We thought Fethiye was relaxed, but boy were we wrong. It turns out that where it’s at in Turkey is Olympos. If you ever visit Turkey, which I’d highly recommend at this point, it is a must.

Olympos is a five hour bus ride from Fethiye, along the coastal road heading to Antalya. At times you don’t want to look out the window, because all you see is road, cliff, and then ocean a few hundred feet down. It takes an awful lot of confidence in your bus driver to relax and enjoy the scenery. I told myself that this guy had probably made the trip a thousand times, but as soon as I had convinced myself of that I thought maybe he had just started.

Anyway, we made it to Olympos, which is in a forested valley right on the beach. They have some ruins there, but the main attraction is the backpacker diggs themselves. Because it is set in a national park, they can’t build any kind of major structures. So over the years what has cropped up are a series of tree houses and rustic bungalows, all of which have a very minimal environmental impact. Each treehouse facility has these cool raised platforms covered with pillows for reading, playing board games, or doing absolutely nothing.

Because of the way these places are set up, the entire place has an incredibly laid-back atmosphere. It was the first place in Turkey where you could walk down the street and not have anyone hassle you for anything. If you manage to grab a coveted seat on the covered platforms, you keep it for as long as you can.

A big plus for Olympos is that all of the places include lunch and dinner in the price. Val and I stayed at Bayrams in a 2 person bungalow. It was a pretty nice little room, and the food was always excellent. Each night the dinner was something different, but always traditional Turkish food. Again, I’d highly recommend it.

The main attractions in Olympos are the ruins of the ancient city, the beach, and the Chimera. The beach is nice, it’s a pebble beach instead of sand. The ruins are really cool and were lots of fun to explore on foot. And the Chimera was just crazy. We’ve got separate posts on the Chimera and the beach, so check them out.