Turkey
Kaş
Lycian tombs glow orange at sunset above a harbour where sea kayaks launch toward sunken ruins.
At dusk the Lycian rock tombs cut into the cliff above Kaş turn the colour of burnt honey, and the harbour below fills with the clatter of returning dive boats and the scent of charring octopus. The town sits on a headland where the Taurus Mountains meet the Mediterranean, compact enough to walk end to end in fifteen minutes, deep enough to hold you for a week.
Kaş is the Lycian Coast's most complete small town: a working harbour ringed by rock tombs, Ottoman-era houses and a community of dive operators, kayakers and long-stay travellers. Sea-kayak day trips transfer along the coast to Üçağız and paddle directly over Kekova's sunken walls, while dive sites around the peninsula include ancient amphora fields on the seabed. A twenty-minute ferry crosses to the Greek island of Kastellorizo, called Meis here, making a same-day international lunch possible on a whim. Building heights are strictly capped, so the town keeps its scale, and the weekly market still draws villagers down from the mountains.
Solo
Kaş attracts the kind of independent traveller you actually want to meet. Dive amphora fields in the morning, kayak toward sunken ruins in the afternoon, and eat alone at the harbour knowing solitude here is a choice, not a condition.
Couple
Courtyard restaurants lit by lanterns and jasmine, a harbour that glows at sunset, and a Greek island a short ferry away. Kaş offers intimacy without isolation.
Friends
Dive together, kayak to Kekova, take the ferry to Greece for lunch, and finish at the harbour with grilled octopus and cold beer. More shared experiences per square kilometre than anywhere on this coast.
- Sea-kayak day trips from Kaş transfer along the coast to Üçağız, then paddle directly over Kekova's sunken walls.
- Lycian rock tombs stud the cliff face above the town, visible from the harbour cafés.
- A twenty-minute ferry crosses to the Greek island of Kastellorizo, making a same-day international trip possible.
- Dive sites around the peninsula include ancient amphora fields on the seabed.
Toros salatası, charred aubergine and red pepper chilled with mint, basil and pomegranate.
Tirmis, the bitter lupin bean soaked for ten days, salted and eaten from the shell.
Pacific Rim National Park Reserve
Canada
Cold surf, cedar rainforest and kilometres of open sand line Vancouver Island's exposed shore.
Kadavu
Fiji
Manta rays circle the world's fourth-largest barrier reef, off villages the road barely reaches.
Raglan
New Zealand
One of the world's longest left-hand breaks rolling toward a black-sand harbour town.
Puerto Escondido
Mexico
Pacific swell meets market mornings and small bays along Oaxaca's lively surf town.
Altınbeşik Cave
Turkey
An underground river opens into a cathedral-sized cavern holding Turkey's largest underground lake.
Mount Ida
Turkey
Homer sat Zeus on this summit to watch the Trojan War, above forests found nowhere else.
Köprülü Canyon
Turkey
White water through a canyon spanned by a Roman bridge, a ruined city perched above.