Turkey · Carian Coast
Yacht Charter Datça
A long thin peninsula between two gulfs, with an ancient city and two harbours at the end of it.
Datça is a peninsula seventy kilometres long and in places barely two wide, running west between the Gulf of Gökova and the Gulf of Hisarönü towards Kos. The narrowness is the whole character of the place: whichever way the wind is blowing there is a lee within a few miles, on one side or the other, and the ancient Greeks worked that out and built a city at the far end of it with a harbour facing each way.
Knidos, and the two harbours
At the western tip stands Knidos, a Greek city built across an isthmus with a harbour on the north side and another on the south, joined by a causeway. A ship could lie in whichever one was sheltered, which in this strait is worth more than any amount of trade goods, and it made the place rich for six hundred years.
It held the Aphrodite of Praxiteles — the first life-size female nude in Greek sculpture, famous enough that people sailed here to look at it, and lost since antiquity. The theatre, the round temple platform and the two harbour moles are all still legible, and you anchor in the same water the ancient ships used.
The peninsula itself
The town has two bays and a working harbour, and Eski Datça, the old village a couple of kilometres inland, is a grid of stone houses under bougainvillea that was half-abandoned and has been carefully brought back. The peninsula grows almonds — the local variety is the one Turkey buys — and thyme honey, and both are sold at the roadside without ceremony.
The south coast is a run of pebble bays: Palamutbükü, Ovabükü, Hayıtbükü, all clear and none of them large. It is a quiet coast by the standards of this one, which is the reason to come.
Practical notes
- Bodrum is two hours north by sea; the road from Marmaris is long and the sea is the sensible approach
- Knidos at the western tip has two ancient harbours, one facing north and one south, and you anchor in both
- The peninsula is narrow enough that there is a lee within a few miles whichever way the meltem is blowing
- The south-coast bays — Palamutbükü, Ovabükü, Hayıtbükü — are pebble, clear and small
Reached from: Bodrum, Marmaris and the Gulf of Gökova
Where to dine
A table by the water
Zekeriya Sofrası
Eski DatçaIn the restored stone village inland, cooking the peninsula — almonds, thyme, goat — and doing it without a menu.
Ege
DatçaOn the working harbour, plain grilled fish and the boats unloading a few metres away.
Nergis
PalamutbüküOn the pebbles on the south coast, where lunch takes as long as you let it.
What to do
Anchorages & excursions
Knidos
A Greek city on an isthmus with a harbour facing north and another facing south, so a ship could always lie sheltered.
Eski Datça
The old village two kilometres inland: stone houses under bougainvillea, half-abandoned and carefully brought back.
The south-coast bays
Palamutbükü, Ovabükü and Hayıtbükü — pebble, clear, small, and quiet by the standards of this coast.
Almonds and thyme honey
The peninsula's two crops, sold at the roadside, and the almond variety the rest of Turkey buys.
The fleet
Yachts available for Datça
Vessels that operate here, from flagship motor yachts to smaller crewed boats. Every rate is quoted on enquiry.
Good to know
Questions we are asked about Datça
- Why did Knidos have two harbours?
- Because it sits on an isthmus at the end of a peninsula in a windy strait. One harbour faces north and one south, so a ship could always lie in the sheltered one. That is why the city was rich: it was the reliable stop on a route where nothing else was reliable.
- Is Datça worth the detour from Bodrum?
- If you want the quiet version of this coast, yes. It is two hours north to Bodrum and the peninsula sees a fraction of the traffic, with clear pebble bays on the south side and an ancient city at the end. If you want marinas and restaurants, stay where you are.
- What does a yacht charter to Datça cost?
- It depends on the yacht, the season and the crew, so we quote on enquiry rather than publish a figure that would be wrong for most weeks.
Destinations
Nearby destinations
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Enquire about a charter on the Datça peninsula
Tell us your dates and how many of you there are, and we will come back with the right yacht and a full quotation.