Kınık

Kınık is a town in Lycia, the Mediterranean region of Turkey. The reason to visit is the ancient Lycian sites of Xanthos and Letoon, both inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List. Kınık had a population of 6120 in 2022.

Understand
Leto was yet another woman got pregnant by Zeus; his wife Hera always blamed his philandering on the other women and sent a python to chase her. Hera then caused Leto to be stuck in a painful protracted labour but eventually twins were born, Apollo and Artemis. Job done, Leto thereafter faded away into the pantheon, occasionally helping out her offspring's endeavours or turning pesky people into frogs but mostly just basking in religious devotion as a mother-goddess. Her cult was especially strong on the island of Delos, but began in Lycia before the fourth century BC.

Her shrine here, near the modern town of Kınık, may reflect the area's unusual fertility. This is a coastal plain on an otherwise rugged coastline and may once have been an inlet of the Med. It's nowadays packed with greenhouses growing tomatoes and other fruit and veg: look down from any hilltop upon a glistening sea of plastic greenhouse covers.

Get in
The village is 1 km west of the coast highway D400, which wends and winds from Marmaris and Fethiye to Kalkan 19 km south, and runs on east to Antalya and far beyond. See Kalkan for bus routes: by long-distance bus (eg from Istanbul) you'll probably have to double back from there, but a local bus or dolmuş might drop you at the highway junction or closer.

Muttaş Bus 5-15 runs every 30 min from Fethiye to Kumlouva and Karadere, stopping in Kınık by the street to Xanthos; get off at Kumluova for Letoon.

Get around
Xanthos is 1 km north of town, and Letoon is 4 km south. The Lycian Way, with its distinctive yellow-black signs, links them all.

Do
Lycian Way is a waymarked hiking trail along the coast of Lycia, from Fethiye to the hills above Antalya. The local section eastbound is from the village of Gavurağılı to the ruins of Pydnai / Pydnee, then to Karadere. From there it traverses Letoon, Kınık and Xanthos, then heads east across D400 to Çavdır.

Buy
Small stores along Atatürk Blv in Kınık are open daily to 22:00.

Eat
Several cafes along Atatürk Blv, the main street through Kınık.

Drink
Cafes might serve beer, otherwise head to the fleshpots of Patara and Kalkan.

Sleep

 * Not much accommodation here, try Patara or Kalkan on the coast 30 km south.


 * Çavdır 15 km east has several self-catering villas.
 * Çavdır 15 km east has several self-catering villas.
 * Çavdır 15 km east has several self-catering villas.

Connect
Kınık and its approach roads have 4G from all Turkish carriers. As of May 2024, 5G has not rolled out in Turkey.

Go next

 * Patara 10 km south has a long sandy beach and Lycian and Roman ruins.
 * Kalkan is a resort on the coast, with a village atmosphere as package tourists don't come here.
 * Fethiye is a big resort to the north, on the package-tour circuit.