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Route · 7 days · round-tripYacht charter route · Bodrum

Bodrum via Akyaka.

Sail seven days round the Gulf of Gökova from Bodrum: Mersincik's sea cave, Akyaka's Azmak River, Ören's Keramos ruins and the Çökertme horseshoe bay.

The route

Day-by-day route

Click any pin on the map or any day in the route summary below to see that day's stop, story and photos.

Mersincik
Day 1

Bodrum → Mersincik

A gentle 15-mile first leg south from Bodrum to Mersincik, a granite-mouthed bay with a kayakable sea cave and no crowds.

Distance

19 NM

Sailing

~3.8h at 5 kn

At a glance

Route at a glance

Best season

May – mid-October (peak Jun – Sep)

Duration

7 days

Departure

Bodrum

Sailing area

Bodrum

Route summary

Click any day to jump back to the map and see its photos, narrative and mooring tip.

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The full story

Day-by-day journey

Named anchorages, mooring notes and things to do for every leg of the week — the map follows along as you scroll.

Day 1 / 7
Mersincik
1
Day 1

Bodrum → Mersincik

Clear Bodrum Marina after the handover paperwork and point the bow south-southeast. Fifteen miles of open water lets you find the boat's feet before anything technical, and by early afternoon the walls of Mersincik come up on the port bow, guarding a bay you enter through a gap in the granite. Drop the hook on sand in four to six metres; holding is good and the swell rarely follows you in. There's nothing ashore, which is the point. At the head of the bay a low sea cave sits waiting for a kayak, and the rocky edges hide grottoes worth a mask and fins. We usually climb the thyme-covered ridge for the light before dinner. Stock the fridge in Bodrum first, because the nearest shop is a long way back.

Things to do

Paddle a kayak into the Mersincik sea cave

Snorkel the granite grottoes near the entrance

Hike the wild-thyme ridge above the bay

Sundowners on deck in a boat-free anchorage

Mooring tip

Anchor free on sand in 4–6 m near the head; holding is reliable and the bay stays flat in the usual northwesterly. No quay, water or fuel here, so top up tanks and provisions in Bodrum before you leave.

Kairos
2
Day 2

Mersincik → Kairos

No need to rush this one. Eight miles of flat morning water bring you to Kairos, a fold in the southern shore that most crews have never heard of. A family runs the only restaurant on the water, and their buoys are yours for the price of dinner, so pick up a line and settle in. The pebble beach shelves quickly into clear water; behind it, a rough path climbs to the tumbled stones of a Lycian lookout, best walked in the cool of the evening. Lunch is easy here. Order a balık ekmek at the quay grill, eat it with your feet in the sea, and let the afternoon go slow. Nights are properly quiet, with little more than the odd gull for company and the boat swinging gently on the buoy.

Things to do

Pick up a restaurant buoy at Kairos

Climb to the Lycian lookout ruins

Balık ekmek at the quay grill

Snorkel straight off the pebble beach

Mooring tip

Take one of the restaurant's buoys and pay by eating ashore; the cove is snug and holds you off the north wind. If the buoys are full, anchor on sand and pebble in 4–6 m and back toward the beach.

Karaca
3
Day 3

Kairos → Karaca

Leave Kairos after breakfast for the twelve-mile run to Karaca, a working inlet where fishing boats still outnumber charter yachts. The approach is green: pine comes right down to the water and oleander lines the pebble strand. As at the coves before it, the local restaurant owns the buoys, and dinner secures your spot. Take the cliff path that threads through pine and thyme above the bay; the smell alone is worth the climb, and the view back over the anchored fleet is a good one. Slip into the water along the rocks and you'll find damselfish hanging in the shallows. When the fishermen come in, a glass of çay on the quay buys you an hour of talk. Ask for the red mullet grilled simply with lemon and oil, and you won't want much else.

Things to do

Walk the pine-and-thyme cliff path

Snorkel for damselfish along the rocks

Share çay with the Karaca fishermen

Grilled red mullet at the quay taverna

Mooring tip

Karaca works the same way as its neighbours: pick up the restaurant buoy, settle the bill over dinner. Anchoring room is tight, so if you drop the hook use sand in 4–6 m and keep clear of the buoyed swing circles.

Akyaka
4
Day 4

Karaca → Akyaka

This is the head of the gulf, and the wind knows it. The Gökova funnel puts a real breeze through Akyaka most summer afternoons, which is why the kite and windsurf crowd base themselves here, so make the short eight-mile passage in the calm of the morning and be tied up before it fills in. The town rewards the effort. Ottoman-style houses with carved wooden balconies climb the slope, and the Azmak River runs cold and glass-clear out of the hills behind. Take the kayak a couple of kilometres up it, past herons in the reeds and, if you're lucky and quiet, an otter. Back in town, find a lokanta on the riverbank and order manti, the little dumplings drowned in garlic yoghurt. It's a livelier stop than the coves, in the best way.

Things to do

Kayak two kilometres up the Azmak River

Wander the Ottoman wood-balcony old town

Manti at a riverbank lokanta

Watch the kitesurfers off the beach

Mooring tip

Akyaka's small marina takes you stern-to at roughly €60–90 a night, worth booking ahead in July and August. Arrive by mid-morning: the thermal wind builds fast here and berthing gets awkward once it's blowing hard. Anchoring in the bay is possible on sand in 4–6 m but exposed to the afternoon breeze.

Ören
5
Day 5

Akyaka → Ören

Slip your lines while it's still calm and run twelve miles down the southern shore to Ören. Olive terraces rise behind the beach, and the pace drops back to village time after the buzz of Akyaka. The reason to stop is Keramos, a fourth-century-BC city whose walls and column drums lie half-lost in the grass and wildflowers just inland; go in the morning before the heat and you'll likely have the ruins to yourself. If your timing lands on market day, the square fills with sacks of spice and stacks of local ceramics worth a rummage. Lunch is a beach affair here, a plate off the mangal and a cold ayran under a straw umbrella. Come evening, the smell of cumin-rubbed lamb over coals drifts along the sand, and it's hard to resist.

Things to do

Explore the 4th-century-BC Keramos ruins

Browse the weekly Ören market stalls

Beach lunch with a cold ayran

Cumin-lamb mangal barbecue on the sand

Mooring tip

Ören's little marina is the cheapest berth of the trip, stern-to at around €40–60 a night. It fills less than Akyaka but a call ahead in peak weeks does no harm. Anchoring off the beach on sand in 4–6 m works well in the prevailing northwesterly.

Çökertme
6
Day 6

Ören → Çökertme

A longer leg today, fifteen miles west across the mouth of the gulf to Çökertme, a horseshoe bay wrapped in pine. Turkish sailors know it from an old folk song, and on summer nights someone at the quay usually picks up a saz and plays it. The bay works on the familiar buoy-for-dinner arrangement, with a handful of family tavernas competing gently for your trade. Order köfte grilled over olivewood and you'll understand the fuss. Late in August, if the algae are blooming, a swim off the stern after dark lights the water blue-green around your arms, one of those things nobody quite believes until they see it. There's a ridge walk through the pines above the anchorage for the restless. Otherwise, this is a bay that asks you to stay put and do very little.

Things to do

Night swim in the bioluminescent water (late Aug)

Köfte grilled over olivewood at a taverna

Live saz folk music on the quay

Walk the pine ridge above the bay

Mooring tip

Same deal as the coves: take a taverna's buoy and pay with dinner, which the restaurants here take seriously. Anchoring is fine too, on sand in 5–7 m off the beach, and the horseshoe holds you snug from the north. Weekends in August get busy, so arrive by late afternoon for a good spot.

Bodrum
7
Day 7

Çökertme → Bodrum

The last leg is an easy fifteen miles back to Bodrum, and there's no reason to hurry it. Anchor off Çökertme one more time for a morning swim if the crew is willing, then lay a course west for the marina. Call ahead the day before to lock in your handover slot, and swing by the fuel berth at the harbour entrance before you take your berth on lazy lines. With the boat squared away, the afternoon is yours ashore. The Castle of St Peter guards the harbour from a fifteenth-century footing and now holds the underwater-archaeology museum, well worth an hour. After that, lose yourself in the bazaar and haggle for leather and saffron. End the trip the right way, with a drink at a harbourside meyhane as the sun drops behind the masts.

Things to do

Tour the 15th-century Castle of St Peter

Haggle for leather and saffron in the bazaar

Final swim off Çökertme at dawn

Sunset drink at a harbourside meyhane

Mooring tip

Bodrum Marina berths you stern-to on lazy lines, roughly €80–130 a night in high season. Confirm your handover time with the base 24 hours out, and stop at the fuel berth by the entrance to fill up before you drop into your slot.

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