Gulet cruise and walking holiday in Turkey
Highlights
Marmaris | Kumlubuk | Hellenistic villages | Paradise Island | Nimara Caves | Candir village | Dalyan river ride | Iztuzu beach | Aga Limani | Cleopatra's Bath | Sarsala Bay | Boynuz Bükü | ruined city of Tlos | Kayaköy | the Lycian Way| Saklikent Gorge | Optional activities include: Turkish baths, snorkelling, walks to the ancient tombs at Bedri Rami BayDescription of Gulet cruise and walking holiday in Turkey
This gulet cruise and walking holiday in Turkey is a perfect combination of the country’s idyllic, ancient walking trails and also its Lycian islands. A small group tour, we set sail from Marmaris to explore the Gocek Islands and then finish our odyssey in Fethiye after a week, although you will feel as if you have been away forever, thanks to the other worldliness of these seascapes.We host maximum sixteen guests on board this gulet, and the minimum age is fifteen years old. We have twin and double cabins and, depending on conditions we may operate this cruise in reverse, or in a circuit from Marmaris to Marmaris. It will be up to your skipper who knows these waters like the back of his hand, and who will safely guide you to beauty spots such as Sarsala Bay, Paradise Island and quiet beaches, supported by the ever friendly and welcoming crew.
On land, we make the most of the region’s ancient coastal trekking routes, known as the Lycian Way, taking in sites such as the ruined city of Tlos or the spectacular ruins at Kaunos. We also fit in some gorge walking, particularly spectacular in this part of the world, with Saklikent Gorge a particular highlight. Then back on board to enjoy our dinners at sea, as we cruise onto the next gorgeous spot.
Travel Team
If you'd like to chat about this holiday or need help finding one we're very happy to help. The Travel Team.
01273 823 700 Calling from outside the UK? rosy@responsibletravel.com
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The leaders are not guides – they’re not there to shepherd you around. Instead, they’ll let you know which local restaurant serves great value food – without running the risk of travellers’ tummy. They’ll allow you to avoid hour-long queues at train stations and attractions.
We like to think of small group travel as the Goldilocks option. It is independent travel without the fuss, worry and bunk beds – and organised travel without the coaches. And it’s cheaper than a tailor made tour. It’s sits somewhere in the middle – and we think it’s just about right.
Have big, life-enriching experiences that would be impossible to organise without lots of time and insider knowledge.
Simplicity
Make the most of your holiday time by letting someone else do the hard work and boring logistics!
Peace of mind
Small group tours take care of the security aspects – and provide a safety net should anything unexpected happen.
If you don’t have three months to spend exploring, small groups trips let you cover more ground in less time. Your days are not spent queuing for tickets or finding hotels – so you can squeeze more into your holiday.
Solo travellers who’d like company
Likeminded travel companions plus peace of mind for those travelling alone. Single supplements are usually available – providing privacy if you want it.
Less confident travellers
Stray from the tourist trail without worrying about getting lost, and meet local people without dealing with the language barrier.
Couples and friends have private rooms, and you can choose to eat alone or not. Single supplements give solo travellers their own room.
“There won’t be any free time”
Free mornings or afternoons let you explore on your own, or just relax.
“The accommodation will be basic”
Trips are as high or low end as you like. Though off the beaten track destinations won’t have luxury hotels, this is all part of the adventure.
“I won’t like the other travellers!”
Tour operators try to create groups with a similar demographic – age, families, activity levels... Chances are, you’ll even make new friends.
“Will we be following an umbrella?”
No.
Responsible tourism
Gulet cruise and walking holiday in Turkey
Carbon reduction
Your holiday will help support local people and conservation. We must also reduce CO2. Learn about the CO2 emissions of this holiday and how to reduce them.
Environment
A combination of hiking and sailing is the ideal way to explore the natural and cultural highlights of a region, travel under your own steam and minimise the impact on the environment.
The natural landscapes we explore on this part of Turkey’s coast are some of the richest, though fragile environments on earth. With education, experienced leadership and appropriate equipment and techniques, it is possible to travel responsibly through these regions. For us, it is critically important that such wilderness travel experiences do not diminish the natural values of the environment.
Our environmental sustainable principles: True sustainability is a guiding aspect in all aspects of our business planning and operations. Specifically our tour operations should be managed in a way where the natural and cultural values of the host region are undiminished in the long-term.
Where possible, we engage in partnerships with local environmental groups and/or land managers to actively campaign for conservation or promote environmental protection and/or rehabilitation.
Our Responsible Travel Guidebook: Our philosophy since 1975 has been to leave only footprints and take only photographs. To reiterate this, every customer who travels with us receives a copy of our award-winning Responsible Travel guidebook. This detailed book outlines our environmentally sustainable principles, and outlines how each customer can minimize their impact while traveling.
Global Warming and Carbon Balancing: The root cause of Global Warming is society's dependence on emission creating fossil fuel. Planting trees is not going to reverse this trend or cancel our carbon emissions very quickly or effectively. We believe the way to reduce these dependencies is to create clean energy production. Therefore, we support renewable energy projects like wind and solar power, and we are aligned with Climate Friendly, the gold standard setter in effective, meaningful action addressing climate change. So, while we believe that tree planting can play a small role in greenhouse gas abatement, we have gone the extra mile in promoting a longer term solution. Is this cheap? No. Is it responsible? Absolutely!
Community
After a thoroughly rewarding day you will be warmly welcomed back to your boat, which is crewed by local staff. A delicious and hearty evening meal is definitely the order of the day and you’ll be introduced to the local delicacies. All meals provided use mainly locally-grown produce from the region, such is the way of small businesses supporting other small businesses within the rural communities you’ll visit.
Friendly local staff are ideally placed to give you a knowledgeable insight into the local terrain, flora and fauna and an authentic account of the history of the region.
Our responsible travel principles: Our company aims to maximise the positive benefits of tourism for host communities. This includes training and employment of local staff, using local suppliers and assisting in the development of sustainable local businesses.
We actively minimise the negative effects that tourism can have by ensuring that tourism does not divert resources away from local communities or drive up prices on local resources.
We provide opportunities for real cultural exchange, where locals and visitors alike can share and learn from each other in an environment of mutual respect.
We contribute to the welfare of the host community. This is epitomised in our Community Project Travel program where we organise for our travelers to spend time in disadvantaged villages upgrading basic facilities such as health, education and water access.
We strive to educate our travelers about the destination and its local cultures as well as providing guidelines on appropriate behaviour to minimise impact.
No local payments policy: Local cash payments are becoming increasingly popular with many operators in the adventure travel industry. This policy seems to benefit the tour operators more than the local economies or the travelers, as it avoids local taxes and transfers the costs and risks of cash handling onto the travelers. In accordance with our Responsible Travel practices, we have chosen a policy of not asking for such payments.
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