Datça Peninsula

The Datça peninsula runs some seventy kilometres west from Marmaris, narrow enough in places that both seas are visible from the road, and it divides the Aegean from the Mediterranean - locals will tell you the two waters meet at the tip and that the air is the reason people live long here, a claim attributed to a line of Strabo about Knidos that has been polished considerably in the retelling. What is true is that development has been restrained by the distance and the terrain: the coast is a series of coves and small bays, the interior is pine forest, almond and olive groves, and the villages - Eski Datça with its stone houses, Reşadiye, Mesudiye, Palamutbükü - are small. Datça town has a harbour and a strip of restaurants. Almonds and almond products are the local speciality, along with thyme honey. The road to Knidos at the very tip is slow and worth it.

What you actually see

• The two seas - Aegean and Mediterranean from the same ridge.
• Eski Datça - the old stone village inland of the town.
• The coves - Palamutbükü, Ovabükü and the small bays.
• The almond groves - the crop the peninsula lives on.

When to go

May to June and September to October; the almond blossom in February is a local event. August is busy and hot, and winter closes much of the peninsula.

Honest expectations

Everything is spread out and a car is close to essential - the peninsula road is slow and winding. Beaches are pebble more often than sand. Out of season many restaurants and pensions close entirely.

Nearby

Knidos is at the western tip; Marmaris and Bozburun are back east.