out of the dinghy. Otherwise, tourists usually don't mind whether they walk down a gangway or arrive by "tender."
Catamaran prices depend more on the season; catamarans are mostly owned by companies with price calendars, while yachts belong to private owners who usually have stable pricing. Prices also depend on vessel size. The range is roughly €3,600 to €4,200 per week, plus €150 per day for the captain. If you don't feel like cooking, you can hire a stewardess for another €100–150 per day. Her duties include cooking and cleaning common areas. Finding a stewardess is harder than finding a captain, so make this request in advance.
Seasonality
The warm season in Turkey is long: from late March/early April through late November. April and May aren't hot; the water is refreshing at around 68°F (20°C). Summer is hot, with peak heat in July and August. Air temperatures can reach 113°F (45°C). The sea is very warm. During these months, a catamaran with air conditioning will be more comfortable. Although even on a yacht, compared to being on shore, it's not too bad because when you're on the water, you feel the water temperature. Plus the refreshing sea breeze.
The velvet season runs from September through late November.
Where Cruises Depart From
The two main departure points for private weekly cruises every Saturday are the towns of Marmaris and Fethiye. Both have bus connections to the nearest airport, Dalaman (DLM). Around these towns is the highest concentration of beautiful locations, which is why yachting here is very active. Prices for sea voyages from Marmaris and Fethiye are the same. Beginners are recommended to start from Fethiye, as this part of the bay is better protected from bad weather, and the distances between route points are short — two to four hours of sailing. Accordingly, you can see two or even three locations per day. These are mostly picturesque bays, each more beautiful than the last, and historical attractions.
Here you can see Lycian tombs and walk along the Lycian Way, visit a banana grove where porcupines live, dine at authentic Turkish restaurants, explore uninhabited islands, swim in the Blue Lagoon, and discover many interesting places along the way that you can't reach without a yacht.
How Check-In Works
A cruise, or charter, usually lasts a week: starting Saturday afternoon and ending the following Saturday morning. Right after boarding, there's the so-called provisioning — you head to the supermarket to buy groceries and any forgotten sunglasses, caps, or flip-flops. This takes two to three hours. By evening, the yacht leaves the marina, reaches the nearest beautiful bay, and anchors there for the night. Beginners gradually get used to being on board, since even in calm seas you feel micro-movements, and everyone reacts to them differently. The excursion program begins on the second day.
Fethiye
The easy and relaxed weekly route offered by Captain Evgeny Kushnarenko starts and finishes in Fethiye. This place is interesting in itself, so we recommend arriving a day early to see what's worth seeing. First and foremost — the Lycian tombs, the town's calling card.
The tombs are carved directly into the cliffs that protect the town like stage wings, at quite a height, making them visible from almost everywhere. The Lycians believed that the deceased transformed into winged sirens, and the higher a person was buried, the easier it was for their soul to be reborn and find peace.
The tombs externally resemble Greek temples with columns and various decorations — images of funeral scenes, battles, animals, and mythological creatures. The most impressive of all the tombs is Amyntas, and tickets are sold to enter it (daily from 8:30 AM to 6:30 PM). The others are located nearby; there's no entry to them, but you can view them from below, from the road.
Very close to the tombs, also on elevated ground, is a Crusader castle. It's closed to visitors, but you can see it well from outside. On the way to the tombs, right in the middle of lawns in front of buildings in the town center, you'll encounter Lycian sarcophagi.
The Telmessos Amphitheater, recommended by guidebooks as a site of theatrical performances and gladiatorial fights, isn't actually that picturesque: if you're short on time, you can skip it without impoverishing your collection of impressions. Better to spend that hour visiting the Fethiye Museum. It houses artifacts found in the surrounding ancient cities, telling the story of different historical eras: Lycian, Persian, Greek, Roman, Byzantine, and Ottoman. One of the museum's most valuable exhibits is a stone stele from 338 BC. It helped decipher ancient Lycian inscriptions. Greek sculptures, as always, deserve attention too.
Fethiye has a long, beautiful, well-maintained promenade lined with private yachts. Allow an hour and a half to two hours for a walk along it.
The Sea Journey Begins
So, after exploring Fethiye, you board, stock up on food and drinks, and set sail. The next day, after spending the night in one of the nearby bays, the sea voyage begins. Fethiye Bay forms a square. The route through it goes like this:
- First side, northern: Fethiye center — Göcek town.
- Second side, western: Göcek — down through the Twelve Islands.
- Third side, southern: Sarsala — Gemiler Island — ancient town of Kayaköy.
- Fourth side, eastern: Kayaköy — Ölüdeniz (Fethiye district) — Fethiye center.
It's a small but packed square that can be expanded in any direction if desired.
Göcek and the Islands
The next location after Fethiye, the town of Göcek, is 10 nautical miles away. People come here to admire the natural beauty and immerse themselves in the atmosphere of a bohemian resort. The town is very aesthetic: luxurious villas right on the water, low houses with red tile roofs surrounded by gardens, and majestic mountains behind them. Göcek is known for its good cafés and restaurants. There are no real sights as such.
Twelve Islands
Near Göcek lies a chain of picturesque islands. Each has its own name (Tersane, Domuz, Zeytinli, Şeytan...), but locals simply call them "the Twelve Islands." In reality, there are more — only the large ones with ruins of ancient settlements are counted among the 12. Almost every island has one or two Turkish families living on it and a small restaurant.
The sea here is postcard-turquoise, and the islands and bays on the mainland are wonderfully beautiful. It's shallow here, so big oligarch yachts don't come. But there are plenty of regular yachts and boats, including motorboats from which locals sell ice cream.
Sarsala
Sarsala is the name of a long pebble beach and the bay along it. People come here for the scenic views and for a restaurant famous for its lamb dishes and designer interior: a glass library with books in different languages, a retro collection of old TVs, boomboxes, and cassette players, and art furniture like plush armchairs you sink right into.
Sarsala has a banana grove with porcupines that scurry underfoot like cats, and it's also interesting because there's Kızılkuyruk Bay with the ruins of two ancient cities: Lydae and Lissa.
Kapi Creek
Kapi Creek, also known as Göbün Koyu, is a small bay near Domuz Island, also famous for a restaurant with good cuisine called Göbün. Before dinner here, you can climb 500 feet up and survey the picturesque bay and chain of islands. This is where the sea is the most beautiful turquoise color — not in the Blue Lagoon (we'll get to that).
The best swimming spots in this part of Fethiye Bay are the beaches on the mainland shore. Along the route near the Twelve Islands — in spots called Küçük Karanlık, Boynuz Bükü, Taşkaya, and Merdivenli.
Visiting the Twelve Islands usually takes two to three days, after which the yacht crosses to the other, right side of Fethiye Bay and heads to St. Nicholas Island, called Gemiler in Turkish (Island of Ships). This is an uninhabited island with a ghost town — an ancient abandoned settlement.
Gemiler
Here you'll find the ruins of five Byzantine churches built between the 4th and 6th centuries AD, as well as fragments of forty ancient buildings and more than fifty Christian tombs.
According to legend, the first settlement on the island was founded by St. Nicholas of Myra when he was hiding from the Romans during the persecution of Christians (303–313 AD). And possibly, the island was the site of his original burial. Presumably, the saint's relics were kept here until the 650s, when they were moved to the city of Myra due to approaching Arab fleets.
Later, during the Crusades, the island served as a staging post for knights. That's when most of the buildings were constructed. The town was built on a hill, but only its top has survived. Many structures are now underwater — part of the island sank due to an earthquake.
Kayaköy
The next stop on the route is Kayaköy (meaning "rock village" in Turkish), another impressive abandoned settlement. Houses, churches, and other structures from the 18th and 19th centuries are preserved here. You can wander through winding streets, peek into houses, and see how Greeks lived here a hundred years ago before they were deported from Turkey in 1923–1925: some buildings still have blue whitewash and corner stoves. Kayaköy is larger than Gemiler, and this scale makes a special impression. From the hilltops where the buildings stand, there's a panoramic view of the bay and Gemiler Island.
Ölüdeniz
Ölüdeniz is a popular resort district of Fethiye and the beach of the same name, located at the foot of Mount Babadağ. The Blue Lagoon in Ölüdeniz is one of Turkey's main attractions; its photos fill Turkish travel brochures and airport billboards. In reality, it's a shallow area for children, and from the shore, the water looks greenish rather than turquoise. The lagoon gets its extraordinarily beautiful blue hue when viewed from a certain angle — specifically, from a bird's-eye view or while paragliding (Ölüdeniz has long been a paragliding mecca — people fly from nearly 6,500-foot-high Babadağ).
The most interesting place in Ölüdeniz is the spit that separates the main beach from the Blue Lagoon. Along the spit, under the shade of pine trees, runs a path with shower cabins, toilets, and changing rooms. If you walk a bit further in, beaches with nice cafés and beach swings begin on the left side. Sun loungers and gazebos are paid, but you can just leave your things on the shore.
Nearby, a few miles away, is Butterfly Valley bay. There really are butterflies there, in the grove. There used to be many more, then the population declined, but the name stuck.
After relaxing in Ölüdeniz and the surrounding area, comes the final — easy — leg back to the starting point. The cruise ends where it began — in Fethiye.
Safety Rules and Onboard Etiquette
- Everyone should carefully follow the captain's instructions.
- Go down stairs facing the steps.
- Don't wear shoes with black soles, as they leave black marks on the wooden deck.
- In rough weather, close portholes in cabins and the head so water doesn't splash in.
- Don't place objects where they could fall and break when the boat heels.
- For rough weather: keep your stomach full and have small snacks like chips, crackers, or hard candy handy to maintain the swallowing reflex.
- Consume alcohol in moderation — specifically cold dry white wine diluted one-to-one with cold water (in hot weather).
- Buy seasickness pills in advance — they may not be available everywhere. Note that such medication causes drowsiness.
How to Join a Cruise
- Check if the captain is available for your week (Saturday to Saturday).
- Say how many people will be traveling.
- Make a deposit: 30% if joining a specific captain's yacht, 50% as a first installment if booking through a charter company, then the remaining 50% six weeks before the tour starts.
- For charter companies, prepare a cash deposit. Usually €3,500, refundable. For cruises on private yachts, a deposit is usually not required, as is the case when traveling on our expert captain's yacht.
Who Leads Excursions
This isn't part of the captain's duties, but if they have time, they join tourists and can show and tell a lot. In some towns, you can book excursions with local guides or prepare your own route in advance and read about the places you'll visit.
Our Rating
Nature — 5
Beach vacation — 5
Historical attractions — 5
Urban environment — 4
Food tourism — 4
EventForMe editorial team extends heartfelt thanks to Captain Evgeny Kushnarenko for his help in preparing this article.
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Evgenia Dobrovaauthor