Yalıkavak Guide: Hilltop Windmills, Marina and Sandima Stone Village

Lying eighteen kilometres north-west of Bodrum Town across the central hills of the peninsula (30 minutes by regular dolmuş), Yalıkavak was once Bodrum's main sponge-diving and windmill village. Because it faces north-west into the open Aegean, Yalıkavak stays four degrees breezier than Bodrum Town on hot July and August afternoons and offers two completely different faces: a sleek international superyacht harbour on one side of the bay, and quiet fishing piers, protected seal rocks and a 600-year-old abandoned stone village on the other.

1. Two Sets of Historic Stone Windmills (Yel Değirmenleri)

Eighteenth- and nineteenth-century cylindrical stone windmills (yel değirmenleri) are the architectural signature of the Bodrum hills, used until the 1970s to grind local wheat using the steady Aegean winds:

• The Haremtan Ridge Windmills (Between Bodrum Town and Gümbet): ten minutes from downtown Bodrum on the headland separating Bodrum Bay from Gümbet Bay stand seven whitewashed 1850s stone windmills (free, open 24/7). This is the single best sunset viewpoint near Bodrum Town, looking east to Bodrum Castle and west across Gümbet.
• The Yalıkavak Hilltop Windmills & Watchpoint: as the main road crests the mountain pass just before descending into Yalıkavak, pull into the panoramic terrace beside a restored stone windmill (whose wooden sails still turn to grind flour for the adjacent village breakfast café) for a sweeping view over the entire northern bay.

2. Yalıkavak Marina vs Old Town Fishing Harbour & Küdür Peninsula

On the southern shore of the bay sits Yalıkavak Marina, one of the Mediterranean's premier superyacht harbours, lined with open-air luxury fashion boutiques, contemporary art spaces and waterfront steak and seafood restaurants. Walk ten minutes around the inner curve of the bay into Old Yalıkavak (Merkez) and the scale drops back to traditional sponge-fishermen's coffeehouses, bakery ovens and casual seaside fish tables at Tilkicik and Ağaçlı bays. At the northern headland of the bay juts out the wild, unpaved Küdür Peninsula (Küdür Yarımadası), a protected 1st-degree natural reserve with rock-cut ancient Panormos tombs, natural swimming coves and Mediterranean monk seal caves.

3. Abandoned Stone Village of Sandima (2 km uphill from Yalıkavak)

Take a 5-minute taxi or hike uphill behind Yalıkavak into the olive-covered valley of Sandima (eski Yalıkavak), an atmospheric 600-year-old Turkmen village of eighty two-storey stone houses abandoned in the mid-20th century when residents moved down to the coast, with one restored stone house operating as a quiet art gallery and garden café.