Didim

Didim is a resort town on the Southern Aegean coast of Turkey. It's the most northerly of the resorts served by Milas-Bodrum Airport so in tourist brochures it's often described as "Bodrum region", and attracts a budget mass-market. In 2020 Didim had a population of 90,427.

The main sights of interest are the ancient Greek ruins of Priene, Miletus and Didyma, usually visited on a combined "PMD" day-trip.

Understand
The ancient Greeks were sea-faring people, in an era when land transport involved packhorses on rough trails, and by the 8th century BC a network of ports and shipping routes criss-crossed the Aegean and East Med. From the 6th century these settlements were conquered by Persia, then by a series of later empires, but what did for them all was the silting up of the river valleys and receding of the coastline. The River Maeander or Büyük Menderes was the culprit hereabouts: Priene and Miletus relocated several times before being abandoned. Didyma by contrast was simply a ritual space with no associated town, but without its audience and funding of its oracles it too fell derelict.

The monuments were shattered by earthquakes and some stonework was removed for other use, but from the 20th century the sites were stabilised and partly restored. The small modern town of Hisar ("castle") grew up near Didyma, was wrecked by an earthquake in 1955, and rebuilt as Yenihisar ("new castle"). The big change to the area's fortunes came from the 1980s when Aegean Turkey became a mass tourist destination. The town migrated south, so Yenihisar became a northern residential district of Didim, while the major development was along the beach strip of Altınkum. The area was further boosted by the upgrade of Milas-Bodrum airport in 2000, so what had been a three-hour transfer from Izmir airport was reduced to an hour.

Get in
Milas-Bodrum Airport 16 km south of Milas is the regional airport, with lots of seasonal package flights from north Europe. It has year-round daily flights from Istanbul, both IST and SAW.

Buses from Istanbul take 8 hours to Didim via Izmir, Selçuk (for Ephesus), Kuşadası and Söke. Between Didim and Bodrum take a dolmuş.

Bus companies are Metro Turizm, Pamukkale and Flixbus.

the bus station is 1.5 km east of the main boulevard.

By car from Istanbul follow O-5 to Izmir then E87 towards Aydın, cutting off onto D525 past Söke.

Get around
Most visitors tour Priene, Miletus and Didyma on organised tours, spending an hour or two at each site, and variously starting from Didim, Bodrum or Kuşadası.

With your own vehicle it's easy to tour all three in an afternoon, as they're well signposted and the access roads are in fair condition. Otherwise hire a taxi for a few hours: your accommodation will know reliable drivers with reasonable rates.

Trying to visit PMD by public transport will test your patience. Didyma is 3 km north of Didim town and 5 km from the beach strip so you could walk, but to start fresh you're better taking a dolmuş to the district of Yenihisar.

Dolmuşes also run to Güllübahçe (for Priene) and Akköy / Balat (for Miletus), the problem is that they radiate from Söke the regional transport hub, with no connections between. So you have to backtrack and come out again, and spend most of your day on Söke bus station, fretting about whether you'll catch the last run of the day.

See

 * Museum Pass – The Aegean gives entry to the three main sites of Priene, Miletus and Didyma. This costs 650 TL in 2023 and is valid for 7 days from the date of first usage. You can buy online to show on your mobile, or at the ticket booths in Miletus and Didyma. But not in Priene, so if you approach from the north, buy it online or in Ephesus or Selçuk. You're only likely to break even on the Pass if you visit those more expensive sites. The smaller sites are free.


 * is a ruined town along the road to Milas, occupied from the 6th century BC to the 2nd AD. The main sight is the Temple of Zeus Lepsinos.
 * is the scrappy ruins of another town that lost its harbour. Around the turn of BC / AD it became incorporated into Miletus.
 * Lake Bafa 10 km south of Myus was an inlet of the sea until the River Maeander closed its outflow. The slopes north and east, signposted Kapıkırı-Herakleia, are dotted with ruined monasteries, but the lake is polluted by agricultural run-off.
 * is the scrappy ruins of another town that lost its harbour. Around the turn of BC / AD it became incorporated into Miletus.
 * Lake Bafa 10 km south of Myus was an inlet of the sea until the River Maeander closed its outflow. The slopes north and east, signposted Kapıkırı-Herakleia, are dotted with ruined monasteries, but the lake is polluted by agricultural run-off.
 * or Gelebeç is a pleasant hillside village of cobbled streets and stone houses close to Priene. It was inhabited by Greeks before the Greco–Turkish War of 1919–22. There's a derelict church dedicated to St Nicholas, dating back to 1821, along with its ossuary.
 * is a crumbling Byzantine turret along the valley road west of Priene, little more than a lookout.
 * is an attractive little village of traditional Greek buildings, up the valley from the modern village.
 * See Kuşadası for Dilek Peninsula-Büyük Menderes Delta National Park on the ridge to the north
 * See Kuşadası for Dilek Peninsula-Büyük Menderes Delta National Park on the ridge to the north

Do

 * Beach: Altınkum is the best, a great crescent of sand at the foot of Didim town.
 * Boat trips sail from the quay at the west end of Altınkum beach.
 * Lunapark is a funfair just beyond the west end of Altınkum beach.

Buy

 * Carrefour midway along Atatürk Blv is the largest store, open daily 08:00-23:00.
 * Lots of little neighbourhood stores, Migros and A101 are the main chains.

Eat

 * Altınkum beach is the main eating strip. Places include Charlie's, Topkapı, Dayı Kitchen, Pinocchio's, Ikbal's, Sunshine, Vista, Istanbul, Meşkhane, Karçiçeği and Family Door.

Drink

 * Along the beach strip are Pelikan, @thebar, Lineker's Inn, Cosy Pub, Apollo, Taxim and Rainbow.

Sleep

 * Altinersan is a similar budget hotel along 5th Sk.
 * Tuntas Suites are budget apartments 100 m west of Anadolu Hotels Didim Club.
 * Altinersan is a similar budget hotel along 5th Sk.
 * Tuntas Suites are budget apartments 100 m west of Anadolu Hotels Didim Club.
 * Tuntas Suites are budget apartments 100 m west of Anadolu Hotels Didim Club.
 * Tuntas Suites are budget apartments 100 m west of Anadolu Hotels Didim Club.

Connect
Didim and its approach roads have 4G from all Turkish carriers. As of March 2023, 5G has not rolled out in Turkey.

Go next

 * Kuşadası to the northeast is a raucous beach resort, but it's a good base for visiting Ephesus, and don't overlook its own archaeological site of Magnesia on the Maeander.
 * Ephesus needs most of a day to take in, a partly-restored Graeco-Roman city.
 * Milas, historically known as Mylasa, is a large town to the southeast surrounded by ancient and medieval sites.
 * Bodrum is Turkey's party capital, further south down the coast.