Datca Peninsula

The Datça region stretches along a narrow peninsula to its western extremity of Cape Crio where the Aegean meets the Mediterranean sea. The isthmus is also known as the Reşadiye Peninsula, from the beginning of the twentieth century honouring the penultimate Ottoman sultan Mehmed V Reşad. Reşadiye is also a village close to the main town of Datça. Apart from the main town of Datça this mountaineous slither of land is scarcely populated.

Much of the peninsula is protected and the maquis forests rising from the northern shores are home to many ‘dağ keçesi’ wild mountain goats and endemic plant species. With its numerous bays and secluded coves untouched by development, under sail has been the most popular way to explore the dramatic coastline.

This walking section starts from Datça heading south and west along rugged coastal headlands to the ancient city of Knidos and Deveboynu lighthouse at the end of the cape. The view looks across to The Greek Islands of the Dodecanese. Turning east along the mostly uninhabited northern shore the section ends at the narrowest point (Balıkasiran) of the peninsula.