Five Isles

Beş Adalar, or the "Five Islands," lie scattered off Cape Gelidonya on Antalya's Teke Peninsula coast, within the Kumluca district. Ancient Greek writers such as Strabo knew them as the Chelidoniae, or "Swallow Islands," and disagreed even then on whether the group held two, three or five islets. Two of the islands rise steeply to four or five hundred feet, while the remaining three are low, barren rocks a short distance from the mainland.

The largest of the group, Devecitaşı, anchors a cluster that also includes Suluada, Ateş, Meşe and Topuk Taşı, though only Suluada draws regular visitors for its beaches. Classical geographers such as Strabo and Pliny warned sailors of the group as a navigational hazard, though later surveys found the danger overstated. The islands' isolation has long made them a refuge for wildlife, and the surrounding waters remain an important haven for the Mediterranean monk seal.

Left uninhabited and largely undeveloped, the group is best appreciated by boat, and many gulet cruises in Turkey call in here on the way along the Lycian coast, weaving between the islets for a swim in clear, sheltered water.