Best Turkey Beaches

Reached by boat, Turtle Beach (also known as Iztuzu Beach), a sandbar of the Dalyan Delta, is a national conservation area and one of the last breeding places in Europe for the protected loggerhead 'Cretta' sea turtle. It's several kilometres long, with very scenic surroundings, hot brown sand, and shallow water. A small café, sun loungers and umbrellas available but you can't put umbrellas into the sand during June - July as the loggerhead turtle eggs are hatching just below the surface.

Dalyan has a gorgeous river frontage looking across to Lycian tombs carved into the rock face. Twitcher alert! Swamp bugs can be irritating to humans but delicious to avians, so lots of bird life here, especially swallows. Other excursions from Dalyan are mud bathing in the local hot mineral springs or swimming in nearby Lake Koycegiz.

Accessible mainly by an enjoyable 20 minute public boat ride from pleasant, relaxed Dalyan town but also by local bus from Gulpinar Road in Dalyan for a beautiful ride and then walk from the last stop through the nature reserve to the far cove. Iztuzu is about 30 minutes from Dalaman Airport. Photo.