Turquoise Coast Gulet Itinerary: Göcek to Kaş and Kekova
The “Blue Voyage”, as Turks call a week on a gulet, started in the 1950s with a group of writers and painters who cruised the bays of south-west Türkiye on local fishing and sponge boats. The coast between Göcek and Kekova is where it is at its best today: pine-covered islands, Lycian tombs cut into the cliffs, and anchorages where you tie a line to a tree and swim straight off the stern.
This route runs one way, from Göcek to Kaş, with short legs and plenty of time at anchor. Göcek is 25 minutes from Dalaman airport; Kaş is about two hours from Dalaman by road and three from Antalya. If you would rather finish where you started, we can make it a Göcek round trip by swapping Kaş and Kekova for two more days in the Göcek and Fethiye bays.
GÖCEK TO KEKOVA BY GULET
Göcek → Yassıca Islands → Tersane → Bedri Rahmi Bay → Gemiler → Ölüdeniz → Butterfly Valley → Kalkan → Kaputaş → Kaş → Kekova → Kaş
7 Nights | 8‑knot cruising speed | May to October
Theme: A slow week on a gulet: pine bays, Lycian ruins and two of the prettiest small towns on the Turkish coast.
DAY 1 — GÖCEK → YASSICA ISLANDS
Distance: 4 NM
Duration: ~30 min
Morning Routine
Board in Göcek, at the town quay or in one of its marinas. Göcek is a small, easy-going town built around yachting, so if you arrive early there is time for a coffee on the waterfront while the crew finish provisioning.
Afternoon Routine
Half an hour out you are among the Yassıca islands, a cluster of low, pine-covered islets with shallow, sandy channels between them. Swim, paddleboard from one island to the next, and settle in.
Evening Routine
First dinner on board. On a gulet the cooking is usually Turkish home food done well: meze, grilled fish, vegetables slow-cooked in olive oil, and more of it than you expect.
DAY 2 — YASSICA → TERSANE ISLAND → BEDRI RAHMI BAY
Distance: 7 NM
Duration: ~55 min
Morning Routine
Tersane means “shipyard”, and the island hides the ruins of a Byzantine settlement in the trees around its sheltered bay. Walk through them before the day gets hot.
Afternoon Routine
A short hop to Bedri Rahmi Bay, also known as Tomb Bay. It is named after Bedri Rahmi Eyüboğlu, one of the painters on those early Blue Voyages, who painted a fish on a boulder by the water; it is still there. A Lycian rock tomb looks down from the hillside above. As in most of the Göcek bays, you moor stern-to with a line taken ashore to the rocks.
Evening Routine
A still, enclosed bay for the night and dinner on the aft deck. On hot nights some guests end up sleeping on the big cushions on the foredeck.
DAY 3 — BEDRI RAHMI BAY → GEMILER ISLAND
Distance: 15 NM
Duration: ~1 hr 55 min
Morning Routine
Out of the Göcek gulf and south-east across the Bay of Fethiye, with breakfast underway.
Afternoon Routine
Gemiler, also called St Nicholas Island, is covered in the ruins of Byzantine churches, linked by a long, partly vaulted processional way up the spine of the island. Some historians think St Nicholas was first buried here. Anchor in the channel between the island and the mainland, swim through the heat of the day, and go up in the late afternoon when the light softens and the day boats have gone.
Evening Routine
Watch the sun set over the open sea from the top of the island, then dinner on board.
DAY 4 — GEMILER → ÖLÜDENIZ → BUTTERFLY VALLEY → KALKAN
Distance: 27 NM
Duration: ~3 hrs 25 min
Morning Routine
A few miles round the headland to Ölüdeniz. The lagoon itself is closed to motor boats, so the gulet anchors off the beach. If you have a head for heights, this is the place for tandem paragliding: you are driven up Babadağ, almost 2,000 metres above the sea, and land on the beach 20 to 40 minutes later.
Afternoon Routine
Next is Butterfly Valley, a steep gorge with a beach at the bottom. The only other way in is a cliff path from the village above, so arrive by sea. A track leads from the beach to a waterfall at the back of the valley, and in summer the trees are full of Jersey tiger moths, which gave the valley its name. Then a longer afternoon run down the coast to Kalkan.
Evening Routine
Kalkan is a harbour town of white houses climbing the hillside, covered in bougainvillea. Dinner on one of the roof terraces above the harbour, with the gulet moored in town for the night.
DAY 5 — KALKAN → KAPUTAŞ → KAŞ
Distance: 13 NM
Duration: ~1 hr 40 min
Morning Routine
Kaputaş is a small beach at the mouth of a gorge between Kalkan and Kaş, and its water is an almost unreal shade of turquoise. Anchor off and swim in before the day visitors come down the steps from the road.
Afternoon Routine
On to Kaş, a relaxed town with a long past. The Hellenistic theatre of ancient Antiphellos looks out to sea on the edge of town, and a Lycian sarcophagus stands at the top of the main shopping street. Kaş is also the best diving base on this coast, if anyone in the party wants to go down.
Evening Routine
Dinner in the old town. The Greek island of Kastellorizo is only a few miles offshore, and its lights are clear from the harbour at night.
DAY 6 — KAŞ → KEKOVA (Üçağız)
Distance: 14 NM
Duration: ~1 hr 45 min
Morning Routine
East along the coast to Kekova. On the way in, the gulet slows along the north shore of Kekova Island, where the walls, stairways and foundations of a Lycian town slid below the water after earthquakes. Swimming over the sunken city is not allowed, so you see it from the deck or on a guided kayak trip.
Afternoon Routine
Anchor in the bay at Üçağız, a sheltered inlet with a fishing village, Lycian tombs among the houses and fish restaurants on wooden jetties.
Evening Routine
Tender across to Kaleköy, ancient Simena, at sunset and climb to the castle above the village for the view over the bay and its islands. Dinner on a jetty in Üçağız.
DAY 7 — KEKOVA → KAŞ
Distance: 14 NM
Duration: ~1 hr 45 min
Morning Routine
A last swim in the bay, then a slow cruise back west to Kaş.
Afternoon Routine
A free afternoon. If you have your passports, the small ferry from Kaş harbour to Kastellorizo takes about twenty minutes, and the island’s harbour of pastel houses is worth a couple of hours.
Evening Routine
Last dinner on board in Kaş, and disembarkation after breakfast the next morning. Dalaman airport is about two hours by road, Antalya about three.
Good to Know
One-way charters: some yachts charge a repositioning fee to get back to Göcek; others are based further along the coast and do not. We will tell you which is which when we send options.
Wind: the summer wind here is mostly a north-westerly afternoon breeze, usually gentler than the Aegean meltemi. Mornings are calm, which is why the longer legs are planned early in the day.
Best months: late May, June, September and early October. July and August are hot, and the best-known bays are busy.
Kastellorizo: taking a charter yacht into Greek waters means clearing out of Türkiye and into Greece, which takes longer than a short visit is worth. The ferry is simpler.
The most suitable yachts for this itinerary are sailing yachts and gulets based in Fethiye, ten miles from Göcek, such as:
ANGELO III - 115ft Sailing Yacht
SILVER K - 107ft Sailing Yacht
To book your gulet or luxury yacht charter in Türkiye please contact your broker at charter@supersailyachts.com
Photography via Unsplash: Seval Torun, Dylan Shaw, Artem Bryzgalov, Murat Öner.