Dalyan Turkey
Turkey
5
Cruises availables
At departure or passage at this port
Star Clippers (5 Cruises)
Frequently Asked Questions
Nowhere: Dalyan is reached only by water. Cruise ships in this region are small; they anchor offshore and hand passengers over to flat-bottomed river boats, the only craft able to thread the delta channels.
Like going up a river between reeds that close into a green corridor. The Dalyan river winds some ten kilometres between Lake Köyceğiz and the Mediterranean, through a labyrinth of reed beds. The trip is part of the call, not just transport.
Funerary facades with Ionic columns carved into the cliff in the 4th century BC, opposite the village, for the rulers of Kaunos. They are admired from the water at a respectful distance: you don't visit them up close, and the view is worth far more than proximity.
Yes, by a short boat crossing and then a path. Kaunos was a port city on the border of the Lycian and Carian worlds: a theatre set against the hill, baths, an agora. The sea has retreated since antiquity, leaving the ancient city as a balcony above the marshes, in a silence broken only by birds.
A long spit of sand at the end of the delta, separating fresh water from the sea. It is one of the main loggerhead turtle nesting sites in the Mediterranean. The site is protected, the nesting sections marked out, and boats land directly on the sand.
Yes, at İztuzu, in clear water between two liquid worlds. Respect the markers around the nesting zones: it isn't a formality, it's what allows the turtles to keep coming back. Don't dig in the sand and leave nothing behind.
The trip up the delta, the rock tombs seen from the water, a stop at Kaunos and a swim at İztuzu before heading back down. The programme composes itself: the boat strings the sites together in order, and there is little to choose between.
Fish and blue crab. The word dalyan means a fishery: net weirs have caught mullet and sea bass here for generations, and the blue crabs of the brackish water end up grilled on the tables of the village restaurants. It is river cooking as much as sea cooking.
That's a matter of taste. On the bank, pools of warm mud and sulphur water are part of the classic circuit and amuse plenty of visitors. The sulphur smell is strong and lingering: bring a swimsuit you won't mourn and something to rinse off with.
For anyone who can get in and out of a boat without difficulty. The whole day is spent on the water, with several transfers, a path up to Kaunos and a landing on sand. Passengers with reduced mobility will find the sequence demanding.
