Kalkan

Kalkan, once a Greek-speaking fishing and trading port called Kalamaki and long the only safe harbour between Kaş and Fethiye, takes its name from the Turkish for shield or turbot, and the old town's stone houses with wooden balconies and bougainvillea still climb the slope above the harbour in tight cobbled lanes. What it became is a particular kind of resort: villa-heavy, quiet, adult-leaning and popular with British visitors in particular, with the local speciality being rooftop dining - most restaurants in the old town serve on their terraces, so at night the hillside is a stack of lit tables looking down at the bay. There is very little beach; the shore is rock and the swimming is from platforms, beach clubs on the far side of the bay or by boat to nearby coves. Steepness defines everything - almost every walk is up or down a considerable gradient. Patara's long sand beach and ruins are twenty minutes west, and Kaş half an hour east.

Highlights

• The rooftop terraces - restaurants stacked up the hillside.
• The old town lanes - stone houses and cobbles above the harbour.
• The harbour - yachts and boat trips along the quay.
• The bay - the view down from almost everywhere in town.

When to go

May to June and September to October. July and August are hot and full; winter closes most of the town.

Before you go

There is essentially no beach in town - swimming is from platforms or paid clubs reached by boat or shuttle. The gradients are severe, which makes it hard going in heat or with mobility problems. It is comparatively expensive.

Nearby

Kaputaş beach is on the road to Kaş; Patara and Xanthos are west.

Key facts