Bozburun

Bozburun is a peninsula south of Marmaris on the coast of Lycia in Turkey. It's also the name of the village midway down. The population of the peninsula is roughly 20,000.

Understand
Two large peninsulas extend west of Marmaris, like the claws of a lobster trying to grab a starfish. Bozburun, described on this page, lies south, the stubby bifurcated "crusher claw" of the lobster. See separate pages for Datça the 70 km-long narrow peninsula extending west (the "scissor claw") and for Symi the Greek island between the claws.

Get in
For long distance travel see Marmaris. The city is 100 km from Dalaman Airport and has buses from other major Turkish cities.

Bus 10 / 11 runs every two hours from Marmaris edge-of-town bus station to Değirmenyanı, Hisarönü, Orhaniye, Turgut, Selimiye and Bozburun, taking an hour.

Get around
You need your own vehicle, or bike if you're fit. The road is convoluted but in good repair: it ends at Serçe Limanı so reaching Bozukkale or Karamaka involves a boat trip or long hike.

See

 * is the long straggly village where you turn off D-400 Marmaris-Datça road into Bozburun peninsula. "Hisar" is a common place-name indicating a castle, of which nothing remains. There's a marina, camping and a scrubby gravel beach.
 * Kastabos (Κάσταβος) was an ancient city of Caria in the hills southeast of Hisarönü. Reach it by the winding 5 km dirt road, or by a longer trail from Orhaniye. Not much to see, and it was only in 1960 that a 1st century BC Grecian sanctuary was unearthed, dedicated to Hemithea. Her legend is more convoluted than the access track.
 * is an extensive village with marinas and accommodation. (Another common place-name, as Orhan was Osman's successor at the founding of the Ottoman dynasty.) The main attraction is Kızkumu ("Maiden's Sand"), a 1-km long, purple-red sandbar with ankle-deep water; it's also called "Jesus Beach" since you appear to walk on water. The pawky legend relates that a young woman tried to meet her lover on the opposite shore, and built the sandbar from dirt she collected in her skirt. When the sand ran out she drowned, instead of simply fetching another skirtload.
 * Bybassus (Βυβασσός): let the scholars know if you happen to find this ancient Carian city. One possible site is the valley east end of Orhaniye, but classical accounts are so muddled that they obviously didn't know its whereabouts either.
 * has a marina, but the main village is 5 km inland along the main road. (Turgut was a military chief for the proto-Ottomans Ertuğrul and Osman; a 15th century navy commander also took that name.) A pyramidal structure south end of the village is probably the tomb of a holy man, Çağ Baba. In 2018 it was claimed to be the tomb of Diagoras of Rhodes, a famous boxer of the 5th century BC, but the pyramid is obviously later and the story doesn't hold up.
 * Hygassos is the overgrown ruins of another Carian city. It can be reached by a short but rough hike from the main road, or a long dirt track winding up from the north end of Turgut.
 * Turgut waterfall 3 km along the road from the village is small but scenic, though it dries to a dribble in summer. Better hike up the access lane than risk a car.
 * is a sleepy village in the hills, with accommodation. It has a pleasant old centre, where a 6th century olive-oil factory was found. The ancient town of Syrna (Σύρνα) is just a few gnarly lumps of masonry south of the village. Off-road cyclists toil over the scrubby hills. You can also drive here from Marmaris by following the coast to İçmeler then taking the switchback lane over the hills above Turunç.
 * is an attractive little cove reached by a narrow but paved road from Bayır.
 * is a large village with accommodation. It's at the head of a bay, indented into numerous coves, with a ruined castle teetering on an islet just east of the central headland. The village is named for Sultan Selim III (1761-1808), who tried to reform the army on European lines, but was deposed and hacked to bits by traditionalists.
 * or Kamelya is an uninhabited scrubby island visited by boat trips for snorkelling, and to take the rough path to its ruined monastery.
 * the village giving its name to the peninsula has a sheltered harbour, marina and accommodation. Marble was quarried in the hills in ancient times, hence the name of the resort city of Marmaris, though this was never on the scale of the Marmara Islands near Istanbul.
 * is the north harbour and beach resort for Söğüt, turn off down the narrow but well-paved lane just before village centre. It has accommodation and restaurants. Thyssanus (Θυσσανούς) was the ancient town on the hills above.
 * straggles along the road through the hills. It has an ATM, post office and line of eating places; it shares its name with Söğüt in eastern Marmara, the first town held by the Ottomans. The main road here loops back north to Bayır while a lane continues south to Taşlıca: this is surfaced but the terrain becomes wilder, with bare hills and sparse population.
 * Palamut is the continuation eastwards of Söğüt, staying on the road for Bayır. It has a restaurant with a view over the valley, and a very old plane tree.
 * , officially "Cumhuriyet", is the south resort and harbour for Söğüt. There's accommodation, eating places and a pebble beach. It's less than 1 km from Kızılyer but there's no coast road, you have to climb into the hills via Söğüt.
 * means "stony" and is well-named, a small village hemmed in by great boulders.
 * or Fenaket is a village abandoned in the 1960s. Its ruins dot the hillside, livestock wanders free, and the farm terraces are overgrown by scrub. Thus ended the medieval Greek settlement of Phoinikoúdi, itself the successor to ancient Phoenix (Φοῖνιξ) in Caria.
 * ("sparrow's harbour") is the end of the road. It's a tiny harbour at the head of a narrow sea inlet, little more than a quay and couple of buildings amidst livestock. Two ancient shipwrecks were found in the inlet in the 1970s: the "Glass Shipwreck" was Byzantine circa 1025 AD, carrying crockery and kitchenware from Beirut, plus smashed glass for ballast. The "Hellenistic wreck" was from 280 BC and carried amphora wine-containers.
 * was the fortified city of Loryma, and its curtain wall still stands. Get here by boat, as the ancients did, it's a hard hike over the hills.
 * is the scrappy ruins of a Greek village, abandoned after 1923 when Greeks were deported from Turkish territory and vice versa. This community wasn't exiled very far, as they had family links to Symi the island 10 km west, and relocated there.

Do

 * Beaches are gravel or pebble, you'll want beach shoes.
 * Hike: The Carian Trail is a 150-km long, waymarked hiking trail the length of the peninsula.

Buy
There are small stores in Hisarönü, Orhaniye, Selimiye, Bozburun and Sögüt. They're typically open daily 08:30-22:00.

Eat
All the main villages have cafes serving trad Turkish fare.

Drink

 * Cafes may serve beer.
 * Asarcık Vineyard is in the hills between Selimiye and Bozburun villages.

Sleep

 * İçmeler and Turunç are the western extension of Marmaris resort strip and are described on that page.
 * All the Bozburun villages have basic pansiyon accommodation as far south as Sögüt. Beyond there, you're wild-camping.

Connect
As of June 2023, the villages along the west coast of the peninsula have 4G from Turkcell and Vodafone as far down as Bozburun and Sögüt, but only a patchy signal from Türk Telekom. 5G has not rolled out in Turkey.

Go next

 * Marmaris is the big modern resort town you pass through to reach the rest of Turkey.
 * Datça is the town at the tip of the long scenic peninsula stretching west. You'll have to come back the same way.
 * Symi is the island seen to the southwest. It's Greek and there's no direct transport there, take the ferry from Marmaris to Rhodes then another to Symi.