Ölüdeniz

Overview

Seen from the air, Ölüdeniz looks unreal: a long white beach curving between two seas, a calm turquoise lagoon tucked behind a wooded spit, and a wall of mountain rising almost two thousand meters straight from the shore. Every day, dozens of colorful paragliders drift down from that mountain, Babadağ, and land on the beach among the swimmers. Ölüdeniz is the postcard view of the Turkish coast, and a famous place to fly. By boat, join our Butterfly Valley boat tour. By boat, join our Gemiler Island boat tour.

Swim in the Blue Lagoon in the morning. Tandem paragliding flights then take off from Babadağ above the beach. Boats run to Butterfly Valley, while a footpath leads to the ghost village of Kayaköy and the first stage of the Lycian Way. For the view at sunset, join our Babadağ cable car tour.

Ölüdeniz, the Blue Lagoon Below Babadağ

Ölüdeniz is a beach resort in the Fethiye district of Muğla province, south of Fethiye, on the Turquoise Coast of southwestern Türkiye. Its name means “Dead Sea”, because the water of its lagoon stays calm even in storms; in English it is known as the Blue Lagoon. The lagoon is a protected nature reserve, so building is forbidden.

How high do paragliders fly over Ölüdeniz?

The summit of Babadağ rises almost 2,000 meters above the sea, and tandem flights take off from slopes high on the mountain. You float down a height more than twice that of the Eiffel Tower.

How the Lagoon Stayed Blue

A lagoon on the Lycian coast

In antiquity, this coast belonged to Lycia, a land of independent cities whose rock tombs you still see around Fethiye. For centuries afterward, Ölüdeniz was simply a bay used by fishermen and the farmers of the villages in the hills. Then, in the late 20th century, travelers discovered its beach, and it became one of the most famous resorts on this coast.

Protecting the Blue Lagoon

Because the lagoon is protected, no hotels stand on its shore. It still looks much as it did before tourism arrived: pine trees, white pebbles and water in every shade of blue.

Sea, Sky and Trails Around Ölüdeniz

The Blue Lagoon and the beach

The beach of Ölüdeniz is long and lively, with sunbeds and cafés. The lagoon, by contrast, lies inside a protected park, where we arrange your entry, and its shallow, clear water is good for gentle swims. Come early in the morning in summer, when the light is soft.

Paragliding from Babadağ

Still, Ölüdeniz is especially famous for paragliding. The mountain is high, the weather is stable for much of the year, and pilots fly over water, which makes the site excellent for training and acrobatics. You fly tandem with a licensed pilot: a vehicle or the Babadağ cable car takes you up the mountain, you run a few steps off the slope, and then you float down over the lagoon to land on the beach. How long you stay in the air, however, depends on the weather and the pilot.

The Babadağ cable car

If you do not want to fly, you can still go up. The Babadağ cable car rises from near Ölüdeniz in stages to the upper slopes of the mountain, where viewing terraces look straight down onto the lagoon. When the day is clear, the view stretches along the whole coast.

The Ölüdeniz Air Games

Every year, Ölüdeniz hosts an international air games festival, with paragliding competitions, acrobatic displays and pilots from around the world. If you are here during the festival, the sky above the beach is full of color.

Butterfly Valley

Further south, a narrow valley opens to the sea between steep cliffs. Butterfly Valley is reachable mainly by boat from Ölüdeniz, and it is named after the many butterflies that live there in summer. Its small beach and simple camp feel nothing like the resort, so it suits a slow day.

Kayaköy, the ghost village

In the hills between Ölüdeniz and Fethiye also lie hundreds of roofless stone houses and two churches. Kayaköy, once the Greek town of Levissi, was abandoned after the population exchange of 1923. Today it is a haunting open-air ruin, and also a beautiful walk from Ölüdeniz along an old path through the pines. By car, our Fethiye Kayaköy tour adds the Tomb of Amyntas above the harbor.

The start of the Lycian Way

The famous long-distance trail of the Lycian Way begins just above Ölüdeniz, at Ovacık near Hisarönü. Even if you do not walk the whole route, the first stage toward Faralya and Butterfly Valley offers wide sea views. From Fethiye, join our Kabak tour.

Ölüdeniz Off the Beach

Ölüdeniz, Hisarönü and Ovacık

Behind the beach, the villages of Ovacık and Hisarönü then climb the hill toward Fethiye. Hisarönü is lively, with bars and restaurants, while Ovacık is more of a village.

Where We Eat Around Ölüdeniz

The beach restaurants feed you, but the real eating happens down the road in Fethiye, twenty minutes away. Our picks are in the best restaurants in Fethiye. There, locals still shop and eat the old way.

How to Visit Ölüdeniz

Getting to Ölüdeniz

• From Fethiye: a short drive by road.
• By sea: our Olympos to Ölüdeniz Blue Cruise ends here after three days.
• Day trip inland: our Pamukkale tour from Fethiye collects you here for Hierapolis and Laodicea.
• Day trip west: the rock tombs of Kaunos rise above the river at Dalyan, between Fethiye and Marmaris.
• Canyon day: Saklıkent Gorge lies inland from Fethiye, with a cliffside walkway and icy springs.
• By air: Dalaman Airport is the nearest airport, about an hour and a half by car. It is also the airport for Datça.
• By boat: boat trips from Ölüdeniz go to Butterfly Valley and the bays along the coast.

Local tips for Ölüdeniz

• Keep a spare day for flying: pilots fly only when the wind allows.
• Book paragliding with a licensed company.
• Come in spring or autumn for warm water.
• Visit the lagoon early, in the cool of the morning.
• Walk to Kayaköy in the cool of the morning or late afternoon, because summer days are hot.

To fly over the lagoon, see our Ölüdeniz paragliding day, which ends in the ghost village of Kayaköy. You can also see Ölüdeniz from the sea on our Fethiye to Olympos blue cruise.