Ancient ruins. Beaches, bays and Bougainvillea. Superyachts and splendor. The rich culture of Turkey’s Bodrum Peninsula has been more than 3,000 years in the making.
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Turkey’s Bodrum Peninsula: From ancient wonder to luxury playground
Editor’s Note — This CNN Travel series is, or was, sponsored by the country it highlights. CNN retains full editorial control over subject matter, reporting and frequency of the articles and videos within the sponsorship, in compliance with our policy.
Timeline
From ancient wonder to luxury playground
It’s a sun-seekers’ sanctuary and a billionaires’ playground, but explore further and there are traditional hilltop villages and archaeological treasures that connect us with the ancient world.
Keep scrolling to travel back with us through Bodrum’s rich history and learn how to explore its magnificent heritage today.
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Playground paradise 2025 to 1960s -
Tradition and industry 1950s to 395
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Ancient wonder 129 BCE to 1200 BCE
Playground paradise 2025 to 1960s
The Bodrum Peninsula extends from southwest Turkey into the Aegean Sea, where dazzling blue waters lap its sandy coastline of islets, bays and caves for some 130 or so miles.
Bodrum is the name of both a city and a district. The port of Bodrum, once the ancient city of Halicarnassus, is on the peninsula’s south side, but there are around a dozen resort towns and villages along its shores.
Göltürkbükü is famous for its beach clubs. Superyachts gather at Yalıkavak’s luxury marina. Bitez’s shallow, calm waters make its beaches particularly family-friendly. Gündoğan is the oldest settlement, with a history going back to 4 BCE.
While Bodrum is best known for glitz and glamor, peaceful rustic charm can also be found across its 250 square miles (650 square kilometers), particularly up in its wild, lesser-explored hills and mountains.
Cennet Koyu (“Paradise Bay”), near Göltürkbükü on the northern side of the peninsula, is the most elite destination in Turkey right now and one of the most luxurious getaways on the planet.
The world’s top hotel brands are all opening outposts here, on sprawling, meticulously landscaped hillside estates so huge guests need golf carts to get around.
The elegantly bohemian beach club and party spot Scorpios opened here in 2024, as did its neighbor Maxx Royal, with its majestic 5,750-square-meter spa with 20 treatment rooms.
Tucked around the bay to the west, opposite the upcoming Bvlgari Resort (opening in 2027), is the $50,000-a-night Villa Maçakızı. This 2019 opening is a discreet new offering from the Maçakızı Hotel, Bodrum’s original and most iconic A-list destination.
Zeki Müren, a legendary music star dubbed the “Turkish Liberace,” brought showbiz glamor to Bodrum when he retired here in 1987, the same year Bodrum-Imsik regional airport was built.
“Bodrum started becoming famous with Turkish tourists,” recalls Sever Dursun, a guide at Etrim, a traditional village 15 miles from Bodrum town.
“High-society people who had money start coming now. Every star, football player, politician, they have to have a villa or summer holiday home around Bodrum.” Sever Dursun
“High-society people who had money start coming now. Every star, football player, politician, they have to have a villa or summer holiday home around Bodrum.” Sever Dursun
Bodrum’s population rose exponentially in the 1980s and 1990s as tourism boomed. In addition to being a destination for well-heeled Turks, there were also Europeans on affordably priced all-inclusive package holidays.
In the 1960s and ‘70s, Bodrum flourished as a bohemian paradise. Renowned Turkish fashion designer Cemil İpekçi recalls,
Tradition and industry 1950s to 395
“During ‘50s, ‘60s, ‘70s, people weren’t rich at that time,” recalls Dursun. “Some of my uncles used to do sponge diving.” People had been gathering sponge from the Aegean since ancient times, but the industry’s golden age was between 1945 and 1965. Boat construction flourished during this time too.
The sea around Bodrum is still busy with boats today, but their purpose is leisure, not business.
“No one would buy near seaside,” says Dursun, “but today is opposite.” Typically women would end up inheriting poor coastal land, while men would own the richer inland fields, but, he says, “it’s changed now.”
At Etrim, high in the quiet hills of the peninsula’s eastern interior, visitors can experience traditional, self-sufficient village life and learn about the 3,000-year-old art of Turkish carpet-weaving.
“If you see any Turkish handmade carpets, by looking at the color and design, you can pinpoint the region,” explains Dursun.
“People come to visit us, to see the olive trees, to see the fig trees, to see the vegetable farms, to see the chickens, to see the roosters, to see the cows,” says Engin Başol, whose family has lived in Etrim for generations. His sister and grandmother are carpet-weavers, as women have been here for hundreds of years.
Engin’s sister Belgin’s day begins at 5 a.m. In the village they grow olives, oranges, okra, grapes and eggplant and serve guests lunches made from their produce. The chickens roost and even nestle into the balls of yarn made from sheep’s wool.
Etrim is the starting point for the 55-mile-long Leleg Way hiking route, named after one of Bodrum’s earliest known inhabitants. The Lelegs lived here between the 15th and 4th century BCE and the route, which finishes at Şevket Sabancı Park in Turgutreis, goes past ancient cities and monumental tombs.
Etrim is the starting point for the 55-mile-long Leleg Way hiking route, named after one of Bodrum’s earliest known inhabitants. The Lelegs lived here between the 15th and 4th century BCE and the route, which finishes at Şevket Sabancı Park in Turgutreis, goes past ancient cities and monumental tombs.
Back on the coastline, the 18th-century windmills that sit atop the hillside overlooking the lively beach resorts of Gümbet Bay are one of Bodrum’s most famous landmarks.
“This is a very versatile place,” says hotelier Sahir Erozan, who turned his mother’s boho Maçakızı Hotel into the A-list luxury getaway it is today.
“It’s got its commercial angles, its historical angles, it’s got its bohemian lifestyle angles too.” Sahir Erozan
“It’s got its commercial angles, its historical angles, it’s got its bohemian lifestyle angles too.” Sahir Erozan
Bodrum’s shipyards built boats that helped strengthen the Ottoman Empire’s power at sea.
Bodrum’s shipyards built boats that helped strengthen the Ottoman Empire’s power at sea.
In the 16th century, when pirate raids were rife, Sandıma’s position more than 2,600 feet above the Yalıkavak shoreline was a strategic advantage. The village, estimated to be around 600 years old, was abandoned in the 20th century as industry turned towards the seafront. Visitors can hike up and, with caution, explore the ruins, the village cemetery and the 19th-century fountain and water cistern.
In the 16th century, when pirate raids were rife, Sandıma’s position more than 2,600 feet above the Yalıkavak shoreline was a strategic advantage. The village, estimated to be around 600 years old, was abandoned in the 20th century as industry turned towards the seafront. Visitors can hike up and, with caution, explore the ruins, the village cemetery and the 19th-century fountain and water cistern.
The Knights Hospitaller, a Catholic military order, took over Bodrum at the start of the 15th century and began construction on Bodrum Castle, using stones from the earthquake-hit remains of the 4th-century BCE Mausoleum at Halicarnassus to fortify its construction. One of Bodrum’s most popular tourist sites, the castle became home to the Bodrum Museum of Underwater Archaeology in 1962.
The Museum of Underwater Archaeology has several Byzantine shipwrecks on display: Yassıada, Şeytan Deresi and Serçe Harbor.
Ancient wonder 129 BCE to 1200 BCE
Bodrum, known in ancient times as Halicarnassus, came under Roman rule in 129 BCE. For the two centuries before that, it was led by Hellenistic rulers and was an independent kingdom for a short time. Earlier again, it was captured by the Macedonian forces of Alexander the Great in 334 BCE.
The Mausoleum of Halicarnassus is depicted in this 17th-century fresco by Nikolaus Schiel in Neustift Abbey, Northern Italy. DeAgostini/Getty Images
King Mausolus ruled over the ancient region of Caria, in western Anatolia, from 377 to 353 BCE. The tomb built to honor him, known as the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, was so monumental that it was acclaimed as one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
The mausoleum, once nearly 150 feet in height, was destroyed by a series of earthquakes between the 12th and 15th centuries, but its ruins can still be visited in downtown Bodrum. A replica of the mausoleum can be found in Bodrum Castle (whose construction was fortified by stone from the tomb) and statues that once adorned it are on display in London’s British Museum.
Reputed to have been built around 360 BCE, this was once one of the monumental entrance gates to Halicarnassus. The surrounding moat helped the city defend itself when it later came under siege by the forces of Alexander the Great. Nearby, there are vaulted Hellenistic and Roman tombs, thought to date back to the 4th century.
The museum at Bodrum Castle has many fascinating exhibits from the city’s ancient past, including the tomb, jewels and recreated face of the “Carian Princess,” speculated to be Ara of Caria, who first ruled the region between 344 and 340 BCE.
Built in the 4th century BCE, the Bodrum Antique Theater is a Greco-Roman theater that once had capacity for 10,000 people. The lower part of the theater, with commanding sea views as far as the Greek island of Kos, still hosts cultural events. The rest of the time, it’s free to enter.
Built in the 4th century BCE, the Bodrum Antique Theater is a Greco-Roman theater that once had capacity for 10,000 people. The lower part of the theater, with commanding sea views as far as the Greek island of Kos, still hosts cultural events. The rest of the time, it’s free to enter.
The mermaid statue is the safest spot from which to start the slippery journey along the “King’s Road,” dating back to at least the fourth century BCE, which leads to the island and the remains of the ancient city of Myndos.
The island itself is closed to visitors, with much of its archaeological treasures still awaiting excavation. This is a region where the many rich layers of history are still revealing themselves.
The strong of heart and stout of shoe can explore the region’s ancient paths on the Carian Trail, a 500-mile-long coastal hiking trail around southwest Turkey. New secrets are still being uncovered about the antique city of Pedasa, a former indigenous settlement in the Bodrum hills, with a history that might extend back as far as the 12th century BCE.
