Stage 16 · Route 15
Boğazcık to Aperlai: down to the drowned city
Updated: 2026-09-07
This is the stage we care most about, and not only because the studio behind this site is named after the city at the bottom of it. Aperlai was a Lycian harbour town that minted its own coins on the strength of purple dye squeezed from sea snails. The earthquakes of the second century lowered its harbour quarter into the sea, the roads never came, and today its breakwaters and house walls lie in shallow water so clear you can swim over the old quayside and count the blocks.
The walk down is 6.6 km at a steady ten percent, 410 m of descent, about two and a half hours. Leave Boğazcık with full bottles; the cisterns at Aperlai are on the map and not in your interest.
Want this walked with bags moved and beds booked? Plan it with us ↓
- Distance
- 6.6 km
- Descent
- 410 m
- Time
- 2.5 h
- Grade
- Moderate
- Terrain
- A steady descent at around ten percent through scrub and old terraces to the sea, ending among the walls of a half-drowned city.
- Sleep at the end
- Two small pensions at Aperlai; both seasonal, both need a call ahead
- Water
- Cisterns marked on the map are unreliable; carry from Boğazcık
- Getting there
- No road. Boat from Aperlai to Üçağız takes about 40 minutes and must be arranged; otherwise walk on
- From Kaş
- About 30 min taxi to Boğazcık plus the walk; or by sea kayak on our Aperlai day
Ghost cities on this stage
- Aperlai — the Lycian harbour town that gave our studio its name. Rich from murex purple dye, dropped into the sea by the same earthquakes that sank Kekova, its breakwaters and house walls now sit in shallow water with towers standing in the maquis above. No road, no gate, no ticket.
Highlights
- Walking into a city that has been quiet for fifteen centuries
- Swimming beside the sunken harbour walls
- A pension and a restaurant that exist because of the trail and nothing else
What is at Aperlai
Two family pensions with a restaurant between them, a small beach, the walls, and silence. Both pensions open for the walking seasons and close in winter, and both should be called ahead because there is no passing trade to keep them staffed on the off chance. If they are closed, the choice is to camp or to walk on to Üçağız the same day, which makes a long but manageable stage.
The ruins are unfenced and protected. Walk among them, swim beside them, do not climb the towers or take anything, including the pottery in the shallows. There is no ticket because there is no road, which is also why you will very likely have the city to yourself.
Reaching Aperlai without walking the whole trail
Sea kayak from Üçağız over the sunken city, or the boat that pension owners arrange from Üçağız in about forty minutes, or the walk down from Boğazcık and back up. We run the kayak-and-walk version as our Aperlai ghost city day, and for walkers we can arrange the taxi to Boğazcık and the boat out from Aperlai so you walk downhill and come home by sea.
Plan this with us
Tell us your dates, how many of you there are and how far you like to walk in a day. We reply within a day with a plan and a price from a licensed local agency — guided or self-guided, luggage moved, beds booked. No payment on this site.
Questions people actually ask
Is there a road to Aperlai?
No. You arrive on foot from Boğazcık, on foot from Üçağız, or by boat and kayak from Üçağız. That is the whole reason it is still quiet.
Can you swim at Aperlai?
Yes, in the bay beside the sunken harbour walls. The ruins are protected: swim next to them, do not climb on them or remove anything.
Is there water at Aperlai?
The pensions have water for guests. The ancient cisterns are not reliable. Carry your own from Boğazcık.