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- October 21° · 3 rainy days
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Along the shore of Kekova island, just under the surface, lie the staircases, walls and foundations of a town that sank after an earthquake in the second century. The water is clear enough to see it all from the deck — and that's the only way to see it, because diving here is banned.
The whole stretch is a protected zone and the rules are explicit: no diving, no anchoring above the ruins, no landing on that part of the shore. Glass-bottom boats and kayaks are allowed and drift slowly right over the sunken walls. Swimming is separately regulated and the rules shift from time to time — check with your operator before you jump in.
Boats leave from Kaş or from the village of Üçağız. Kaş is also the best base for the rest of the Lycian coast: a small town with an ancient theatre above the harbour, dive centres operating outside the protected zone, and one of the starting points of the Lycian Way. Above Kekova sits the village of Simena with its castle, a fifteen-minute climb with a view over the whole bay.
What to see in Kekova
The sunken city
Staircases and walls just under the surface, visible from the deck. Diving is banned — you look from above, and that's plenty.
Simena and its castle
A village with no road to it, reachable only by boat, with a crusader castle above and the smallest ancient theatre in Lycia inside the walls.
- K
Kaş as a base
A small town with an ancient theatre above the harbour, narrow streets and long evenings. This is where you sleep and where you set off from.
The Lycian Way
A waymarked trail running over five hundred kilometres along this coast; the sections around Kaş are among the finest and fit into half a day.
Diving off Kaş
Outside the protected zone diving is allowed, and Kaş is one of the better places for it in Turkey — a sunken aircraft, canyons, good visibility.
Two things you probably did not know
Off Kekova you can see walls, steps and foundations of a Lycian town that sank in an earthquake in the second century. Diving is banned, so it is all viewed from a glass-bottomed boat.
The Lycian tombs along the shore are carved in the shape of upturned boats. The Lycians believed a soul would sail off more easily by ship, so even their stone tombs have roofs like a keel.
Ready for Kekova?
Within reach from here
Places sorted by straight-line distance from Kekova — day trips or weekends.
Turkey
→Istanbul, then one direction: Cappadocia by plane, Ephesus and Pamukkale by train, or the Lycian coast by bus
Greece
→The north by road, the Cyclades by ferry, Rhodes by air — pick the region first and the island second
Serbia
→The north an hour away by train, the mountains three or four by car — Serbia divides by the time you have
All 277 places we write about sit on one page — narrow them down by continent, country, price or what you are travelling for.
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