Experience the best of Muğla

Muğla sits on a plateau inland from the Aegean and Mediterranean coasts, at about 650 metres, and is the quiet administrative and university town of its province. Its old quarter of narrow cobbled lanes and stone houses with wooden balconies and tiled roofs climbs the hill, and old Ottoman mosques and a market street stand among the shops.

The coast of the province lies a short drive away: Marmaris with its harbour and castle, Akyaka on the Gulf of Gökova, Dalyan with its rock tombs and a beach where loggerhead turtles nest, Fethiye and Ölüdeniz, and Bodrum, with the crusader castle of St Peter. The ancient city of Stratonikeia, near Yatağan, is a quieter site of ruins, with a theatre among them.

Pine honey is the pride of the province, whose forests yield most of Turkey's supply, and olive-oil dishes, meze and fresh fish fill the tables. Winters are cool and rainy in the hills, while the coast stays warm well into autumn.