Kayakoy is a hillside of several hundred roofless stone houses, two large churches and countless chapels, abandoned in the 1923 population exchange between Greece and Turkey when its Greek-speaking inhabitants left and the homes were never resettled. Wandering the steep, silent lanes among the crumbling shells, with hardly a modern building in sight, is a genuinely moving experience and a rare window into the region's layered history; the writer Louis de Bernieres used it as the inspiration for the village in Birds Without Wings. A small entry fee applies, and it is now a protected heritage site. Allow an hour or two to climb to the upper church for the view back over the valley. It sits between Fethiye and Oludeniz, and a scenic 45-minute walking trail links the village to Oludeniz over the hill for those who prefer to arrive on foot. Village restaurants nearby serve excellent home cooking.
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