Can you reach Kaleköy (Simena) by land?

Short answer: yes

Kaleköy can be reached by land. Only the last stretch is on foot.

Three different answers to this question circulate online, and none of them is quite right. The correct one comes in two parts.

1. By car — from Kaleüçağız to the start of the path

From the village of Üçağız (Kaleüçağız) there is asphalt all the way to the Kaleköy walking point: 2.3 kilometres, about 9 minutes. It is a real road, and it is called Kaleüçağız Köyü Yolu.

The car stays at the walking point.

2. On foot — down the path into Kaleköy

From there a path drops down to the village: ten minutes, 440 metres as the crow flies. On the map below it is the dashed orange line.

The way is stony and downhill. Closed shoes are more comfortable than sandals, and in summer take water with you — there is very little shade.

Why everybody tells you something different

Three answers come up again and again, and none is right on its own:

“Nine minutes by car.” That is what the navigation apps say. Half of it is true: those 9 minutes get you to the walking point. The app ends there and you think you have arrived in Kaleköy. You have not — there are 440 metres left.

“You can’t get there by land, only by boat.” That is what most travel sites write. Also false: the village has no vehicle road, but it does have a footpath, and it is short.

“There is a path through the rocks, but it’s hard.” It is not hard: ten minutes on a track that is used every day.

⚠️ These ten minutes are not a routing service’s estimate. One app gives 35 minutes for the same path. Ten minutes is the time of somebody who knows it.

You can also come by boat

If you prefer, you can cross by boat from Üçağız harbour — fifteen minutes. The Kekova boat tours also put in at Kaleköy and stop there: climbing to the castle and spending time in the village is part of the day.

In short

• Kaleköy is reachable by land. A boat is not essential.
• Kaleüçağız to the walking point: 2.3 km of asphalt, about 9 minutes by car.
• Walking point to the village: ten minutes on foot, 440 metres in a straight line.
• Kaleköy has no road of its own — the car stays at the path.

Kaleköy sits inside the Kekova area. How to reach the region at all, which harbour the boats leave from and the distances involved are on How do you get to Kekova?.

Kaleköy itself — Simena Castle, the necropolis, the Lycian sarcophagi and how long each of our tours stays there — is on Kaleköy (Simena).