Olympos (Turkey) - Ancient city in Lycia

Olympos (Olimpos) is a string of _pansiyon_s and tourist activities strung along a narrow road on the bottom of a valley just inland from coastal Roman ruins in Lycia, Mediterranean Turkey. It might be generously labelled a "village".

Understand

Ancient Lycian ruins, an isolated Mediterranean beach, accommodation in treehouses and flames that mysteriously burn from the side of a mountain are some of the attractions of Olympos (Olimpos) in Turkey's south.

The modern "village" is named after the Lycian/Roman city that now lies in ruins on the beach, which in turn is named after nearby Mt. Tahtalı, the highest mountain of the vicinity and, along with some other 20-odd noticeably high mountains in northeastern Mediterranean basin, known as Olympos in antiquity.

A hippie haven before the completion of a surfaced road from the main highway in 2009 means that there are many more people (including families with fussy children, and rowdy and drunk teenagers) heading there compared with years past. In summer weekends when hordes of day- (and night-)trippers pour in, Olympos is sadly not much different from any ordinary resort town now. However, former habitués report that autumns when everyone else quits the scene, Olympos is just as beautiful as it used to be.

Get in

Olympos is about 50-60 km south of Antalya. Nearest major towns are Kumluca to the south and Kemer to the north of Olympos. There are minibuses from Antalya's otogar (main station for intercity buses) as well as buses from Antalya to Kaş (and all those others on the way west like Kumluca), which stop at the junction on upland section of the main coastal highway of the region, which is about 10 km away from Olympos. There is a station at the junction with an open air cafe, which also offers some snacks. From there a dolmuş, which depart fairly frequent nowadays, can be caught.

A dolmuş from the otogar at Antalya to the Olympos junction costs 15 TL. From the junction to Olympos a dolmuş costs 5 TL.

Dolmuş lines departs Olympos hourly between 07:00-20:00 during summers. Timetable got rarer during winters as 09:00, 11:00, 13:00, 15:00 and 17:00 and possibly later depending on the demand.

Taxi services are also available for to environed places like Adrasan, Kumluca, and even Antalya.

See

The "town" area is a collection of backpacker guesthouses and hostels, particularly popular are the treehouse style bungalows. Follow the dusty road down past the end of the guesthouses and it leads to an ancient winding path, past the remains of ancient Greek ruins and down to the sparkling water. It's a pebble beach with absolutely no shade, so it's blisteringly hot to sit on and not very comfortable without thick padding, but the scenery is spectacular.

The ruins are quite impressive, not as much so as Ephesus but still worth seeing. The relative lack of tourist traffic compared to Ephesus means the site is largely overgrown, which gives the place a "mystical" feel, so you have to do some hiking to get to some of the remains. It's normally very hot, so be prepared with lots of sunscreen and water.

Entering the ruins cost 5 TL/person, and going to the beach requires entering the ruins and the staff at the gate make no distinction between someone visiting the ruins and a beachgoer, so you'll have to pay this fee each time you're going to beach, except, of course, late at night and very early in the morning, when the office is unmanned. There is also the option of buying a weekly pass which costs 7.5 TL and for 10 entrances to the ruins, and thus the beach.

• Olympos Cable Car, 36.54083°, 30.48707°. The base station is in Beydaglari National Park. The top at the peak of Mount Olympos is 2365 m above sea level. Fantastic views along the coast. It is also an escape from the summer heat - it could be 20 degrees cooler than at sea level. There is a basic café at the top with some other refreshment stalls. €33 2017-06-28

Do

Bayrams has a lively social scene, with several resident Aussies tending bar. When it's fully dark you can take a bus up to Mount Olympos, with a 45-minute hike up to the Eternal Flames of the Chimera. These flames issue from natural gas jets in the side of the hill, which will self ignite if put out. These are the flames that inspired the Greek myth of Bellarophon and the Chimera. Ranging in size from small flickers to decent size campfires, they're quite interesting when you consider they've been burning for thousands of years.

Gulets cruising down the coast from Antalya stop at the beach to allow their passengers to wade ashore and visit the ruins or eat at one of the many beachside restaurants.

Buy

Since the area is under protection, concrete based construction is hardly allowed (save for treehouses) and as such there is no formal bank nor ATM in Olympos. Olympos is a small village and has no banks or facilities to obtain cash, so make sure you have enough before you come.

Eat

• There is an open-air restaurant named Muzo's on the path to beach, just after the ticket office, where you can have a cheese or spinach Turkish pancake (gözleme) for 3-4 TL while sitting on traditional Turkish lounges.
• Aso market, named after the initials of widowed owner woman's three grown-up children whose works rarely. Even if the owner has lack of any foreign language experience inspite of her each children's fluent English knowledge, the gözleme maker is fluent in Russian hence her Azerbaijani origins while the shopkeeper can able to speak in English.

Drink

A supermarket open year round around 1 km down the road from Kadir's sells alcohol for around 4 TL for a litre bottle of beer and 20 TL for a bottle of dodgy vodka.

Sleep

• Saban Treehouses. is one of the only setups open year round. The place was owned and operated by an extremely friendly woman Meral, along with her brothers. A dorm bed goes for 45 TL and bungalows for 75 TL. Included in the price is a huge dinner and breakfast. Wifi works only in the dining hall. As of 2017 however, the pension is divided by three as Mercan and Likya Evleri. Mercan is owned by Meral and his husband, while Likya Evleri (including the shops and coffee house) is owned by older brother Hüseyin.

• Bayrams Tree Houses, Olympos, +90 242 892-13-99. Tree houses.
• Kadir's Tree Houses, Olympos, +90 242 892-12-50, info@kadirstreehouses.com. Synonymous with Olympos in the minds of many young travellers. Recommended for rock climbing (45 TL for 2 climbs). The price includes simple breakfast and delicious vegetarian dinner. There is a popular disco featuring dancing around fire. It's free for Kadir's residents except weekend when it costs 10 TL. Dorms 20/25 TL low/high season; tree houses 25/35 TL low/high season; bungalows 45/60 TL low/high season
• Turkmen Tree Houses, 07359 Olympos, Kumluca, Antalya, +90 242 892-12-49. Also known as 'Turkmen Pension Olympos'. Offers lodging, a restaurant, nightlife, activities, and a shop. Claims to be the only pansiyon with wastewater (sewage) treatment.
• Deep Green Bungalows (also known as Olympos Deep Green), Olympos, +90 242 892-10-90, info@olymposdeepgreen.com. Facilities: Deep Bar, hammocks, library. They can arrange boat tours, and trekking tours to Yanartaş/Burning Stones. The rates include breakfast and dinner. Dorms 25/35 TL low/high season; bungalows 35/50 TL low/high season per person
• Zeus Pension, Olympos, ferahzeus@yahoo.com. A family business, this place offering bungalows is run by Ferah and Ferruh brothers and their sister, Hatice. Ferah and Ferruh can arrange tours, trekking, and airport transfer, while Hatice is at the kitchen, preparing the meals. Bungalows 35/45 TL low/high season per person including breakfast and dinner
• Hasan's, Olympos. The closest place to historic city. Owned by the namefather and son Mehmet. Zakkum, Kardelen, Pehlivan, Lila, and Aso Market are also co-owned by each sister of Hasan and their husbands. Bungalows 50 TL low/high season per person including breakfast and dinner

Connect

Go next

Minibuses leave to the station on the main road every couple of hours. From there, _dolmuş_es go towards Antalya and Kaş (15 TL) every 30 minutes. It may be worth asking about buses direct to Fethiye if that is your destination.

There are also gullets that leave from Olympos going to Fethiye generally taking 4 days to get there.

• Adrasan, about 4 km away, has been spared (at least for now) from development because the surfaced road does not yet reach there. It is the destination of choice for the former frequenters of Olympos who flee the crowds now arriving in Olympos. However, development has begun there, too, along with an increasing number of tourists—even a tour bus or two can now be seen in the high season. It's also neither a particularly cheap place to stay in (you might find dorms going for 25 TL pp lalf-board at Jungle Bells, though), nor is the scenery as beautiful as Olympos. But still, it's quieter than Olympos; make no mistake, though—it's nowhere as relaxing as Kabak around the other side of the peninsula!
• Boats leave from Adrasan beach for a trip to Suluada ("water island"), a barren, dramatic outcrop in the sea with incredibly clear and marvellously blue water.