Yalıkavak Marina

Overview

Yalıkavak Marina fills the bay of Yalıkavak, a town on the Bodrum peninsula, with yachts, shops and cafés. A short walk along the same shore brings you to the town pier, where the municipality runs a café by the water. So one stop shows you both faces of the town. For coffee elsewhere on the peninsula, see the best cafés in Bodrum. For the marina's berths, awards and border formalities, read our guide to Turkey yacht marinas.

Yalıkavak Marina and the town

The marina and the town pier sit on the same seafront street, Çökertme Caddesi. On the hills above the town, old windmills still stand. On a garden hillside of the town, Allium Bodrum has 38 suites facing the sea.

Quick facts

• Good for: a walk among superyachts, a coffee by the pier, a market morning
• Best combined with: Gümüşlük, the Bodrum windmills, Göltürkbükü

From Sponge Divers to Yachts

A sponge divers' village

Yalıkavak began as a village of sponge divers. Over time, it grew into an important tourism center, with restaurants and hotels along its bays and sandy beaches. Its story follows that of Bodrum, because before tourism Bodrum too was a small harbor town. There, people lived from fishing, sponge diving and farming. For the sea side of that past, the museum in Bodrum Castle shows finds that excavations have raised from wrecks off the Turkish coast since 1960.

Windmills above the town

Old windmills stand on the hills above Yalıkavak and along its shore. They belong to the same tradition as the Bodrum Windmills, because mills like these once ground the wheat and barley of the peninsula. Elsewhere on the peninsula, groups of mills survive at Yahşi, Peksimet and Karakaya as well. On our tour, you see the row of mills above Bodrum first, and then you drive on to Yalıkavak.

The Waterfront at Yalıkavak Marina

Walking the Yalıkavak Marina quays

On our tour, you walk along the waterfront among the superyachts. Ashore, shops, restaurants, bars and cafés line the marina. So the quays work as a promenade as much as a harbor. For a night nearby, see our best hotels in Bodrum, which includes a hotel on a bay near Yalıkavak.

The travertine buildings of Yalıkavak Marina

The marina buildings went up between 2011 and 2014, to designs by Emre Arolat Architecture. The architects called the project Yalıkavak Palmarina, and they clad every building in travertine, a pale stone. In the first phase, an island in the marina took shops and restaurants, together with service units for the large yachts that dock there. Later phases added a row of shops along the shore. Wide overhangs run in front of them, so the path along the shops stays in shade. Behind the shopfronts, the complex holds a boutique hotel, offices, storage and a shipyard for winter maintenance.

The town pier and the shore

Along the shore from the marina, the town pier reaches into the same bay. The municipality runs a café on the seafront there, so you can sit by the water away from the yachts. If you stay longer, plan around the market days. On Tuesdays, a fruit and vegetable market comes to town, and on Thursdays, a clothing market follows. Then, on Saturdays, there is a second-hand market. For a swim, Yalıkavak has public beaches, among them Küdür Dodo and Alacain.

Visiting Yalıkavak Marina

Getting to Yalıkavak

Yalıkavak belongs to Bodrum district, in Muğla province. Public buses run from Bodrum town to Yalıkavak by way of Gökçebel. Another line follows the coast and links Yalıkavak with Gümüşlük and Turgutreis on one side and with Gündoğan and Göltürkbükü on the other. So, even without a car, you can pair Yalıkavak with Gümüşlük on the same day. Within the area, short local lines link the town with Küdür, Tilkicik, Geriş and Gökçebel. Write to us, and we arrange the ride.

Before you go

On our Bodrum peninsula tour, Yalıkavak is the late-morning stop. The walk along the quays is short and easy. Bring summer clothes, a hat and a swimsuit for the afternoon by the sea. From May to October, the sea is warm enough for a swim. After it, your driver takes you on to Gümüşlük and Ancient Myndos on the western tip of the peninsula. There, lunch waits by the sea, beside the walls of ancient Myndos.

Updated: October 26, 2026.

Seeing Yalıkavak Marina with Us

Would you like to walk among the yachts and then see the windmills and the old harbor of Gümüşlük? Our Bodrum peninsula tour stops at Yalıkavak Marina between the windmills above Bodrum and Gümüşlük. The marina sits in the middle of the route, so any day you pick works for the yachts and the windmills.