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Bright Sun
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Ölüdeniz, only 8.5 km (5.3
miles) south of Fethiye over
the mountains (map), has some of Mediterranean
Turkey's most, famous, popular and beautiful beaches. (More
photos...)
Hundreds of hotels, flats/apartments and villas accommodate the international sun-seekers who flock here in the warm months. More...
Belcekız Beach at Ölüdeniz (ur-LEW-deh-neez, "dead" or
calm, sea), is big enough to handle
the crowds of swimmers and sunbathers,
but not always the number of cars and
buses that cram the access road.
Paragliders leap
from nearby mountaintops, soaring and
floating above the beach and the sea,
finally landing right on the beach. Tandem
paragliding, where an unexperienced person flies with and under the control of a pilot, is
very popular.
The fertile alluvial plain behind
the beach is now filled with small hotels,
pensions and restaurants,
and any further expansion has been
relegated to the nearby hilltop towns
of Ovacık and Hisarönü.
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Fun
in the sun at Ölüdeniz. |
The beach takes its eerie name from
the secluded lagoon at the beach's
western end by the 3-star 94-room Hotel Meri.
Protected by hills and entered by a
narrow channel, the lagoon is calm
during even the worst storms.
The Lycian
Way, a 500-km (311-mile)
rustic footpath, starts in Fethiye and
wanders through the hills, descending
to Ölüdeniz before
ascending again above Kıdrak and Faralya,
passing the head of Butterfly
Valley before
wandering southeastward toward Patara and,
ultimately, Antalya.
To get away from it all, consider
the Mandarin
Boutique Hotel in Faralya,
past Ölüdeniz along the coast.
If you plan only a short stay at Ölüdeniz beach
before moving on, you might want to stay
in Fethiye, where prices
tend to be lower, and take one of the frequent
minibuses to Ölüdeniz
for the day. All intercity buses operate
out of Fethiye's otogar (bus
terminal).
For distances from Ölüdeniz
to other places, see the distances
on the Fethiye
page, and add 8.5 km (5.3 miles).
—by Tom Brosnahan
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Belcekız Beach, Ölüdeniz. Look closely just left of top-center to see a paraglider in the sky.
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