The best things to do in Bodrum are the Castle of St Peter and its Museum of Underwater Archaeology, the causeway you wade to Rabbit Island at Gümüşlük, a day boat around Karaada and Orak, the foundations of the Mausoleum that gave every language the word, and the ancient theatre cut into the hill above the harbour. Four days covers the town and two of the peninsula’s bays.
Bodrum is two places at once. The old town wraps a crusader castle that now holds a Bronze Age shipwreck raised from the Aegean, and the peninsula behind it runs bay after bay, from car-free fishing hamlets to superyacht berths. Pick your coast before you book a bed.
The Knights of St John began building here in 1402, partly out of Mausoleum stone. Inside, the Uluburun hall holds a merchant ship that sank in the 14th century BC, raised over eleven seasons of diving, its cargo drawn from nine cultures.
Ancient Myndos stood here and part of it lies under the water you walk through. At low tide a stone path surfaces between the beach and the island, which is why the village fills at sunset rather than at midday.
The standard loop runs six to eight hours out of the marina: Karaada and its warm spring cave, Aquarium Bay, then Orak, which is uninhabited and reachable only by boat. Lunch is normally part of the fare.
Mausolus died in 353 BC and Artemisia, his sister and his wife, built him a tomb so extravagant that his name became the word for one. Earthquakes and the Knights took it apart. The platform, the drainage and a few blocks are what is left.
Cut into the slope above the harbour in the 4th century BC, and among the oldest surviving theatres in Anatolia. It still works for its original purpose: the ballet festival and the September baroque programme both stage here.
A sponge-diving village that became the Aegean’s superyacht berth. The point is not the boats but the hour when the shops and restaurants along the quay fill and the peninsula’s smartest crowd comes out.
Bitez is the peninsula’s windsurfing bay: shallow, sandy, reliably breezy by afternoon and lined with schools that rent by the hour. It doubles as the easiest family beach with a bus back into town.
The western gate of the wall Mausolus threw around Halicarnassus, with its towers and the ditch in front of them still legible. Alexander’s army fought its way into the city near here in 334 BC.
Turkey’s most famous singer lived in this house from 1980 until his death in 1996, and the ground floor is kept as he left it. The upper floor holds the stage costumes, which are the reason to come.
The Greek island sits in plain sight across the water and boats run daily through the season. Kos town has its own castle of the Knights, a Roman agora, and bicycle rental at the port, which is how to cover it.
Candlelit tables at the water’s edge in Gümüşlük, mezes and whole fish, almond paste to close.
The strip running east from the castle square, and the reason Bodrum has a reputation.
Foundations and fragments of one of the seven wonders, built for Mausolus after 353 BC.
Cut into the hillside in the 4th century BC and still used for summer concerts.
The western gate of Mausolus’s city wall, where Alexander broke in during the siege of 334 BC.
The superyacht berth on the north coast, with the shops and restaurants built around it.
A six to eight hour loop: the warm cave at Black Island, Aquarium Bay, then Orak.
A sponge-diving village turned superyacht marina, and the smartest evening on the peninsula.
The western town: a marina, a long promenade, and the sunsets the peninsula is known for.
Ninety minutes to two hours by road, or a boat across the gulf, to twin ancient harbours.
175 km each way, about two and a half hours, for the best-preserved classical city in Turkey.
A short drive inland pairs a market town with a standing Temple of Zeus and a mountain sanctuary.
Two days in the groves at Yalıçiftlik, run by the municipality when the olives flower.
The Bodrum Dance Club Association brings thousands of dancers into town for a long weekend.
Chamber and jazz concerts in the fishing village, running every summer since 2004.
Staged by Turkish State Opera and Ballet since 2002, in the castle and the ancient theatre.
A September fixture, and the last of the big open-air programmes before the season closes.
Baroque programmes in the ancient theatre, on the hillside above the harbour.
A wooden-hulled gulet regatta run by the ERA Bodrum Sailing Club since 1989.
Turgutreis marks the mandarin harvest with market stalls, music and competitions.
The peninsula’s only airport, 36 km northeast and about 45 minutes by road. Havaş runs a shuttle to Bodrum otogar; Muttaş buses and dolmuş fan out to the villages from there.
Boats cross to Kos daily through the season, with seasonal sailings on to Kalymnos, Leros, Symi and Rhodes. Passports are checked at the harbour terminal, so allow time before departure.
Shared minibuses are how the peninsula connects. Almost every village route runs through Bodrum otogar, so a hop between two bays usually means changing there rather than going direct.
Metered yellow taxis wait at the marina and the otogar. In season a water taxi between the northern bays is often quicker than driving the coast road.
Bodrum’s own: thin beef or lamb over shoestring potatoes, under garlic yogurt and tomato sauce.
İzmir’s sandwich, now beach food here: sausage, cheese, tomato and pickle in a sesame roll.
The local dumpling, smaller than the Kayseri version and buried in yogurt and browned butter.
Sea beans off the salt marsh, blanched and dressed with olive oil, garlic and lemon.
Sea bass, bream or red mullet, priced by the kilo and picked off the ice at the counter.
Wild greens such as şevketi bostan, radika and turp otu, boiled and served cold in oil.
The peninsula’s own mandarin, small and sharp, with a November festival in its name.
Muğla’s forests produce most of Turkey’s pine honey, thick and resinous rather than floral.
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