Stage 13 · Route 12
Çukurbağ to Kaş: the steep last drop into town
Updated: 2026-09-07
The shortest hard stage on the trail. From Çukurbağ the path drops 555 m in 7 km, most of it in one loose, steep kilometre, and delivers you to the top of Kaş with the theatre below and the harbour beyond. Knees complain; eyes do not.
Walked in reverse, uphill from Kaş, this is the most-reviewed Lycian Way segment near the town on the route platforms, and a good morning for anyone staying in Kaş who wants the view without a full day. Go up early, come down before the heat, swim.
Want this walked with bags moved and beds booked? Plan it with us ↓
- Distance
- 7 km
- Ascent
- 68 m
- Descent
- 555 m
- Time
- 2.5–3 h
- Grade
- Hard
- Terrain
- A short stage but a fierce descent: over a kilometre at twenty-five percent or more on loose stone, dropping into the top of Kaş.
- Sleep at the end
- Kaş: everything, all year. See where to stay in Kaş
- Water
- Fountain at the Çukurbağ mosque; then the town
- Getting there
- Çukurbağ is a short taxi from Kaş; Kaş otogar has buses along the whole coast
- From Kaş
- This stage ends in Kaş
Ghost cities on this stage
- Antiphellos — ancient Kaş. The Hellenistic theatre above the town, the Doric rock tomb behind it, and the King’s Tomb sarcophagus standing in the middle of the market street.
Highlights
- Kaş, Meis and the whole gulf laid out below the path
- Arriving in town on foot through the back streets
- The theatre at sunset, which is free
Arriving in Kaş on foot
The path comes into town above the theatre. Walk down through it: the Hellenistic seats are free and the view over Meis is the one on every postcard. Then the Doric tomb cut into the rock behind, the King’s Tomb in Uzun Çarşı with shops built around it, and the harbour. Kaş has a gear shop, pharmacies, cash machines and the only laundry between Fethiye and Demre, which is why walkers take a rest day here.
What to do with that rest day is in three days in Kaş, and where to eat properly after a week of village food is in where to eat in Kaş.
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
How steep is Çukurbağ to Kaş?
Over a kilometre at twenty-five percent or more on loose stone. Poles help, and walking it uphill as a morning loop from Kaş is kinder on the knees.
Is Kaş a good rest stop on the Lycian Way?
The best one. It is the largest town between Fethiye and Demre, with a gear shop, laundry, pharmacies and buses in every direction.