Patara Beach Turkey

Patara beach is 20 km (12 miles) long, 50 meters yards wide, and never crowded, because the small village inland from the beach has only a few hundred tourist beds. The ruins of ancient Patara are just inland from the beach, and no big hotels can be built in an archeological zone, so the beach should be protected from heavy development.

If the beach has one drawback, it’s that there are few trees and thus little shade, so be prepared for a day of sun.

The Patara ruins are interesting: a sand-swept theater, a triple-arched triumphal gate, a necropolis (cemetery) with Lycian tombs, a ruined basilica and a public bath, among others.

Car, or bus and taxi, are the ways to get to Patara. Any bus will drop you on the Fethiye-Kas highway at Ovaköy, whence it’s a 3.5-km (2-mile) taxi ride (or hitch) to the village that’s officially named Gelemis (GEHL-eh-meesh), but which everyone calls Patara.