81km (50 miles) southeast of Fethiye; 229km (142 miles) southwest of Antalya; 25km (16 miles) east of Kalkan; 109km (68 miles) southeast of Dalaman Airport

With only 25km (16 miles) separating Kas from Kalkan, these neighboring towns share the same stunning and broken rocky coastline, so whether you base yourself in one or the other depends on your individual character and travel style. (Keep in mind that tours run by an outfitter based in one routinely involve pickups in the other.) Kas established itself as the more popular of the two in the 1960s and 1970s, first as a hippie hangout, and later as a stopping point for yachts and gulets on the Blue Voyage. Over the decades, the towns-proper of Kalkan and Kas have developed their own individual character. Whereas Kalkan is contained and insular, Kas unravels itself into the surrounding landscape. If you choose Kalkan, you'll want to stay in the village center whereas in Kas, you'll probably opt for a secluded outpost along the peninsula. What both share are narrow cobbled streets shadowed by the protruding balconies of the typical Ottoman houses, the DNA of antiquity, proximity to ancient and traditional places, and a front-row seat to Turkey's most breathtaking mountain and Mediterranean scenery.

In spite of its success as Turkey's second Mediterranean city, Kas still retains a certain small-town charm. The town is built around the sparse remains of ancient Antiphellos, which left behind a few scattered rock tombs, a Greek theater, and an unanticipated monumental sarcophagus featuring four lions' heads at the upper end of one of Kas's narrow shopping streets.

As the definition of a beach resort goes, Kas falls somewhat short in that it lacks a proper beach. But it makes up for this with rocky terraces over crystal-clear Mediterranean waters both in town and along the peninsula. Kas (as is Kalkan) is also an optimal jumping-off point for trips to Kekova, Myra, and some of the regions' best undiscovered mountain villages. The abundance of outdoorsy activities around Kas has also helped to maintain its reputation as a relaxed, satisfying, and generally inexpensive holiday destination, and in the past few years, it's also developed into quite the family destination.