Aegean Coast (bodrum) holidays - travel guide - activities & sights

Whether you're new to diving or an old hand, the stretch of Turkey's coast is a glorious place to don your wetsuit. The warm Aegean waters are wonderfully clear and free from strong currents and tides, and also boast a huge array of marine life including exquisitely beautiful sponges and coral beds. Novices will find plenty of safe bays and internationally accredited schools to get them started, whilst more experienced divers will be keen to explore the coast's shipwrecks, caves and rock tunnels. The coast off Bodrum especially, with its reefs and the deserted island of Karada, will excite advanced divers eager to investigate its many underwater caverns, funnels and grottoes.

One of the most enjoyable and relaxing ways to appreciate the beauty of this part of Turkey is to go horseback riding. There's plenty of opportunity too: horses are ingrained in Turkish culture and in the countryside around the main resorts there are numerous good quality schools where riders of all abilities can head out on treks to the surrounding pine-forested hills, sandy beaches and tranquil local villages

The Bodrum peninsula has many beaches, all of which are easily accessible by dolmus or by hire car. Gumbet has one of the largest beaches in the area the which can be quite lively in the height of the summer and boasts lots of watersports. A wide variety of water activities are available in the area including diving and windsurfing.

Turkey's Aegean coast offers superb sightseeing. While you're here, take time to visit Ephesus, an amazingly well preserved classical city that was once the second greatest in the Roman Empire. Legend has it that the Virgin Mary came here with St. Paul, and it's full of incredible ruins including the still-standing library facade, a pillar-lined main street, bathhouse, temples and a magnificent amphitheatre where St. Paul once preached. Another must-see is Pumukkale, where natural, calcium-rich hot springs have created a brilliantly white 'snowy' landscape of terraced pools and solidified waterfalls. The waters here are believed to have healing powers and you can swim in what's known as the 'Sacred Pool', studded with crumbling Roman columns and other ruins.

The ruins of this massive, ancient Greek temple stand near Didyma and are a dazzling sight. Thought to date back to the 7th century BC and reconstructed several times in the centuries that followed, this magical temple was dedicated to the god Apollo and is one of the most revered sites in antiquity. Today you can still admire some of the remaining Doric columns, courtyards and friezes here, and climb the steps to the chamber where a priest, sent by Apollo, would read the divine oracles to waiting pilgrims. Set high on a hill, the temple makes a marvellous sight at dusk, when the glowing orange sun slowly sinks behind its pillars.