What a week on a gulet is actually like
A gulet is a wooden two-masted boat built on this coast for sponge divers and freight, converted since the 1970s for passengers. Ours carry 8 to 10 cabins, which means 16 to 20 guests and a crew of four. This is what the week inside our combined tours is like, day to day.
The rhythm
You board in Fethiye harbour at about 10:00 on Saturday. The boat motors (gulets sail only when the wind is right, which on this coast is rarely) for an hour or two, anchors in a bay, and everyone swims. Lunch on deck. Another hour along the coast, another bay, another swim; most afternoons there is a walk ashore - the ruins on St. Nicholas Island, the castle at Kalekoy, the streets of Kas. Dinner at anchor, then stars. The engine starts again after breakfast. Nobody is in a hurry.
The cabins
Double and triple cabins, each with its own shower and toilet and air-conditioning. They are compact; you will use them to sleep and change and spend the rest of the time on deck, where there are sun mattresses at the bow and a shaded dining area at the stern. Most people drag a mattress out and sleep on deck at least one night.
The food
The cook makes three meals a day in a galley the size of a cupboard, and they are consistently the best meals of the trip: a Turkish breakfast spread, a lunch of mezes, salads and a hot dish, dinner with grilled fish or meat. Full board is included; drinks are bought from the boat's bar at the end of the week.
The crew
A captain, a cook and two deckhands, usually from the Fethiye area, usually English-speaking enough. There is no tour guide on the boat; the captain decides the route each morning according to the weather, and the crew know every bay. The guide rejoins the group on land.
The route
Fethiye, the Blue Lagoon, St. Nicholas Island, Kas, the sunken city of Kekova, Simena Castle, Demre and its turtle beaches, Firnaz Bay, Butterfly Valley, Samanlik Bay, and back into Fethiye on Friday at about 13:00. The order can change with the wind. Entrance fees to the island, the castle and the church in Demre are paid on board and are not in the tour price.
Optional extras
Paragliding over the Blue Lagoon on day one, diving in Kas, and a night out at the famous bar in Kalekoy. All arranged by the crew.
Who it suits
Anyone who can get down a ladder into the sea. We have had guests in their twenties and their seventies on the same boat. If you need a private cabin, say so when you book; solo travellers who share pay no supplement.
The full week is part of Istanbul to Fethiye with Gulet Cruise, Gulet Cruise & Cappadocia to Istanbul and All Around Turkey with Gulet Cruise. The two Antalya routes include three nights of it. The whole week, day by day, is in our gulet cruise guide.
