Stage 20 · Route 20
Finike to Karaöz: the flat road stage before Gelidonya
Updated: 2026-09-07
Every long trail has one, and this is the Lycian Way’s: 29 km of asphalt and beach road through the greenhouse plain of Kumluca, with the mountains on your left and polytunnels on your right. Trekopedia measures it at 29 km and seven and a half hours; walkers describe it as the most boring part of the route, and they are not wrong.
The sensible plan is to take the bus from Finike through Kumluca to Mavikent and walk only the last stretch to Karaöz, or bus all the way and start fresh on the lighthouse stage. Nobody will check.
Want this walked with bags moved and beds booked? Plan it with us ↓
- Distance
- 29 km
- Time
- 7.5 h
- Grade
- Easy
- Terrain
- Almost entirely pavement and beach road through the greenhouses of Mavikent to the small resort of Karaöz. Flat, long and hot.
- Sleep at the end
- Guesthouses and camps at Karaöz; hotels in Mavikent if you stop short
- Water
- Town water throughout
- Getting there
- Buses Finike–Kumluca–Mavikent; dolmuş to Karaöz in season
- From Kaş
- Finike about 1.5 h from Kaş; Karaöz a further hour by road
Highlights
- Honestly, few. A long beach, a lot of tomatoes, and a bed at the end
- Karaöz, a quiet fishing village that marks the start of the Gelidonya coast
Why walk any of it
Purists walking every waymark will walk it. Everyone else should treat it as the transfer between the Alaca Dağ and the Gelidonya coast, which is where the eastern trail becomes worth the effort again. If you skipped Demre to Finike by bus, you can continue on the same line to Mavikent and lose nothing that matters.
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
Can I skip Finike to Karaöz?
Yes, and most people do. Buses run Finike–Kumluca–Mavikent; from Mavikent it is a short road walk or dolmuş to Karaöz.
Is there anything to see on the stage?
Finike’s harbour at the start and Karaöz’s bay at the end. The plain in between is agriculture.