Kayakoy, Hisaronu & Oludeniz: 3 Turkish towns with beaches, mountains, and a ghost town your kids will love

 Cliffs, beaches, and turquoise water in southwest Turkey.

Postcard view: cliffs, beaches, turquoise water. Real view: your kid digging around in white sand and cigarette butts. 🏔️🏖️🤦‍♀️

We came during high season, mid-June through August, when the days are hot and sticky, pushing 95F with barely a breeze. The upside is that nights drop to 70F, so most people head out early in the morning or later in the evening.

We spent part of our summer in 3 towns that sit right next to each other in Turkey: Kayakoy, Hisaronu, and Oludeniz. Each has a totally different vibe. Put them together and you’ve got beaches, mountains, paragliding, and even a ghost town — all within a 30-minute drive. For families traveling with kids, this area gives you way more variety than your typical beach resort.

Kayakoy: quiet village + a ghost town

Kayakoy is a sleepy village with a population of about 200, a few restaurants, and more farm animals than people. Horses, sheep, chickens, peacocks, even a few camels. But what it’s known for is the abandoned Greek ghost town sitting right on the hillside.

Until 1923, Kayakoy was a thriving Greek village with thousands of residents. After the Greco-Turkish War, the government forced a population exchange — Greeks left, Turks moved in — and the village was left abandoned. Today you can wander through crumbling stone houses and two deserted Orthodox churches. Entry is ~$2, and if you hike up to the chapel at the top (20 minutes straight up), you’re rewarded with a killer view over the valley.

We liked Kayakoy as a base because it was quieter and cheaper than Fethiye or Oludeniz. We found a stone Airbnb with a private pool for $2,300/month — plenty of space for the kids to run wild. The tradeoff: it’s a drive anywhere — 10 mins to Hisaronu, 30 to Oludeniz, 30 to Fethiye.

Hisaronu: nightlife in the mountains

Hisaronu sits right above Oludeniz. The altitude means it’s a little cooler. It’s also the lively one — full of restaurants, shops, bars, and night markets. At night, they close streets to cars and it turns into a pedestrian party. This is where the nightlife is. The energy here is fun, but keep your kids close — it gets crowded fast.

Oludeniz: beaches and paragliding

Oludeniz is home to one of Turkey’s most famous beaches — the Blue Lagoon. The water is turquoise, calm, and perfect for kids. Parking at Kumburnu Plajı costs about 500 TRY (~$12), and once inside you’ll find calm shallows, restaurants, and stroller-friendly paths. Go early. It gets packed by noon. 

Right next to it is the free public beach, which became our favorite. Wider and sandier, with a mountain backdrop, it has rougher waves but once the kids got used to it, they loved jumping in.

For adventure, Oludeniz is a world hub for paragliding. My wife launched off Mount Babadag for $150 and called it one of her favorite experiences ever.  

If jumping isn’t your thing (like me), take the Mount Babadag gondola. Tickets are about $15 for adults (kids free) with four stops up the mountain. We rode to 1700 meters for lunch and panoramic views of the lagoon. The views here rival Switzerland. You can hike higher to 1900, but 1700 is plenty and still stroller-friendly.

Other beaches our kids loved

• Darboğaz: 20-minute hike through the forest after a short drive from Kayakoy. Moderately tough with little kids, but the payoff is big: hidden coves, calm turquoise water in the side inlets (perfect for small swimmers), and great views. Price: free.

• Soguk Su Koyu: you can hike from Kayakoy through the ruins (1 hr each way) or drive a sketchy dirt road and pay about $5 to park at a local restaurant. Once you’re there, it’s a secluded, pebble beach with stunning turquoise water and almost no crowds.There's a cold spring you can swim to around the bend, it's really cool to feel the water go from warm to freezing. 

• Gemile Plajı: about 15 minutes from Kayakoy. Entry is 300 TRY (~$7), but you can park right next to the water. Calm, clear, shallow and very kid-friendly. Not the most dramatic scenery compared to the others, but the easiest with kids.

Getting around

If you’re staying in Kayakoy, you’ll need a car. The village itself is tiny, and while you can walk around the other towns once you’re there, getting between them isn’t walkable. We rented a car for about $1,000/month.

Driving in Turkey is… an experience. It’s chaotic, but in a strangely organized way. Think dog-eat-dog with a system. Nobody’s courteous and people honk constantly. You’ve got to be aggressive and not care what anyone thinks.

If that sounds like too much, there’s a local bus (dolmus) that runs every 15 mins between towns. They’re cheap, air-conditioned, and popular with tourists. It’s slower than having your own car but stress-free.

Taxis are the other option, but they’re pricey. Drivers will happily gouge you and charge American-level prices. Uber and Lyft aren’t a thing here.

The things we take for granted

Living in Kayakoy for 3 months made us realize just how much we took for granted back in the US: drinkable tap water, speaking in English, honest pricing, cars with automatic transmissions, gyms with AC, washer/dryers that actually work, grocery stores with endless options (and great meat), and, most importantly, being close to friends and family.

This was the longest we’ve ever stayed in a foreign place and the longest stretch without our community back home. It pushed us. There was a lot of growth on this trip, and plenty of reminders of just how comfortable our old normal was.

Kayakoy made me go back to my ‘why' and rethink a few things. It reminded me how much we already had and how easy it is to stop noticing.

This post is part of our 'finding our why' series, sharing real-world stories of why families choose financial independence and early retirement with kids.