The best sections of the Lycian Way, ranked by someone who lives on it
Updated: 2026-09-07
Almost nobody walks all 760 km of the Lycian Way, and almost everybody asks the same question first: which bit. The answer depends on whether you want coast or mountain, ruins or beaches, a bed every night or a tent, and how many days you have. Here is our ranking from Kaş, where the trail passes the front door, with what each section actually costs you in days and logistics.
1. Kaş to Demre: the ghost cities section
Four or five days. Antiphellos, Sebeda, Apollonia, Aperlai, Teimiussa, Simena and Myra on foot, four of them without a road, one half under the sea, Kekova across the water for an afternoon. A bed every night, a boat or a bus at the end, and the best swimming on the trail. Its weakness is water: nothing reliable between Boğazcık and Üçağız. It is the section we build most often and the one this site is named for; the day-by-day is in the Lycian Way from Kaş.
2. Ovacık to Patara: the classic west coast
Six or seven days. The Ölüdeniz cliff path, Butterfly Valley from above, Kabak, the climb to Alınca, Sidyma inside a village, Pydnai, Letoon and Xanthos, and the sand at Patara. This is the section on the postcards and the one with the most other walkers, which some people like. Pensions every night, dolmuş at most stage ends. Weakness: the delta stages around Xanthos and Patara are flat, hot farm lanes that most people shorten by bus. Stages 2 to 8 on the stage table.
3. Gelidonya to Olympos: the east coast’s good days
Two or three days. Karaöz round the cape to the Gelidonya lighthouse with the islands below, the hard ridge to Adrasan, then Musa Dağı to the ruins of Olympos and the Chimaera flames at Çıralı. Serious climbing, two of the best viewpoints on the trail, and Olympos at the end. Weakness: water is unconfirmed on both ridge stages, and reaching Karaöz means the greenhouse road from Finike or a bus. Karaöz to Adrasan and Adrasan to Çıralı.
4. Kalkan to Kaş inland: for the empty plateau and Phellos
Three or four days, no sea. Bezirgan’s granaries, the Sarıbelen spring, the long ridge over Phellos and the drop into Kaş. Nobody else on it, which is the point. Weakness: one bed in Gökçeören that must be confirmed, and a nine-hour third day. Strong walkers who have done the coast before choose this. Kalkan to Bezirgan onward.
5. Göynük canyon and the Tahtalı pass: for mountain people
The eastern mountains between Çıralı and Antalya are the least walked part of the trail and, for the right person, the best: the Tahtalı pass at 1,815 m, cedar forest, the wading descent of Göynük canyon, Trebenna on its saddle. Weakness: beds are thin and close without notice, water is carried, waymarking is worst here. Take a tent or ask us close to your dates what is open.
Skip, unless you are walking every metre
Finike to Karaöz: 29 km of road and greenhouses; take the bus to Mavikent. The delta loop between Xanthos and Patara: dolmuş across, walk the aqueduct. Demre to Finike over the Alaca Dağ is not a skip so much as a decision: two nights out, no water, the hardest stage on the trail and, for the few who do it, the most memorable. Most take the bus.
By days available
One day: Kaş to Limanağzı, boat back. Three days: Kaş to Simena. Five days: Phellos to Demre. Seven days: Ovacık to Patara, or Kaş to Demre with rest days. Ten days: Ovacık to Kaş with the bus from Kalkan, or Kalkan to Demre entirely on foot. Two weeks: Ovacık to Demre with the inland stages. Tell us your dates and days and we will cut the trail to fit.
Questions people actually ask
What is the most beautiful part of the Lycian Way?
For ruins and swimming, Kaş to Demre. For classic coastal views, Ovacık to Patara. For a single viewpoint, the Gelidonya lighthouse.
Which section is easiest?
Ovacık to Patara has the gentlest stages and the most beds. Kaş to Limanağzı is the easiest single day.
Which section should I skip?
Finike to Karaöz, which is road, and the delta loop near Patara. Demre to Finike is a choice, not a skip: most people bus it.
Can I do the best sections without a tent?
Yes. Every section above except the eastern mountains and the Alaca Dağ crossing has a bed at the end of each stage in spring and autumn.