Saklikent Gorge [walking]

Turkey’s beautiful Turquoise Coast offers an unbeatable mix of mountain-backed beaches, classical ruins and adventure activities, with superb food and delightful owner-run hotels.

Among the world’s top tandem paragliding experiences with stupendous coastal views, take off from the peak of Babadag Mountain to land half an hour later on Olu Deniz’s famed beach.

Turkey’s outstanding beach is 15 kilometres of perfect sand backed by dunes and the extensive ruins of ancient Patara – and home to populations of nesting loggerhead turtles.

An epic 540km hiking trail through magnificently rugged coastlands from Fethiye to Antalya, that immerses visitors in Turkey’s history, nature and culture.

The beach that launched a thousand brochure covers, Oludeniz combines a gorgeous swathe of sandy beach with a tranquil lagoon, backed by tamarisk trees and mountains.

The most beautiful of all Lycian cities, Pinara is a tumble-down joy set deep in the hills above the Xanthos Valley. The theatre is especially beautiful, as are the so-called Royal Tombs set in a glade of ancient plane trees.

A UNESCO-listed World Heritage Site, Lycia’s ancient hilltop capital is famous for its ‘pillar tombs’ – whose exquisite friezes were removed to the British Museum in the 19th century – and the grand colonnaded way leading to the sarcophagus-scattered necropolis.

This route, the Lycian Way’s stand-out stretch, offers 3- to 4-days’ exceptional hiking combining outstandingly dramatic scenery and golden beaches.

Little Sidyma is a place of enormous charm; a picturesque and little visited ancient town whose sarcophagi and beautifully coffered tombs are now scattered amidst the gardens and fields of the present hamlet of Dodurga.

From traversing sand dunes, to walking on glaciers, through canyons, up mountains and along ancient city walls, here’s our round-up of the world’s best walks. Each walk can be tackled in a day or less with a moderate level of fitness and no technical ability.