Kemer Holidays

You’ll need to pick up your jaw after laying eyes on the landscape that surrounds Kemer. The lofty Olympos Mountains rear up in the background, with cable cars bobbing up and down in front of them. The silhouetted Taurus Mountains come into focus at the seafront, and big portions of the Olympos National Park fan out around the buzzy town centre.

One Blue Flag beach is a feather in the cap for most places, and two’s going above and beyond. Kemer takes the game to a different level, though, with 10 different stretches that have made the cut. They range from smooth pebbled pockets to sand and shingle sections, and there’s even a Blue Flag marina cranking the total up to 11. Moonlight Beach hits a home run with sun-seekers, and it’s just a short stroll from the heap of bars and restaurants strung out along the town’s main pedestrian street.

Nose around the tree-blemished coastline south of Kemer, and you’ll find a hidden historic site on one of the bushy headlands. These are the Roman ruins of the ancient city of Phaselis, which date back as far as 700 BC. From a distance, they’re barely visible beyond the greenery, but once you’re inside, you’ll see the remains of a theatre, an aqueduct and a main road. A pair of sleepy, tucked-away beaches gives you somewhere to put your feet up when you’re done exploring, too.