Stage 19 · Route 19 (Alakilise)
Demre to Finike over the Alaca Dağ: the stage most walkers skip
Updated: 2026-09-07
Everything else on this trail can be walked with a bed at the end of the day. This cannot. From Demre the path climbs through Belören into cedar forest and onto the Alaca Dağ, camps at the ruined church of Alakilise, climbs again to the shepherd camp at Yatıkardıç, and then falls 1,600 m to Finike. Trekopedia measures the three legs at 12.5, 12.2 and 14.5 km with 1,138, 1,128 and 167 m of ascent; the guidebook gives 29 km for the whole thing. Either way it is two nights out with everything on your back.
It is also the stage with the worst water on the trail. The fountain at Belören is the last certain source. After that you are relying on cisterns and seasonal springs that have been dry in October.
Want this walked with bags moved and beds booked? Plan it with us ↓
- Distance
- 39 km
- Ascent
- 2433 m
- Descent
- 2449 m
- Time
- 2–3 days
- Grade
- Hard
- Terrain
- A full mountain crossing of the Alaca Dağ: 1,100 m of climbing to the Byzantine church at Alakilise, a second climb to Yatıkardıç, then a 1,600 m descent to the sea at Finike. No villages, no beds, unreliable water.
- Sleep at the end
- None. Camping at Alakilise and Yatıkardıç is obligatory
- Water
- The least reliable on the whole trail. A fountain at Belören village near the start; cisterns after that. Carry five litres
- Getting there
- Demre and Finike are both on the coast bus; there is no way off the mountain in between
- From Kaş
- Demre is 45 min from Kaş; Finike about 1.5 h
Ghost cities on this stage
- Alakilise — a ruined Byzantine church high in the mountains, the usual first camp.
- Belos — a Lycian-Roman hill town on the descent above Finike, walls and tombs in the forest.
Highlights
- The only true wilderness stage on the trail
- Cedar forest and the high pastures of the Alaca Dağ
- Arriving in Finike from a thousand metres up
Should you do it?
Do it if you have a tent, mountain experience, five litres of water capacity and a filter, and if being alone on a high pass with nobody within a day’s walk sounds like a reward rather than a risk. It is a genuinely beautiful crossing and the reason some people walk the Lycian Way at all.
Skip it, with no shame, if any of that is not true. The bus from Demre to Finike takes under an hour, and the coast beyond Finike offers the Gelidonya lighthouse and Olympos, which are better days than the greenhouse road out of Finike anyway. Most through-walkers we have read about take the bus.
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 accommodation between Demre and Finike?
No. Camping at Alakilise and Yatıkardıç is obligatory. Some walkers do it in two very long days with one camp.
Is there water on the Demre to Finike stage?
A fountain at Belören near the start, then only cisterns and seasonal springs that fail in autumn. Carry five litres and a filter.
How do I skip it?
Buses run between Demre and Finike along the coast road in under an hour. Rejoin the trail at Finike, or take a further bus to Karaöz or Adrasan and skip the greenhouse stage too.