Blue Lagoon

The Blue Lagoon at Oludeniz is a shallow, almost enclosed inlet on the Mediterranean coast of Mugla province, roughly 14 km south of Fethiye. Oludeniz means dead sea in Turkish, and the name is a description rather than a marketing line: the spit of shingle across the mouth keeps the water inside flat even when it is blowing hard outside.

What the Lagoon Actually Is

The lagoon and the land around it form Oludeniz Tabiat Parki, a protected nature park. Construction is banned inside it, there is an entrance fee, and it is open from sunrise to sunset. The beach is shingle rather than sand, and it carries Blue Flag certification. The colour that everybody photographs comes from shallow water over pale stone, which is also why it shifts through the day as the sun moves.

Where Boats Actually Stop

This is the part that catches charter guests out: motorised craft are not allowed into the inner lagoon. Pedalos, kayaks and paddleboards use the water inside; yachts and gulets do not. Boats anchor outside the mouth off Belcekiz and the open Oludeniz beach and send people ashore by tender, which is how the lagoon ends up a popular stop for gulet charter guests exploring Fethiye without ever appearing on a chart as an anchorage.

Getting There by Road

Dolmus minibuses leave Fethiye centre every five to ten minutes and run through Hisaronu to Oludeniz in about 20 to 25 minutes. Walking into the park costs very little; bringing a car in costs a great deal more, so most people leave the vehicle in the village.

Paragliding

Oludeniz is one of the best known paragliding sites anywhere, and the reason is Babadag, the mountain immediately behind the resort. The launch ramps are high on its flank, the thermals are dependable through the summer, and pilots land on the beach itself. Tandem flights run all season, and the sky above the bay is rarely empty.

In the Water and Along the Coast

Inside the lagoon the water is calm and shallow, which suits swimmers and small children. Dive boats work the coast on either side of the bay, over reefs and caves rather than inside the protected water. Boats also run from Oludeniz beach to Butterfly Valley, the steep-sided cove along the coast that has no road down to it.

Fethiye and the Bays Between

Fethiye, the port 14 km to the north, is where most of the boats on this stretch of coast are based. Between the two lie Gemiler Island with its Byzantine church ruins, Samanlik and Kizil Ada, which are the usual first stops on a week out. Gulets are the traditional boat here, wooden, broad in the beam and built along this coast, and they are slow enough that the distances between these anchorages take up an afternoon rather than an hour.