Turkey
Butterfly Valley
Only reachable by boat, a sheer-walled canyon where butterflies swirl above a hidden beach.
The boat rounds a headland, and the valley opens — sheer limestone walls rising 350 metres on both sides, a ribbon of beach at the base, and the sound of a waterfall somewhere deep inside the canyon. Butterfly Valley on Turkey's Lycian Coast is reachable only by water. No road leads here. None is planned.
Butterfly Valley takes its name from the Jersey Tiger butterfly (Euplagia quadripunctaria), which migrates to the canyon in significant numbers between June and September. The valley cuts into the mountainside behind Faralya village, its walls too steep for any access except by sea — boats run from Ölüdeniz and the cliff village above. A small family-run camp operates at the base, offering minimal infrastructure: canvas shelters, communal cooking, and a bar at the waterfall pool reached by a two-hour scramble over loose rock and fixed ropes. The beach is sheltered, the water is calm, and the sense of enclosure — walled in by stone on three sides, the sea on the fourth — creates an atmosphere unlike any other cove on the coast.
Couple
Arrive by boat, swim in the cove, follow the canyon to the waterfall pool, and sleep in a place that has no phone signal and no reason to check. The enforced disconnection is the luxury.
Friends
The scramble to the waterfall is physical and slightly chaotic, the beach camp is sociable, and the boat-only access gives the whole day a sense of mild adventure. Cold beer at the canyon base tastes better when you have earned it.
- The valley is accessible only by boat from Ölüdeniz or Faralya — no road exists and none will be built.
- The Jersey Tiger butterfly (Euplagia quadripunctaria) migrates to the valley in large numbers between June and September.
- Beach camping is possible — a small family-run pansiyon operates at the valley base with minimal infrastructure.
- The waterfall at the valley head involves a 2-hour scramble over loose rocks and fixed ropes — genuinely physical.
Simple camp-kitchen meals of grilled vegetables, rice, and fresh bread served under canvas at the beach.
Cold Efes beer and fresh-squeezed orange juice at the waterfall pool deep inside the canyon.
Las Coloradas
Mexico
Salt lakes turned bubblegum pink by halophilic bacteria — the water so dense you float upright.
Freycinet
Australia
Wineglass Bay — a crescent of white sand framed by pink granite peaks and Tasman blue.
Diamond Beach
Iceland
Giant, glass-clear icebergs washing ashore on jet-black sand like discarded crown jewels.
Boodjamulla (Lawn Hill Gorge)
Australia
A turquoise gorge lined with livistona palms hidden in the dry savannah of the Gulf Country.
Mount Ida
Turkey
Zeus watched the Trojan War from this mountain — endemic pines and thermal pools survive.
Bolu
Turkey
Turkey's chef capital, surrounded by alpine lakes and the last primeval beech forests in western Anatolia.
Tuz Gölü
Turkey
Blinding white salt stretches to every horizon, mirroring the sky when millimetres of water return.
Ihlara Valley
Turkey
A 100-metre-deep gorge sliced through volcanic rock, its walls honeycombed with painted Byzantine churches.