Places to visit and things to do on your holiday can be organised by booking daily excursions from local travel agencies.

GREEN IDYMA TRAVEL is based in turunc with full local knowlodge; they can arrange and advise you what to do where to go

to help you have a great holiday.you can book all kind of tours with peace of mind as all tours are controlled by professinals and all tours are  FULLY INSURED. you can contact them by their website www.turunctransfer.com or e-mail them contact@turunctransfer.com  very friendly and helpfull service we can recommend to everyone.they also have airport transfer service to and from dalaman airport to turunc,marmaris and to icmeler.

You may be wondering what things to do and see whilst you are here on holiday in Turunç. If you are not the kind to laze on the beach or by the pool every day, then there are plenty of alternatives available to you.

Turunç is located on the eastern coast of the beautiful Bozburun Peninsula. There are small villages to explore along the peninsula, many of them still relatively untouched by the growth of tourism. Hidden bays and beaches can be found where you can often be the only family swimming in the clear blue waters of the Aegean Sea. The easiest way to explore is to hire a car but you can also use the public transport system by making use of the dolmus and bus services.

The dolmus service is a small minibus which runs regularly between the towns and villages on the peninsula. The bus leaves from the Turunç tea garden every 30-60 minutes during the high season to go to Marmaris. From the dolmus station in Marmaris there are connecting services to the rest of the peninsula. The cost is cheap and the services operate a stop-on-demand system. Just tell the driver when you want to get off! In the same way, you can hail the dolmus from anywhere along its route and if there is room for you, it will stop.

The remains of ancient civilizations are scattered throughout Turkey. It is as though you are holidaying in a living history lesson. In fact the Aegean and Mediterranean coasts are littered with the remnants of former towns, villages and fortifications.

The most famous of these is the World Heritage site of Efes or Ephesus. Many travel operators offer day trips here and although it means an early morning start and a late evening return, the archaeological remains are spectacular and worth the effort.

For more information on Ephesus or to see more about the Bozburun peninsula then please click on the links below. If you want to find out more about the places of interest closer to Turunç please continue reading on this page.

The most relaxing way to explore is to take the boat. Many boat tours operate daily trips to local sites of interest. My two favourite trips are the Five Bays tour and the Dalyan tour which also visits Turtle Beach.

These trips provide the ideal opportunity to watch the scenery change whilst simultaneously relaxing on a sunbed with a cool drink and topping up your tan.

To see more pictures of the places that you can see on these trips then choose the links below.

In addition to the places to visit near Turunç and further afield, there are also some “must see” places in the village. In any Turkish town or village the tea garden (çay bahçe) is a central meeting point for all Turks. Here everyone sits and drinks copious amounts of sweet Turkish tea from the small tulip shaped glasses. Groups of men sit together and discuss problems of national and global important (in other words they gossip!).

Games of tavla, dominoes or cards are played with total concentration. The tea garden in Turunç is by the bridge on the beach side of the main street. Mature trees offer some natural shade from the sun in the summer and if you are early for your dolmus then it is the perfect place to sit and enjoy a cool drink before your journey to Marmaris.

The Market in Turunç is not to be missed either. It is held on Mondays on one of the roads along the back street. Simply follow the crowds to find it. In the summer months there are plenty of stalls selling the usual tourist souvenirs as well as local produce. Pine honey from the bee hives on the mountains (the small blue boxes that you see by the side of the road) and olives (harvested from the nearby groves) are sold by several stalls.

Everything from household goods and garden plants to shoes and fake bags, jeans and t-shirts can be haggled for. The most colourful stalls are those selling fresh fruit and vegetables and the spice stalls. All fruit in Turkey is seasonal and tastes delicious. Peaches are especially juicy and taste so very much better than anything you are used to from the UK.

If you fancy an afternoon stroll then take a walk around the village. It is interesting to see how the Turkish people live and to spot the variety of animals that they keep – from chickens to goats and even cows! The sound of birdsong will accompany you and the local flora is fascinating. Almond, olive and fig trees grow everywhere. Flowers include wild lupins, anemones, mimosa, oleander and bougainvillea.

Nearby towns and villages

Amos

The nearest archaeological remains to Turunç are at Amos. To reach Amos from Turunç takes about 45 minutes on foot. It is a pleasant walk and although there are a few uphill stretches, they are not long and the views along the coast are fabulous enough to take your mind off your aching legs. There are some great views back over Turunç and when you move further along the coast, the whole approach to Marmaris opens out in front of you. In the summer when the small tour boats and the chartered yachts are out in the bay, the picture is idyllic.

As you reach the top of the first incline, you will look down over the current settlement at Amos. The entrance to the complex shows that the holiday homes are named “Profesori Siteler” or the Professors’ Estate. This is because they were originally built for and owned by university lecturers and staff from the main national universities at Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir.

Non residents are allowed to enter the complex and there is a lovely beach front restaurant at the foot of the steep hill (and it really is very steep in places). The beach is shingle and pebble and is wonderfully clean. During the summer a daily taxi boat makes a morning trip here from Turunç and picks up again in the late afternoon. Times are posted on the harbourside in Turunç.

The archaeological site is located on the next headland past the Professors’ Estate. This is the Asarcik hill. An information board lets you know when you have reached it. Immediately visible are the remains of the high curtain wall. The site is extremely overgrown and you will need sturdy shoes to walk around it. There are no defined pathways, so some climbing and clambering must be undertaken if you wish to fully explore the ruins.

You can see a fairly well preserved hillside amphitheatre on the northern side of the headland. This has a seating area, side walls and a stage with three chambers. There are plenty of low walls throughout and on the southern side of the site, the outer ramparts and defensive wall are still clearly defined. At the highest point is a temple with statue pedestals surrounding the altar.

The earliest known settlement at Amos dates back to the Hellenistic period (330 – 30 BC). Excavations by a British archaeologist, Professor Bean, in 1948 discovered several inscriptions on stone. Some of these have been translated and reveal that they were rental contracts, which are thought to date to circa 200 BC. Further exploration of the site with possible excavations is planned over the next couple of years.

Kumlubük

From Amos it is only a further 2 km to the small village of Kumlubük. The name means Sandy Bay and it has one of the largest stretches of beach on the peninsula. It is a relatively undeveloped village as far as tourism goes. Even in high summer there is always plenty of space on the beach.

The waters are clean and clear and at the southern end of the beach there are several restaurants and cafes offering refreshments and snacks during the daytime.

There is a dolmus service from Turunç to Kumlubük and the water taxi that drops off in Amos continues onto Kumlubük in the mornings.

The daily boat tours usually call into the bay to moor and stop a while. The southern side of the bay has the cleaner waters and there is a pretty cove here where boats drop anchor for swim breaks.

Içmeler

Içmeler is a small town which lies between Turunç and Marmaris. It has a pretty wide bay with a sandy beach. Many tour operators offer holidays here and so you can expect it to be more commercialised and busier than Turunç.

There is a small canal which is lined with market stalls during the daytime and during the evenings the restaurants are lively and offer entertainment with your meal.

One of my favourites is Venice which has an Italian and Chinese menu and some great dancing by the bar staff and waiters. Audience participation is encouraged but is not obligatory, so if you just want to sit back and enjoy the show, then you can!

You can reach Içmeler by taking the dolmus or the water taxi. A large and busy outdoor market is held here on a Wednesday. It is well worth a visit but be warned that it really can get very busy. I advise to you arrange a meeting point with the rest of your group before you go in, as it is all too easy to get separated from your party. There are some fabulous bargains to be had and you can haggle away your frustrations with the stallholders.