In this week’s blog post, we will be giving information about three beautiful locations. Our first stop is wonderous Butterfly Valley. Our second stop is Tlos Ancient City, a tourist attraction of historical importance. Lastly, we picked Fethiye City Center for those who like purchasing souvenirs for their loved ones. We hope that you enjoy our post, and wish you a happy summer season!

Butterfly Valley

Butterfly Valley is one of the most attractive places in the surrounding area of Fethiye. It was declared as nature reserve in 1995 and is completely closed for construction. Butterfly Valley (Kelebekler Vadisi in Turkish) is one of the most magical and beautiful bays of Turkey. It is located on the western coast of the Gulf of Belcekız close to Ölüdeniz and you can get there only by boat. There are scheduled boat services to the valley during the high season.

The valley got its name from the extraordinarily beautiful “tiger butterfly” of the «Arctiidae» family. Most of tiger butterflies can be seen during early June. Colonies of these fascinating moths are flitting in a protected valley until late October. Almost all species of butterflies that live on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea can be found within the Butterfly Valley.

In order to fully enjoy the beauty of these moths and take some memorable pictures of beautiful nature reserve you need to go to one of the waterfalls. The numerous trails lead from coast to waterfalls meandering among the impeccably beautiful scenery. By selecting one of them you can get to the second waterfall among the fragrant aromas of herbs and flowers. All along the way you will see a lot of bright butterflies that take off to the air with your appearance forming a living cloud.

Tlos Ancient City

As one of the six principal cities of Lycia (and one of the most powerful), Tlos once bore the title under the Roman Empire of 'the very brilliant metropolis of the Lycian Nation'. It is one of the oldest and largest settlements of Lycia (known as 'Tlawa' in Lycian inscriptions) and was eventually inhabited by Ottoman Turks, one of the few Lycian cities to continue its existence through the 19th century. There is evidence that Tlos was a member of the Lycian Federation from the 2nd century BC. Two wealthy philanthropists, one of which was Opramoas of Rhodiapolis, were responsible for much of the building in the 2nd century AD. Inscriptions tell us that the citizens were divided into demes, the names of three of them are known: Bellerophon, Iobates and Sarpedon. A Jewish community is also known to have existed with its own magistrates.

Tlos lies on the east side of the Xanthos valley, and is dominated by its acropolis. This rocky outcrop slopes up from a plateau with a charming village, but ends on the west, north and northeast in almost perpendicular cliffs. On its slope are several Lycian sarcophagi and many house and temple-type rock-cut tombs cut into the face of the hill. The influence of many cultures upon Tlos has resulted in an interesting collage of structures. It is a romantic place with lush nature and many of the buildings are vine-covered (especially the large bath), it would have been the perfect location for any romantic painter.

Yaka village now co-exists with Tlos and the fields and pomegranate trees make for very picturesque scenery. Tlos is a popular destination for tours from the coastal cities. The whole area it is situated in is beautiful with many small villages.

Shopping in City Center

With an abundance of shops selling all sorts of goods from brand name clothes to basic home textile products, Fethiye is an authentic shopper’s paradise. No trip to Fethiye would be complete without browsing for bargains in the local open-air markets, for souvenirs in the shops that line at the beachfront or choose something fashionable at a cool mall.

Shopping in Fethiye offers many choices to the buyer. You can either enjoy the street shops of the umbrella road, Paspatur and around fish market or directly choose to go to the shopping mall, named Erasta and seek for what you need in one place.

Keep following our blog for more information on natural wonders, and locations of historical value all around Fethiye. We suggest you check our rent a car page, and airport transfers page for a more comfortable vacation! Also be sure to check our tours page to discover the beauties of Fethiye with us! We wish everybody a happy summer this year.