A guide to four awesome day trips from Kas, Turkey.
Kas (or Kaş as its written in Turkish) is a town situated on the beautiful Turquoise coast of Turkey. Once you have explored everything this town has to offer there are some amazing day trips from Kas that are worth investigating.
To learn more about Kaş and the rest of Turkey, read this post about my top destinations on a Turkey road trip.
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Day trips from Kas
In this post I’ll cover in detail, Kas day tours to the following destinations:
- A day in Demre
- A trip to Gombe
- A day kayaking over a sunken city
- A trip Arykanda – the party town of Lycia
A Day in Demre
Demre is a small town on the Turquoise coast of Turkey. It’s easily accessible as a day trip from Kas or a longer trip from Antalya.
I first visited Demre a couple of years ago to visit the Friday market. This time we again went on a Friday to take advantage of the market but also to take in some sights. Top sights to visit include Myra ancient ruins, the Church of Saint Nicholas and Andriake museum and ruins.
For more a more detailed guide on what to see and do in Demre, take a look at this guide.
How to get there
Driving:
- From Kaş drive east on the main coastal road D400. 48km
- From Antalya drive west on the main coastal road D400. 142km
Bus:
- Hourly buses (Dolmuses) run to Demre from Kaş bus terminal and cost betweenen 15-20 TL
- Hourly buses run to Demre from Antalya. It takes 3hrs15min and cost between 25-35 TL
A trip to Gombe
Gömbe is a village that sits in the Akdag mountain range, famous for its juicy apples and pears. In the village square there are many places to eat and drink all serving typical Turkish cuisine.
It also has a mosque that’s worth a visit, and during the summer months a great Friday market. The real gems in my opinion though are beyond the village and up in the mountains above. Exploring these are a great option for a longer day trip from Kas.
How to get there
For this trip its easiest to rent a car, which you can do from many suppliers in Kaş. From Kaş to Gömbe it is 66km of amazing, windy mountain roads, which for me is part of the highlight of this day. Maps.me will take you the right way if you select to navigate to Gömbe, but I’ll provide directions so that you don’t miss out.
Following the route below will take you over an incredible mountain pass with great views of both valleys and through pine and cedars forests. The cedar trees in this forest are truly epic!
Head east on D400, then take turn off onto 07-52. This road will take you most of the way, up and over the mountain. At the junction turn right onto 07-53, then after 6.6km exit left to cross the damn, sign posted for Gömbe.
Uçarsu Waterfall and Green Lake
This is a beautiful little area high in the mountains where you can enjoy a short walk, amazing views and an escape from the hot weather lower down.
People come from all over Turkey to visit this spot as they believe the water is sacred. You will see locals washing their faces in the lake and filling containers full of water from the river.
From Gömbe follow the brown signs for Uçarsu Şelalesi. There’s a small place to park your car, you’ll know where as the road gets a little too rocky to drive any further! From there you can do a circular hike. I recommend walking up to Yesil Lake (Green Lake).
Once at the lake turn left and follow the footpath up the hill. The path continues up and over, then takes you down to the river. Follow the path downstream to a large juniper tree and then continue on back towards the car park.
As you walk along this path, look back towards the tree and you will be able to see the waterfall below. This circular path is marked on maps.me
Read more about everything I take on a photography hike to capture shots like this one.
Summer Yayla – Subaşi yaylası
From the waterfall drive back to the main road and turn left to continue up the mountain. After 3km you will reach a flat clearing which is known in Turkey as a Yayla, a high pasture grazing spot.
Here there are a few locals still living a traditional nomadic life. They move their herds up to the yayla during the summer to take advantage of the cooler weather, before retreating back down for winter.
There are no trails marked on these mountains yet but the possibilities for hiking are endless, limited only by imagination and fitness levels at this slightly higher altitude. (2000m)
A day Kayaking over a Sunken city
A great Kas day tour, is a kayaking trip over the sunken city of Kekova. Kekova was a Lycian city that was once attached to the land, but after several earthquakes it sunk 6 meters below the sea.
No diving is allowed in this region so one of the best ways to see this sunken city is to kayak over the top of it.
We did a really good trip with Bougainville travel. From their office in the centre of Kaş, you will be taken by minibus to the town of Üçağiz. This is where the kayaking starts.
You will kayak over the city, visit some sarcophagi, several bays and hike to a ruined castle and necropolis. The tour takes most of the day and includes lunch and transport. We enjoyed this day as it was a great mix of history and action!
Cost: 35 euros
Tip: Although they set prices in Euros you can choose which currency you would then like to pay in
Visit Arykanda – A trip to the party town of Lycia!
Arykanda was the party town of Lycia! Because of this, despite it’s size it never became one of the “big 6” cities (Xanthos, Patara, Pinara, Tlos, Myra and Olympos) that got the maximum 3 votes.
Arykanda is quite a vast and impressive archaeological site built over 5 terraces, so you’ll need a couple of hours here to fully explore it.
Things to see include a great amphitheatre, an Odeon, Agora (shops) and the largest bath complex in Lycia. I guess all the partiers needed somewhere to recover after their heavy nights!
This was the first Lycian site I visited in Turkey and so I have a little soft spot for this place. Also, as this is maybe one of the lesser know destinations in Turkey, you will likely get it all to yourself.
How to get there
From Kaş it is 76 km by car. Route on Maps.me
Entrance: 15 TL
Open: 9am – 3pm
Did you know? The Lycian League was pretty awesome! Each of the member cities were able to nominate a representative to decide on affairs of the state. The 6 biggest cities commanded 3 votes each. Essentially, Lycia was the first civilisation to have a democracy. This has been much admired by governments since. Even writers of the good old constitution of the USA studied the Lycian federal system as a possible model on which to base their own system.
There are some great little fish restaurants near to the site where you can sit back and enjoy lunch after a full morning of exploring. From the site head south on D635 towards Finike and after 8-9km turn right and follow the road back up along the river. You’ll see the restaurants on the right hand side.
More photographs of Kaş, the surrounding area and the rest of Turkey available here.
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