Best Anchorages on the Datça Peninsula

Bencik Koyu sits at the narrowest point of the Datça Peninsula — historically the spot where ancient armies portaged boats overland to avoid the exposed cape at Knidos.

Çiftlik Koyu is the classic first overnight stop westbound from Marmaris, 14nm from the marina and tucked below the southern slopes of the Bozburun Peninsula.

Datça town is the main settlement and port of entry for the Datça Peninsula, 27nm west of Marmaris.

Domuz Çukuru (Pig Hollow) is a small wild anchorage in the channel between a rocky islet and the Datça Peninsula mainland, 3nm west of Datça town.

Kuruca Bükü is a small, lightly-used bay 4nm southwest of Datça town, used primarily as an overflow anchorage when the Datça harbour is full or when sailors prefer to be away from the town.

Mesudiye, also called Ova Bükü, is one of the most celebrated beaches on the Datça Peninsula — a 600m mixed sand and shingle beach flanked by mountains, backed by a genuine village of fewer than 40 permanent residents that swells to thousands in summer.

Palamut Bükü is a long, sweeping pebble-and-sand bay 9nm west of Datça town, famous for the extraordinary clarity of its water — often exceeding 30m visibility, filtered through the white pebble beach.

Hayıtbükü is the smallest and most intimate of the three celebrated south-coast bays (alongside Mesudiye and Palamut), its narrow entrance between two green pine-covered headlands giving way to an unusually calm inner cove.

Değirmen Bükü ('Mill Bay') earned the nickname 'English Harbour' in World War II when Royal Navy vessels hid here from German aircraft — the inlet's concealed geometry made it invisible from above.

Knidos (ancient Cnidus) marks the very tip of the Datça Peninsula at Deveboynu Burnu — one of the great ancient Greek city-states, home of the sculptor Praxiteles and his famous Aphrodite, the world's first life-size female nude statue.