Gulet Cruises from Bodrum: The Blue Voyage, Explained

Every evening in summer, Bodrum harbor fills with wooden boats coming home, varnish glowing, flags out, a deckhand hosing down the swim platform. Those are gulets, and going to sea on one is the single most Bodrum thing you can do. The trouble is that the phrase covers everything from a four-hour booze cruise to a private week with a chef, and the brochures use the same photographs for both. Here is how to tell them apart and which one you actually want.

At a glance

What a gulet is

A wooden two- or three-masted motor-sailer, typically 50 to 120 feet, with cabins below and a big shaded deck aft

Where they are built

Bodrum and nearby İçmeler have been the center of gulet building for decades

Day trips

Leave Bodrum harbor around 10 or 11 a.m., back by 5 or 6 p.m.; Karaada, Camel Beach, Aquarium Bay

Cabin charters

A cabin on a shared boat, usually Saturday to Saturday, meals included

Private charters

The whole boat with crew, priced per week; you set the route with the captain

Classic routes

Bodrum–Gulf of Gökova; Bodrum–Datça and Knidos; Greek islands with paperwork

Season

May to October; June and September are the sweet spot

What a gulet actually is

The gulet began as a working boat, a broad-beamed wooden hull used for sponge diving and carrying cargo along the coast. From the 1970s the Bodrum yards began building them for passengers instead, with a wide aft deck for lounging, a saloon, and cabins below with their own bathrooms. Modern ones are 50 to 120 feet long, two- or three-masted, and motor almost all the time; the sails come out for photographs and the occasional afternoon breeze.

The boatyards at İçmeler, on the eastern edge of Bodrum town, still launch new gulets every spring. The crew is usually a captain, a cook and one or two deckhands, and on a well-run boat the cook is the most important person aboard.

Where the Blue Voyage came from

The Mavi Yolculuk, the Blue Voyage, is a Turkish idea with a date and an author. In 1925 the writer Cevat Şakir Kabaağaçlı was exiled from Istanbul to Bodrum, then a poor fishing town, and fell for it so completely that he stayed, took the pen name Halikarnas Balıkçısı, the Fisherman of Halicarnassus, and spent the rest of his life writing about the coast. In the 1940s and 50s he began taking friends from the Istanbul intellectual crowd, among them the writers Sabahattin Eyüboğlu and Azra Erhat, out along the Gulf of Gökova in fishermen's boats.

They slept on deck, swam in empty bays, read Homer at anchor, and wrote about it afterward; Erhat's book Mavi Yolculuk, published in the early 1960s, gave the thing its name. What began as a few writers on a sponge boat became, by the 1980s, the backbone of the Bodrum tourist economy. The pines and the bays have not changed much. The boats have better bathrooms.

Option one: the day trip

Walk along Bodrum harbor any morning in summer and you will be offered a day on a boat. These leave around 10 or 11, make three or four swimming stops and get back by late afternoon, with lunch cooked on board. The standard loop is Karaada, the island opposite the town, where there is a hot spring and an orange mud people rub on themselves; Kargı Bay, known as Camel Beach for the animals that give rides on the sand; and Aquarium Bay, a clear cove for snorkeling.

Day trips are cheap and worth it once, especially with children. They are also crowded, and in August the boats raft up in the same bays within earshot of each other's speakers. Choose a boat by walking the quay the evening before: a clean deck and a crew that is not shouting tell you more than a brochure. Bitez, Gümüşlük and Yalıkavak run quieter local versions.

Option two: the cabin charter

A cabin charter is the way most people experience a real Blue Voyage without chartering a whole boat. You book one cabin, usually for a Saturday-to-Saturday week, on a gulet with eight or so cabins, and share the deck, the meals and the itinerary with whoever else booked. Breakfast, lunch and dinner are included; drinks are bought from the boat's bar at the end. Departures from Bodrum typically run the Gökova or Datça routes.

It is sociable by design, which is either the point or the problem. Operators often group by language or age, and some weeks are sold as adults-only; ask. If you are two couples or a family of six, pricing a small private charter may not be much more.

Option three: the private charter

A private charter means the whole boat and its crew for a week, with the route agreed with the captain and changed as the mood and the wind suggest. This is the Blue Voyage as the writers had it, only with air conditioning. Groups of six to twelve suit it best; the cost, split that many ways, is the sort of serious spend people compare to a villa rather than a hotel room, and it varies enormously with the boat's size, age and finish, so get quotes rather than trusting any number online.

Boats are usually booked through a charter agency that holds a fleet; a good one will ask about your group before showing you boats. Fuel, port fees and the crew tip may be extra; ask for the all-in figure.

The routes

• Bodrum to the Gulf of Gökova: the original Blue Voyage water, east of town. Pine forests to the shoreline, bays such as Yedi Adalar (Seven Islands), Longoz and English Harbour, and Sedir Island with its ancient Cedrae and the shell-sand beach. The most sheltered route and the best for a first time
• Bodrum to Datça and Knidos: south across the gulf to the long thin Datça peninsula and the ruins of Knidos at its tip, where the ancient city's two harbors still shelter boats. Wilder and windier, with fewer other gulets
• Bodrum to the Greek islands: Kos, Kalymnos, Leros and beyond. Possible on a private charter, but the boat must clear out of Turkey and into Greece with passports and paperwork, which costs a day and some fees; the crew handles it, but build it in
• Fethiye or Göcek to Marmaris or back: the other classic Blue Voyage, further east, around the Twelve Islands and Ölüdeniz. Not from Bodrum, but worth knowing about if you are comparing

What a day aboard is like

You wake at anchor in a bay with nobody in it, swim before breakfast, and eat on deck: olives, cheese, tomatoes, eggs, honey, bread, a lot of tea. The boat motors for an hour or two while you read under the awning, then anchors for lunch and a long swim. Afternoons are for kayaks, a walk ashore to a ruin or a shepherd's café, or sleep. Dinner is the cook's main event, meze and grilled fish or a stew, eaten as the light goes.

Nights are quiet, the generator usually off after a set hour, and most people end up sleeping on deck under the stars at least once. Nobody has ever regretted bringing a second book.

Season and what to ask when booking

The season is May to October. June and September are the best months: warm sea, calm weather, fewer boats, better prices. July and August are hottest and busiest, and the afternoon meltemi wind on the exposed routes can make for a lumpy few hours. May and October are cheaper but the water is cooler and some crews are winding up or down.

Frequently asked questions

What is a gulet cruise?

A gulet cruise is a trip aboard a traditional Turkish wooden motor-sailer, with a crew that sails, cooks and anchors in a different bay each day. It ranges from a one-day outing from Bodrum harbor to a week-long Blue Voyage with cabins, meals and a set or flexible route.

What is the Blue Voyage in Turkey?

The Blue Voyage, Mavi Yolculuk in Turkish, is the tradition of cruising the southwestern coast on a wooden boat, started in the 1940s and 50s by the writer Cevat Şakir, the Fisherman of Halicarnassus, and his friends from Istanbul. Today it means a multi-day gulet cruise, most often from Bodrum, Marmaris, Fethiye or Göcek.

How much does a gulet charter from Bodrum cost?

A day trip from Bodrum harbor is cheap. A cabin on a shared week is a mid-range holiday cost per person with meals included. A private boat with crew for a week is a serious spend that depends on the boat's size, age and season, so get several quotes and ask for the all-in price including fuel, port fees and food.

What is the best month for a gulet cruise in Bodrum?

June and September. The sea is warm, the weather is settled, the bays are less crowded than in July and August, and prices are lower than peak. May and October work for a cheaper trip if you do not mind cooler water.

Can a gulet from Bodrum go to the Greek islands?

Yes, on a private charter. The boat has to clear out of Turkey and into Greece, with passports checked and fees paid, which takes time and is arranged by the crew and agency. Kos, Kalymnos and Leros are the usual targets.

Do you get seasick on a gulet?

Rarely. Gulets are heavy, stable boats, they move mostly in the morning when the sea is calm, and they anchor in sheltered bays. On exposed stretches the afternoon wind can make it rolly for an hour or two; if you are prone to seasickness, choose the Gökova route and bring tablets.