Turkish Blue Cruise Routes
Nine classic itineraries — from the four-day Twelve Islands loop for first-time sailors to the seven-day Lycian Coast that every Turkish gulet has run since the 1980s, plus Gökova, Hisarönü and the Greek-island crossings. Pick a route, then find the gulet that fits your group.
Lycian Coast
A week tracing the most photographed stretch of the Turkish coast — pine-clad coves, Lycian rock tombs, and water so clear you can read your boat name on the seabed. Considered the definitive blue cruise.
Twelve Islands Loop
A short loop through the protected Göcek Bay — twelve forested islets with anchorages so calm the boat feels parked. The choice for families with young kids and first-time charterers.
Datça Peninsula
Hugging the long thin peninsula that points west towards Greece — quiet bays, archaeological Knidos at the tip, and the clearest water on the Turkish coast. The route the first commercial gulets ran in the 1980s.
Greek Islands Crossing
Sail from Bodrum to the Dodecanese — Kos for the archaeology, Symi for the painted harbour, optional Tilos for the empty beaches. International waters, passport required, but unbeatable for a one-week trip if you have never sailed Greece.
Kekova Sunken City
A short, deeply atmospheric loop from Kaş along the most archaeologically rich stretch of the Turkish coast — Kekova island and the underwater Lycian city of Simena, broken by a 2nd-century earthquake.
Bodrum Aegean Loop
A shorter four-day loop from Bodrum to the Datça peninsula, taking in Cleopatra's pebble beach, the wine villages around Datça town, and the dramatic ruins at Knidos — all without leaving Turkish waters.
Gulf of Gökova
A sheltered gulf hemmed by pine-forested mountains, dotted with the bays where Cevat Şakir Kabaağaçlı (the "Fisherman of Halicarnassus") invented the blue cruise in the 1960s. Cleopatra's Sedir Island, English Harbour, and Çökertme on a single week.
Hisarönü Gulf
A loop through the Hisarönü gulf — the cluster of villages where Turkish guletmaking has been a family trade for four centuries. Bozburun, Selimiye, Bencik, Dirsekbükü: each anchorage anchors a different shipyard and a different fish taverna.
Marmaris → Rhodes
A second Greek crossing for those further east — Marmaris out to Rhodes via Symi, returning along the Datça peninsula. Rhodes Old Town is a living medieval Crusader fortress; Symi's neoclassical harbour is one of the most photographed in the Aegean.