Kekova Island

Nice place to visit Kekova, you can get there easily from Demre and take a boat trip. If is possible choose a boat which stops at Kale and enjoy local restaurant there. Try the goatmilk icecream :)

Cruised for 5 hrs around the island and stopped for a dip in the sea. Warm turquoise water, crystal clear! Interesting rocky scenery with ruins scattered around. there's a Roman castle to spy and a sunken city. Lots of great restaurants/ cafes to stop at too.

it's a beautiful area to visit and explore.

I feel that I need to warn anyone who goes on this tour to be very careful when visiting the jewellery outlet “D Jewels” and this information is towards the end of my article.

I have just returned from the tour "On the trail of Alexander the Great" - 21st to 28th January 2014 and all passengers on our coach thoroughly enjoyed themselves. For so many people seeing each other on a daily basis there was no friction and everyone got on well.
Our guide was lovely and there was absolutely no pressure about taking dinners or lunches but he did advise that some of the places may be isolated and there may be no easy alternatives. This was certainly true in places. Everyone opted for the £110 dinner and culture package (which we had been advised of in our initial literature) and the majority also opted for the additional package (termed Comfort Tour Package which included 6 lunches, a boat trip to sunken island of Kekova and visit to Myra open air museum with Lycian Rock Tombs, a visit to St Johns Basilica and to a traditional Aegean Turkish-Greek village and a Turkish evening show with traditional folk dancers and belly dancers at a venue separate from the hotels and this included a meal). The description in brackets was the exact wording of the information provided to us by our guide to enable us to make an informed choice. I have to say that we thoroughly enjoyed the Turkish evening and the people who had not taken the extra package were given the option to come along and they simply had to advise the guide if they wished to do so and he would book places for them and they would pay the cost of that night only.

I can honestly say that there was no perceived change in how the guide treated people no matter whether they took one or both packages. Jan (spelt Can) was lovely and our driver Hussein was a marvellous driver, especially as we encountered heavy snow at the top of the Taurus mountains and on many of the roads there are no barriers.

Yes, you are given the option of purchasing bottles of water at 0.50 turkish lire per bottle or paying up front 15 turkish lire and helping yourself to as much water as you wanted during the trip. It is roughly £5 (around £4.40 at the rate of exchange I obtained) but I took the view that it was worth it for the convenience and the fact that the water was chilled in a chiller cabinet on the bus. If the driver made a little profit on it then good luck to him as the payment rates in Turkey are obviously a lot less than at home and availability of such work is seasonal and they may not work for some time if there are quiet periods.

Having read some of the grumbles and complaints about RSD Travel I really have to wonder what people expect to be included for the price of £149 (which my friend and I paid) or £199 which some others in our party paid. The price depended on which organisational membership provided the offer. Flights alone are costly, often extra to be paid for hold baggage. Then you have the same coach driver allocated to your group for your week there as well as the coach with operating costs. Our driver left us the night before our trip to the airport and our guide mentioned that he had just driven over 1300km on our trip and he would have a break after that distance so that he would not be over tired. What would the fuel costs be to cover that distance in a full sized coach with almost full capacity of passengers and also carrying the weight of their luggage every day? Throw in the 7 nights at various hotels with breakfast included and is it so unreasonable that you will pay extra for evening meals and admissions to cultural sites and the guiding service (the guide was with us from arrival at the airport until they dropped us off at the airport again? I did not know in advance of the lunch package but I had taken extra sterling and so I chose to opt in as I then had nothing to worry about for my whole time there other than to purchase drinks, teas, coffees, souvenirs etc. My friend had insufficient sterling and paid that portion by credit card so no one had to do without either package if they didn't have enough cash. Before paying, each member of the coach party was given a printed A4 sheet which detailed the two packages.

The literature my friend was given with the offer at the outset suggested we were saving £650 per person on the trip. If the cost had been £799 plus the meals options then I would not have booked the holiday as I would have preferred to spend the money on a cruise as I would not have to pack every day and we would have all meals and entertainment. However, at £149 I took the view that even if some of the hotels were not up to standard we would probably only be there for one night and would move on and therefore it was worth taking the risk. Most of the hotels we stayed at were of a very high standard and even the ones that were not so glamorous were still nice hotels and the food was plentiful, if a little repetitive. As someone else mentioned, the hot food tends to be lukewarm and sometimes downright cold. I note that in other reports people mentioned being very ill and I would highlight the advice given in the literature to avoid drinking the water, having ice cubes in drinks and even avoiding salads washed in the water. So, much as I love salads, I avoided salad leaves etc as I had fallen foul of either the salad or the water in Istanbul last year. I managed to get through the 8 days without a similar incident by taking the precautions outlined and purchasing the package for the chilled water on the bus.

For comparison purposes I would mention that when I went on the cruise last year I paid £259 for tours at 6 of the ports we visited (in addition to the cost of the cruise) and that no lunches were included. Also I booked these independently through Cruising Excursions and these prices were considerably less than if I had booked the ships tours. This put the cost of the whole holiday for the 7 days coach tour in perspective for me and is why I have written the above information as I feel that some (although by no means all) comments are unfair. One of the tours I had taken last year was a 7 hour tour of Istanbul and another was from Izmir to Ephesus and the Virgin Mary house which was a similar length. Let me say that each of these tours also contained an element where we visited a carpet outlet (In Istanbul) and a Leather outlet (from the Izmir departure) so I feel that this is a required element on all tours in Turkey and is not specific to RSD Tours. Although I had seen Ephesus last year it was great to see it again when the temperature was comfortable and the site was not so crowded. I mentioned to the guide at the start of the week that I would like to be able to visit the Terraced houses at Ephesus and he advised this would be possible as we would have some free time there. Several of us used our free time to visit this (pay 15 turkish lire at the entrance of the Terraced Houses) and were very impressed and glad we had made the visit.

I felt that after the two day trips last year that I knew what to expect of the carpet factory but as this one was in the country it was bigger, run by the government to provide some employment training etc which was explained to us by one of the managers. We also were given a demonstration of gathering the silk from the cocoons which we all found very interesting. Therefore, I can say that I enjoyed the carpet factory visit although I had already seen a carpet outlet. The leather outlet was also much as last year’s outlet and after the demonstrations at both you are given time to look around and of course the salesmen descend and want to make a sale if they can.

Now, let me come to the one which really bothered me and where I would really warn everyone to be on their guard and that is the jewellery outlet/factory. WARNING, WARNING this is dangerous to your bank balance as the jewellery is very expensive so do not take your credit card in with you unless you have given serious thought to a purchase and how much YOU wish to spend. Again, after the talk by the manager you are shown into a huge area with thousands of pieces of jewellery and you are told that the prices are much less than you would pay at home which is probably correct, but remember I said they are expensive. Do not allow yourself to be persuaded into one of the side rooms on your own as they are very persuasive and will provide “terms” which can sound reasonable until you really think about it by which time you could be signed up! They showed me some jewellery and we had all been told we could try it on “for enjoyment”. I had been taken to a side room (on my own, lol, but you will soon see why I advise against that!) and shown a ring with a matching necklace. Another ring was brought for me to try on which was lovely. Then the guy’s Manager entered the room and he goes off to get another ring which he thought would suit me better. It was certainly beautiful and fitted my finger perfectly so of course, “it was meant to be”! Teardrop shaped green stone with a diamond at each shoulder and the first price given is nearly £3,200. Of course, then there is the 40% discount which brings it to just over £1,900. Ah, but of course, there is still the manager’s discount to be applied and he brings the price to £1,250 and as it is clearly “meant for me” I can pay £400 today, take the ring with me and then pay £400 in March and the final £450 in June. I don’t even wear rings! Lol. When I declined and thanked them for showing the jewellery to me, I am then asked about the other ring and pendant which were under £900 at starting point but I declined to even find out what the final price would be as they ask what could I afford and I know they just want a sale. So far, so good as I was able to get out of the room without difficulty.

However, after I left, I looked for one of the ladies I had befriended and could not find her so decided to go to the café at the exit. As I was out in the corridor, I saw the lady being escorted back out to the coach to get her credit card so I waited for her to return to make sure she really wanted to purchase whatever she was interested in as a few of us thought she looked flustered and in need of rescuing. I stopped her on her way back, suggested a coffee to give her time to think and she said she didn’t actually want to buy but she was still wearing the necklace hence why she was being escorted. She even gave me her credit card so that she could say that she didn’t have it. Instead, they looked at the other card in her purse and said she could use that but I said she would have insufficient funds on that card as it was her current account. She had asked me not to leave her as she found it impossible to extricate herself from the situation and I went back into the room with her. Then I found out that the price they had given her for a necklace, ring and a watch was almost £7,500 after the discounts!! The payment “terms” would be £750 per month!! I said to the “Manager” in that room that she had changed her mind and he turned on me saying who was I to deny the lady her purchase. She was at a time of her life when she could spend her money on herself etc. However, the lady had asked me to stay with her so I knew she didn’t want to buy. I said to her that if she did wish to purchase then I would leave the room now but if she truly didn’t want to purchase, then tell them that she has changed her mind and leave the room with me now! This she did! However, we could not leave the outer area immediately as, when we entered the complex, they had taken her own rings (which they did with everyone) as they would give them all a quick clean while we were browsing. This meant we had to hang around a bit longer while we waited for the rings to be returned. To be fair, they were returned fairly quickly when I got hold of someone else on the sales floor. At that point we made our way to the café at the exit.

I hope this information is of some use to anyone travelling on a tour in Turkey whether with RSD Travel or another such group. Many people on our tour did make purchases at the various outlets and were happy with those. One lady and her husband bought a replacement wedding ring for one which had been stolen but the point is that this was a planned and considered purchase and not an impulse to buy something way beyond your means so bear all this in mind before you purchase anything.

Oh, and for the people travelling from Glasgow, our return journey involved touching down at Bristol to let the Bristol passengers disembark. Then we were told we had to get off the plane with all our hand luggage and move to a Transit lounge. We were then herded through the airport and then had to go through airport security again!!! We had already done so in Antalya airport. This meant that people who had purchased liquids in the duty free area in Turkey now had these taken from them at Bristol and the purchases we made on the plane almost went the same way!! I asked why we were having to go through security again – I even had to have the pat down search - and then they had kept my bag with the bottle of brandy which I had bought on the plane and had been placed in a sealed duty free bag. This had to be opened, the bottle tested etc and placed in another sealed bag. I asked a member of staff why this was happening and was told that we had to go through customs at the first UK landing point – regulations etc. However, after that we were simply returned to the plane without going through customs itself and in any case, our main luggage remained on the plane which would surely have needed to be scrutinised by customs in addition to hand luggage which only ever saw security anyway. When we got back on board, the new holidaymakers embarking at Bristol were already on board and there never was a transit lounge!! Also the stewardesses said they had never known this to happen previously. Anyway be aware of this and don’t have any more liquids than you need for the duration of the flight to Bristol. Oh, and make sure that you have the receipts for anything you buy in the duty free area in Turkey and in theory you should be able to keep them.

Enjoy your holiday. The holiday itself was great although the way we were treated when we got back to the UK was frustrating and we were left with the overall impression that we had been lied to as we never went near customs. What a way to treat your own citizens returning from holiday!!

To get the richest most intimate experience of all the Roman and Lycian archaeological and antique ruins of the sunken city of Kekova, enjoying swimming breaks in the crystal clear waters of an ancient shipyard bay and other stops. i did the full day tour but understand that half day tours can also be arranged. Best of all the kayak tour is with custom made fully transparent Plexiglas sea kayak. it is the best way to explore this famous underwater world, paddling offers an unbeatable and unique experience. You are forbidden to swim at the Kekova site its self so having the ability to take pictures directly through the Kayak is a great idea and you get so much closer than the larger boats that are unable to sail directly over the site. The tour guide Volkan was very knowledgeable of the area and told us what the function of each or the old buildings used to be. This was a great tour and would recommend to anyone.

Kekova is the area around the ancient sunken city. There's a cute little city with a hike up to the castle on the top with amazing views. You can see remains of the sunken city above water and within 5 meters of water. It is a 1.5 hour boat ride from Kas. Beautiful scenery there and on the way. I would recommend a renting a small boat for 350 lira or more than pay 60 lira a head to be packed on a giant boat with lots of people and annoying kids. It's also best to start at 11 or 12 and come back at sunset (around 9 in July) than leave at 9am and hit the crowds.

The place you arrive at by car or coach is Ucagiz (pronounced "ootch-a-yiz") - called Kaleucagiz on most maps, but Ucagiz on road signs. This village has the harbour where the boat trips leave. There's no beach here and the harbour is pretty churned up by all the boats, so not good for swimming. Most of the pansiyons in Ucagiz offer you free boat trips out to swimming spots elsewhere in the bay. There's plenty of pansiyons to go at and a choice of harbour restaurants. We liked the Kekova Fish House and Hassans best. The Teimussa restaurant was very disappointing, in spite of its fabulous location. There's a couple of minimarkets for self caterers (Kordon takes credit cards), but no ATM.
The village of Simena is also on the mainland, but not accessible by car. You can walk there on the Lycian Way (40 mins on mostly dirt road from Ucagiz) or get a boat. The Pansiyons in Simena will arrange to come and get you. Simena has more charm than Ucagiz and has decent swimming places (still no beach) but is a more expensive option (I would say worth the extra). The castle offers great views and the scattering of Lycean house tombs are something special. Look out for tortoises on land in the spring and turtles in the sea in summer.
Kekova is the island off the coast where you can see the sunken city. Best option is canoe so you can take your time to view the ruins underwater, but there are also glass bottomed boat trips available from Ucagiz - no swimming or snorkelling allowed. There is a small pebble beach on Kekova - boat trips will take you there for a swim.
Aperlae is a ruin you CAN swim around and is well worth a visit. The ruins are 1st century AD, the main industry there was making purple dye from Murex snails and there's a massive midden of snail shells as a result - again, boats will take you from the villages and the site is linked to Ucagiz by the Lycian Way.
All in all, Kekova region is a unique and beautiful place and well worth a visit.

You really feel that you are getting close to history when you see the sunken city. Also, the castle with its battlements gives an unparalleled view of the whole area-well worth it!.

I was attracted to the 7 day holiday by the low price and my interest in Archaeology. I wish I had looked on TripAdvisor before booking. Of course if you enjoy a holiday then it naturally becomes good value, but this holiday starting at about 250 pounds each ended up more like double that, and whats more it was a terrible holiday.

The first problem was the flight time which meant we arrived in Antalya airport for about 3am. We had to get to the hotel, have some sleep and then be breakfasted and ready to leave at 7.15 the next (same) morning. We were all like zombies for the first day.

Then the 'optional' packages. We had decided to buy the culture and dinner package - that seemed sensible at 110 GBP, but we didn't want the additional explorer package at 85GBP. Well our guide made it pretty clear that he wouldn't be happy if some of us didn't buy both packages, so not wanting to rock the boat we were a cool 390 GBP down on day one.

If you like coach holidays then this one may be for you but be warned - you will have to be up 6am pretty well every day in order to have breakfast and get out for a grueling coach journey. Imagine your traditional beach hotel holiday, but getting up everyday when its still dark to be on the bus in time - every day. Well this is worse as you have to change hotel everyday.And don't forget all the stops at roadside cafes (selling opportunities) and the usual carpet/jewellery/pottery etc etc.

A word on the carpet warehouse. Quite an entertaining presentation from the head salesman, but then I've never seen so many salesman descend on you - one of one selling like timeshare sales. Help - were's the door! salesman following you to the toilet aargh!

When we got to the jewellery visit, I explained to our guide that we didn't want to go in. He wasn't happy and told us he would get into trouble if we didn't all go in. Okay, no choice.

Then there was the leather shop - aargh - let me out!

We didn't take to the guide. His delivery was very robotic - I don't think he was that interested. I didb't even enjoy the trips to the heritage sites because of his droning voice, and the feeling that we were just being herded through.

To be fair, hotels were very good, but somewhat uninteresting, sort of business type places. Meals on first night were interesting, but by the last night became so repetitive. Lovely soup, nice standard salad, but very poor main courses. Last night we gave the 'cultural evening' a swerve, even though we had paid for it, and went out for a Pizza and a beer. Pizza never tasted so good!

Last day we were conned into paying another 16GBP each to go to a waterfall for a walk and then have lunch, instead of going straight to the airport. Waterfall was nice but so what. Lunch was terrible - I could have done the dead parrot sketch with my 'grilled' trout. Inedible. Would have been just as happy having a lie in, late breakfast and then go to the airport. But no choice.

If you enjoy coach holidays then this is probably a 'cheap' way of seeing so many of the heritage sights around Antalya etc, but it was really hard work, with very little relaxation time due to very full days on the coach. No - not for me. And being herded from place to place - no not for me.

Sadly, I came away with a poor view of the Turkish. I couldn't help feeling that they were looking for every possible chance to extract a few extra quid out of us. Pricing things in Euros instead of Turkish Lira just seems to be a way of having prices for tourists and then different prices for Turks. And they make there own exchange rate up when converting. Tip boxes everywhere, but ironically they never give you any change so you struggle to have coins to tip anyway. I saw one toilet charging 1 euro - not surprisingly the attendant waved though a local Turkish girl without her paying.

Terrible. I could go on. Shame really. The very trip that could entice you to visit Turkey again, just ends up putting you off.

Its all in the itinerary, but its hard to imagine how difficult it would really be. It is supposed to be a holiday after all.

We took other TripAdvisor visitors' advice and that of a couple of Kas locals and drove to Ucagiz, arriving at around 11.15 when it was really quiet. The drive was an experience in itself, winding through a corner of rural Turkey and dodging the goats. We'd been warned to ignore the guys at the entrance to the village offering parking but actually it was helpful for us as my wife doesn't walk so well and we needed to get as close to the harbour as possible. "This man will show you - he has a nice boat too, so if you feel like a tour" (!) Captain Abdullah duly sat in the back seat and escorted us to the car park, right alongside the harbour. I'm sure we could have done better on the rate but for three of us it was basically a private charter and he proved a courteous, knowledgeable and thoughtful host. If there had been another party at the harbour we could have shared the cost, as advised, but it was quiet and we really didn't want to shop around. The trip was memorable. The boat was quite elderly and small (comfortable for 3 or 4) but spotlessly clean and Abdullah was able to manoeuvre it into spaces others couldn't contemplate. Allow 45 minutes or so to trek up the hill at Kalekoy through the maze (you will occasionally get lost, but in a nice way) of little shops, houses and paths to the castle where the views really are as spectacular as everyone says and well worth the 10tl entrance. Be careful if you have younger kids though-the towering ramparts are completely unprotected in some places! the perfect miniature classical theatre was a highlight for me, as was waving down to my wife and daughter moored just as close as you could get to the Lycian tomb in the water. As we left the harbour a turtle obligingly surfaced long enough and close enough to pose for a picture and Abdullah navigated us to the Sunken City on the island across the sound. Again the small boat and experienced skipper came into their own as we hugged the coastline marvelling at the steps, walls, underway quays and rooftops, all crystal clear. It was much more extensive and atmospheric than I had imagined and I really didn't think we would be able to swim anywhere close, so when we moored up at a little sandy inlet at the end of our trip and were able to snorkel amongst multicoloured fish in the ruins and wander up onto the little pebble beach to check out the remains of a Byzantine church, that was an unexpected bonus. Abdullah again moored as close as possible, so my wife could get down the steps into the water easily and when he saw me taking an interest in the ruined church made his way along the shore to the beach and took me across to the other side of the island for views of more ruins. He even lent me his sandals, much appreciated by the soles of my sadly soft Northern feet, while he negotiated the rocks barefoot. Nice feller.

3 hours or so really well spent, I would very happily do it again next year. The boat for our trip was Arzum, closest mooring at the harbour.

We drove to Ucagiz to take this trip, it's about 40 mins from Kas and cuts out a lot of sea cruising which is not my thing. A walk along the port will give you a chance to look at the boats and get the trip that suits you. We went on the excellent Merhana boat with the captain Durali, we paid 140 TL for a 2.30 hour trip that took in the main sights ,swimming and tea and biscuits, Durali was informative about all the sights, went slowly and looked for flat water as I am a bad sailor, the boat was lovely and would have fitted 8 or 10 people easily. We saw other boats that were quite overloaded so it's better to pay a bit more and get a lovely experience. The water here is crystal clear and the sights fascinating. Make sure you choose a boat with a glass viewing window so you can see the submerged plates and amphora.