Oludeniz Blue Lagoon

Oludeniz is the image Turkey sends the world: a curling spit of pale sand seals a lagoon of improbable turquoise against pine-dark hills, with the near-2,000-metre bulk of Babadag rising straight behind - the mountain that made this one of the world's great tandem paragliding sites, its canopies spiralling down to the beach all day in season. The lagoon itself is a protected nature park - motorboats are kept out, the water lies mirror-calm (the name means 'dead sea', for its stillness, not its life), and paddleboards drift where the sand shelves into blue. Belcekiz beach fronts the open sea beside it with the resort strip behind, boat trips run to Butterfly Valley's walled cove, and a cable car now hauls non-fliers up Babadag for the view the pilots get free.

History

The lagoon and Kumburnu spit were declared a national park in 1978 and are protected as a first-degree natural site, which is why the shore of the lagoon is still free of building. Ölüdeniz itself became a small municipality on 16 November 1992 and, under a 2012 reform, a neighbourhood of Fethiye. The coast around it carries much older layers: Butterfly Valley was declared a first-degree natural site and closed to all construction on 8 February 1995, and Gemiler Island, about 7 kilometres to the west, holds the ruins of houses, cisterns and churches from the 5th to the 13th centuries, excavated since 1990 by a Japanese team working with the Fethiye Museum (Turkish Wikipedia, Ölüdeniz).

The landscape

• The lagoon spit - the pale sandbar sealing the turquoise stillwater.
• The paragliding descent - tandem flights from Babadag's high launch pads.
• Belcekiz beach - the open-sea strand beneath the mountain wall.
• Butterfly Valley - the boat-trip cove walled in by sheer cliffs.

When to go

May to June and September to October bring warm sea without the furnace heat; July and August are the crush. Paragliding runs roughly April to November, weather permitting - mornings usually give the smoothest air.

Things to know

The lagoon beach is a paid nature park and sunbeds cost extra - arrive early in summer or swim from the free Belcekiz strand. Tandem flights are weather-dependent and quality varies - book a licensed operator, not the cheapest tout. Peak season is loud, built-up and busy; the postcard needs a dawn start.

Nearby

Fethiye's harbour, Kayakoy's abandoned village and the start of the Lycian Way.