Gökova is situated in western Turkey, by the shore of warm and clear Aagean sea. Due to its unique location deep in the valley, surrounded by beautiful, forest covered mountains, it enjoys thermal winds during summer months (mid May to mid October). The launching area is about 500m long and it gets quite busy with kite schools as well people getting in and out of water and pros showing off their tricks for the cameras, but once you get through it you'll have 5km of warm, clear water from shore to shore to enjoy. If you upwind a little you will find more turtles to kite with than other kiters on water.
There is no rescue service so you need to judge your abilities and not venture too far up wind. However, the wind is always on shore or cross onshore so it will blow you and your equipment back to the shore in any case.
We have visited Gökova towards the end of the season, at the end of September and have kited 9 out of 11 days. The luxury we don't always get is the wind arrival time, it starts to blow around 11am, so you have time to enjoy leisurely breakfast before the wind comes. Roughly the first hour or two we were on our big kites so I was kiting 12m (I am 53kg) and my partner Gabbs 14m. Then as the air warmed up I would switch to 9m and Gabbs would kite on 12m. There were times when I was overpowered on my 9m, but not enough or for long enough to downsize. Stronger wind stayed with us on average till 3-4pm and then drop again to the morning strength. There were days that you could kite till sun began to set over the horizon, and also days when it would be over by 5pm.
We were told that in June and July wind is stronger, but it gets much busier. Even towards the end of the season, I have found it quite a challenge to get through the crowds, so I would choose to visit again around the end or the beginning of the season to avoid the crowds.
The water is flat in the mornings, but as day goes on some chop develops, especially as you go up to the gulf.
The sea is warm, which is a big bonus for me. I was wearing 3m long jane wetsuit, a long sleeve top & an impact vest most of the time, but some days just shorts and impact vest. Gabbs was in shorts and impact vest all week.
Getting there and accommodation
You can fly to Dalaman (1hour drive away) or Bodrum (2 hours), then hire a car or take a taxi, which is very affordable. When we have booked accommodation, we have asked the owner to arrange a local taxi for us. The same local driver picked us up the next morning and took us to the beach with our equipment, where we have hired lockers for the duration of our stay.
There is a small number of bunglows at the kitesurfing spot, which is a recent addition, but not much else there in terms of place to go out in the evening so we have decided to stay in nearby Akyaka, which is about 2-3km away in the straight line depending on where your accommodation is. There are plenty of places to stay to choose from in Akyaka, which you can book via booking.com or airbnb.com.
We have stayed at Turkuaz Aparthotel in a self contained accommodation with kitchenette, our own bathroom and balcony with a view of kitesurfing spot far in the distance so we could see when the kites where flying. The decor in the room was quite dated, but it had everything we needed. Very comfy bed, clean towels and cleaning every three days (as they have reduced this due to pandemic and social distancing). All this for around 35 EUR for night for both of us.
Each morning we would walk from Akyaka along the shore to the kitesurfing spot and then back in the evening, which was great so we would not recommend car hire, unless you want to explore surrounding areas.
Places to Eat & Other attractions
The kitespot has its own restaurant & bar. The menu looked really good, however towards the end of the season sadly most of the items were not available so we were quite disappointed. What we were able to order was very tasty & there was a good selection of drinks & cocktails.
In Akayaka there are many bars and good restaurants to choose from with a great selection of seafood and tapas, right in the heart of the village as well as along the beach and the river. Our favourite place to eat was a restaurant situated in a great setting right by the river, serving freshly caught seafood you could choose yourself from the counter and a selection of tapas from the tapas bar.
There is live music on a couple of nights each week, if you looking for late entertainment and Raiders Inn Tuesday night sounded really good from our apartment, but we gave it a miss as we wanted to get good night sleep before kiting the next day.
We did have a couple of windless days and on one of them we hired a kayak from a rental place on Akayaka beach. There are also boat day trips exploring beauty of local coastline and nearby tourist attraction Cleopatra Island as well as shorter trips up the river.
Summary:
Warm, wind sure, affordable and easy to get to spot in Europe. We will definitely come back.
Pros:
- stable, warm, thermal wind
- warm sea
- great set up on the beach with toilets, showers and restaurant/bar over looking kite spot
- good selection fo places to stay & eat
- easy to get to
- affordable
Cons:
- carnage at at the shoreline due to schools teaching & riders entering and leaving water
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