Faralya [87] [CE236]

1Nitty-Gritty

2Attractions & Highlights

3Accommodations

4Pretty Pictures

5How You Can Help

Home | Trails | Lycian Way | Communities

Village

Faralya

ID:

Friendly and very welcoming village between Ovacık and Kabak that most people use as an end-point of the first (or last) stage of the Lycian Way.

It sits atop the beautiful Butterfly Valley.

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Nitty-Gritty

Orientation

Faralya is a narrow village stretching generally in a northeast-southwest orientation. Coming from Ovacık, the Lycian Way enters the village from the northeast where it joins a paved road which it follows through the village heading southwestward. It continues southwest to depart the village, leaving the paved road shortly afterward.

If you are taking the unofficial coastal variant that connects directly with Kabak Beach (bypassing the ‘upper village’ of Kabak), that option branches away from the paved road almost immediately after reaching it, following a slightly different path through the village, departing generally westward along the upper lip of Butterfly Valley.

Transport

There is a dolmuş pick-up point right where the trail comes out into Faralya at the northeastern end, directly across from the Gul Pension. The pension has a restaurant and is very welcoming to people waiting for the dolmuş. They rent rooms as well, of course. If you are heading back to Fethiye, the dolmuş ride is about 40 minutes along some rough roads that skirt the edge of the cliffs. You can also get a dolmuş to Kabak from here, if desired.

Faralya generally gets dolmuş service between two and five times a day, with the least service in winter and the most in summer. As with dolmuş service everywhere, schedules are quite loose.

Highlights

The top attraction in Faralya is the gorgeous Butterfly Valley. There are plenty of great viewpoints in and near Faralya where you can look down over the valley. The views are spectacular! For a close-up view, just head northward into the village off of the main road.

Note that while it is possible to descend down to Butterfly Valley it can be dangerous if you are not an experienced climber. If you do decide to make the descent, there are ropes in some of the particularly tricky places. It’s very rugged, steep, and care needs to be taken (‘scrambling’ is often the term used for the sort of hiking involved in the descent). Note: it can be dangerous –deadly, even– if you are careless / reckless, decide to leave the marked trail, try to descend with a backpack, or if you think sandals are ‘just fine’ for the descent.

Any of the hotels / pensions in Faralya can assist you with arranging a paragliding excursion if you wish. The tour operators will pick you up in Faralya (or pretty well anywhere from Fethiye to Kabak Beach, actually), take you up Babadağ (“father mountain”) and then casually push you off of it… hopefully after equipping you with paragliding gear!

Other types of excursions (boating, diving, etc.) can also be arranged in Faralya if desired.

You can arrange boat tours to Butterfly Valley from Ölüdeniz or Fethiye, and sometimes from Kabak Beach.

Accommodations

Faralya has a wealth of outstanding sleeping options. Montenegro Motel & Restaurant is popular, as is Onur Motel. Melisa Pansiyon is building a great reputation for friendliness.

You’ll likely be well taken care of wherever you choose to stay.

Amenities

There are no shops in Faralya. Nearest one (albeit very small) is in Kabak. For anything non-trivial, you’ll need to go to Ölüdeniz, Ovacık, or Fethiye. However, you can often purchase fresh fruit / vegetables and other items from the local pensions (often even if you aren’t staying there).

There are toilets at the mosque and several water fountains available, including one on your right just as you are leaving the village for Kabak.

Attractions & Highlights

Notable highlights along the trail and at either endpoint include:

Landscape

Butterfly Valley

By Faralya

Accommodations

Here’s what we’re currently tracking for this community:

Hotel

Faralya Limon Hotel
Guesthouse

Faralya Misafir Evi
Guesthouse

Gül Pension
Hotel

Keyif Motel
Guesthouse

Melisa Pansiyon
Guesthouse

Montenegro Motel & Restaurant
Hotel

Onur Motel

Pretty Pictures

Sometimes nothing beats a good photo. Or even a bad photo! If you’d like to share some or all of your photo collection with the Trekopedia community, contact us at photos@trekopedia.com and we can arrange a transfer of them. And thanks!

All photos are copyright by their respective owners and are used with permission.

Looking towards Butterfly valley

Photo by
Łukasz Ostojski

–
Fall 2021
Looking down into Butterfly Valley from Faralya

Photo by
Ronen Fox

–
Apr 2017
Lunch in Faralya at the Onur Motel

Photo by
Darren Moens

–
Fall 2022
Looking towards the mosque in Faralya

Photo by
T Roszkowski

How You Can Help

Trail research is never actually done. Here’s some of what we’re looking for (in addition to the general requests for help listed in this article):

More photos! We’re always looking for more photos to add to our internal research database as well as for use here on Trekopedia. If you are willing to share your collection with us, we’d be incredibly grateful. Let us know and we’ll arrange a transfer.

Details on accommodation options, especially places where you’ve stayed.

Details on restaurants, markets, and other amenities.

Tips, recommendations, and generally anything that you think would help other hikers.

Help improve the geo-location of any points-of-interest.