Stage 1 · Route 1
Fethiye to Ovacık on the Lycian Way: the optional first day
Updated: 2026-09-07
The official trailhead is the yellow sign at Ovacık, above Ölüdeniz. Most people take a dolmuş there and start walking. But if you have a spare half day and arrive in Fethiye early, the route over the ridge and down through Kayaköy is a soft opening: a proper town behind you, a dead one in the middle, and a resort with cold beer at the end.
Two measured sections make up the day: Fethiye to Kayaköy is about 8.8 km, Kayaköy to Ovacık about 5.5 km. The guidebook rounds the whole thing to 14 km.
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- Distance
- 14 km
- Time
- 4–6 h
- Grade
- Moderate
- Terrain
- Forest track and old mule path over the ridge behind Fethiye, dropping through Kayaköy to the resort plateau at Ovacık.
- Sleep at the end
- Ovacık and Hisarönü hotels and pensions; plenty, most open all year
- Water
- Town taps in Fethiye, Kayaköy and Ovacık; nothing reliable on the ridge
- Getting there
- Fethiye is the western bus hub; dolmuş runs Fethiye–Kayaköy and Fethiye–Ovacık all day
- From Kaş
- Fethiye is about 2.5 h from Kaş by the coast bus
Ghost cities on this stage
- Kayaköy (Levissi) — a Greek town of several thousand houses abandoned in the 1923 population exchange. Not Lycian, but the first ghost town on the trail and the reason many people start here instead of at the official Ovacık trailhead.
Highlights
- Fethiye’s rock tombs and the Telmessos theatre before you leave
- The roofless streets of Kayaköy
- First sight of Ölüdeniz lagoon from the ridge
Is it worth walking from Fethiye or should I start at Ovacık?
Walk it if you want Kayaköy. The town empties out into silence a few hundred metres from the car park, and you will not see anything like it again until the sunken cities beyond Kaş. Skip it if your legs are precious: the coast day from Ovacık to Faralya is longer and steeper, and it is the one you will remember.
A sensible compromise is to visit Kayaköy by dolmuş the afternoon you arrive in Fethiye, sleep in Ovacık, and start the real trail fresh in the morning.
Getting to the start
Dalaman airport to Fethiye is under an hour by shuttle or taxi. From Fethiye otogar, minibuses to Kayaköy and to Ovacık/Hisarönü leave every twenty to thirty minutes in season. If you are coming from Kaş, the coast bus takes about two and a half hours and stops in Kalkan and Kınık on the way, which are both trailheads for later stages. Details for the whole coast are in how to get to 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
Where does the Lycian Way officially start?
At Ovacık, above Ölüdeniz, at the yellow trailhead sign near the Hisarönü road. Fethiye and Kayaköy are an optional approach.
Is Kayaköy on the Lycian Way?
Yes. The approach route from Fethiye passes straight through it, and a side path from Kayaköy drops to Ölüdeniz beach if you would rather swim than climb.
Can I sleep in Kayaköy?
There are a few pensions and restaurants with rooms in the modern village below the ruins. Ovacık has far more choice and is on the trail.