Explore Kayakoy, the fethiye ghost town: 3,500 stone houses, hillside churches and ridge-top views. Find the shingle cove, visit Afkule Monastery, and see how this stop fits perfectly into a sail turkey itinerary.
Once called Levissi by its Greek community, kayakoy was a thriving hillside settlement of roughly 25,000 residents in the early 1900s. After the 1923 population exchange between Turkey and Greece, the town was emptied of its Greek inhabitants; incoming families from Greece later chose to build a new village nearby rather than live in the abandoned homes. That legacy is why many travellers know it today as the fethiye ghost town.
Recognised for its cultural value, Kayakoy has been proposed as a UNESCO World Friendship and Peace Village, and several NGOs have worked to stabilise and conserve the ruins so the site endures as a historic open-air settlement. The town also inspired Louis de Bernières’ novel Birds Without Wings, which captures the era around the First World War and its aftermath.
The chief attraction is the ghost town itself: a labyrinth of cobbled lanes stepping up the slope, lined with around 3,500 stone houses and three churches. One church crowns the ridge with sweeping views down the fertile valley to the sea, and there’s even an old fountain dated 1888. Throughout the year the site hosts reconciliation-themed gatherings, with visitors from the Greek Orthodox diaspora. Another memorable way to explore is on horseback—popular trails run from Hisarönü to the ruins.
Around the village you’ll find a handful of small cafés and simple eateries serving regional dishes. If you prefer to walk, waymarked paths loop through the hills and down to a secluded cove that we often visit on our sail turkey itineraries. Follow the tracks south from the settlement and you’ll come to a small shingle cove—Kayakoy’s nearest doorway to the sea. Because the settlement is tucked behind ridges, the coast isn’t visible until you crest the hills.
Getting there is straightforward: frequent local minibuses run from Fethiye, or keen walkers can follow an eight-kilometre, centuries-old cobbled path through the forest from town. Don’t miss Afkule Monastery, perched high on the cliffs; the panorama stretches from the Gulf of Fethiye all the way toward Rhodes. As an optional excursion on the final days of our sail turkey routes, a Kayakoy visit pairs perfectly with time on deck—history, scenery and the quiet beauty of Turkey’s southwest in one stop.
