The Dodecanese by Gulet
Six islands on a privately chartered gulet, with walks ashore, long lunches and what each island is known for.
- Duration
- 8 days
- Group size
- Your party only
- Season
- May to October
Eight days through the southern Aegean
Eight days through the southern Aegean on a gulet chartered for your party, with her own captain and cook. Out of Bodrum and across to Kalymnos, where the sponge divers’ houses still climb the hill; on to Leros and Kos; to Nisyros, where you walk down into a caldera and the ground under your shoes is warm; to Symi, whose harbour is the photograph everyone knows and whose small shrimp are eaten whole. Then back along the Datca peninsula to Knidos, a city built to catch two winds at once. Mornings are ashore on foot, lunch is wherever the morning ends, and the boat moves while you eat.
Seven nights aboard, boarding in Bodrum. Port formalities between Turkey and Greece are handled by the crew; you need your passport aboard and we tell you well before departure what else applies to your nationality. An Istanbul extension can be added ahead of the sailing.
HighlightsSix islands, one unpacking
The gulet moves overnight and while you eat. Six islands in a week and the bags never come off the boat.
Mornings ashore, afternoons at the table
Walking is how each island is seen, and lunch is where the morning ends. Neither is timed to the other.
A volcano you walk into
Nisyros is not looked at from a railing. You go down into the caldera and stand on ground that is still warm.
What each island is known for
Kalymnos and its sponges, the small shrimp of Symi, the almonds of the Datca peninsula, eaten where they come from.
The 8-day itinerary
A starting point, written to be argued with — every departure runs privately on your dates.
Day 1 Bodrum, and aboard Gulet
You are met at Milas-Bodrum and driven to the harbour, where the gulet is waiting. Nothing is asked of you today. We motor out to a quiet bay for the first swim, and dinner is served on deck while the crew runs through the week.
Overnight Gulet · Meals Dinner
Day 2 Kalymnos, then Leros Gulet
Kalymnos was built on sponge diving and the town still shows it, in the boats, the workshops and the houses the good years paid for. We walk the harbour and the lanes behind it, and eat where the fleet eats. In the afternoon we cruise to Leros and swim before dinner.
Overnight Gulet · Meals Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Day 3 Leros, then Kos Gulet
Leros is quieter than its neighbours and leaves its chapels unlocked. We walk from one to the next through the morning, then sit down inland to a lunch nobody hurries, which on this island is the point rather than the interval between two other things. We swim off the boat and cross to Kos in the evening.
Overnight Gulet · Meals Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Day 4 Kos, then Nisyros Gulet
The morning is at the Asclepeion, the healing sanctuary where Hippocrates is said to have taught, and then in the hill villages inland rather than along the beach road. There is time for the market before we sail. Nisyros by evening.
Overnight Gulet · Meals Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Day 5 Nisyros, then Symi Gulet
Nisyros is a volcano with villages around its rim. We walk down into the caldera itself, onto ground that is warm through your soles and smells of sulphur, then up to Nikia on the edge to look back into it. We cross to Symi as the light goes.
Overnight Gulet · Meals Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Day 6 Symi, then Datca Gulet
Symi harbour is the one on the postcards, neoclassical houses stacked in tiers above the water. We go up to the monastery at Panormitis in the morning and come back down for the small shrimp the island is known for, eaten whole and by the plateful. Then customs, and back into Turkey at Datca.
Overnight Gulet · Meals Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Day 7 The Datca peninsula, and Knidos Gulet
Datca is almond country and in the right weeks the whole peninsula smells of it. We walk in the old village, then go out to Knidos on the headland where the Aegean meets the Mediterranean, where the theatre looks straight down onto two harbours at once. We cruise back to Bodrum overnight.
Overnight Gulet · Meals Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Day 8 Bodrum, and home
Breakfast aboard and then the transfer to Milas-Bodrum. Later flights can leave bags on the boat and use her until the afternoon.
Meals Breakfast
Seven nights aboard a privately chartered gulet, in air-conditioned cabins with private bathrooms. The gulet moves overnight and while you eat; the bags never come off the boat.
What is included
- Seven nights aboard a privately chartered gulet, air-conditioned cabins with private bathrooms
- Seven breakfasts, six lunches and five dinners, with water and soft drinks through the day
- A professional English-speaking guide throughout
- Walks ashore on every island, with entrance fees to the sites in the itinerary
- Arrival and departure transfers to Milas-Bodrum
- Harbour, anchorage and embarkation fees, and taxes
- Baggage handling and one laundry aboard during the week
Not included
- International flights, airport taxes and fuel surcharges
- Alcoholic drinks
- Visa, where one is needed
- Gratuities, personal expenses, and travel and health insurance
What travellers usually ask
How far ahead should we plan?
Three to six months is comfortable for the high season, and the gulets in particular go early. That said, we have put together good journeys on three weeks notice more than once.
Can we change the route once we have started?
Yes, and people often do. A private charter is yours; if a cove turns out to be worth another night, the captain will simply reshape the next day.
Shape this journey around you
Tell us when you want to travel and who is coming. We will write the itinerary around that and send it back for you to argue with.
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