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Five adventure travel activities – The rugged Turkish coast is ideal for sea kayakers

Turkey is not the first country on your list when you think adventure travel, but every country has its highlights. Here are five adventure activities that will make you want to consider a trip to Turkey.

Whitewater rafting and kayaking

Turkey is blessed with some high mountains, decent rainfall, and raging rivers, which are the necessary requirements for quality whitewater. The Dalaman and Coruth Rivers will provide a great time for thrill seekers who love to plummet through quality rapids whether you are an expert kayaker or a whitewater rafter.

The Coruth River in Northwest Turkey is considered by some one of the top whitewater rivers in the world fed by rainfall from snow melt from the Black Sea Mountains. The best time for high volume water is in May and June. The Dalaman River is not too shabby either with grade four rapids.

Hiking

Southwest Turkey has some wonderful hiking opportunities with mountains, pine forests, and panoramic seascapes. Hikers can also explore remnants of ancient civilizations while trekking. The Lycians, Carians, and Romans lived here thousands of years ago and many hikes will take people past ancient relics from these ancient groups.

Hiking is also a great way to see the local flora and fauna. Deer, lynx, fox, badgers, and porcupines call this area home.  Turkey is not a major bird migration route, but there are plenty of interesting species to check out in the region. Check out this lengthy list here.

Sea Kayaking

The coast of Turkey is a paradise for sea kayakers. Turkey boasts rugged pristine coastlines, hidden bays, interesting islands, and fantastic bird and animal life. Just like an adventure traveler can explore ancient civilization sites via hiking, the same can be said with sea kayaking as the coast is teaming with castles and interesting cities and villages both ancient and modern.

Mountain biking

Any place that is good for hiking will most likely have excellent mountain biking trails as well. Turkey is no exception as the countryside has many rural areas worthy of exploration by bike.

Skiing

Turkey is not just known for summer activities. They have plenty of winter adventure as well with several mountains ranges. Their highest point is Mt. Ararat, which reaches over 16,000 feet. The Western Taurus Mountains are closest to Dalaman with two peaks, Mt. Eren and Mt. Sandras with good snow cover in the 8,000 foot range. There is a skiing center which will be opened soon on Mt. Eren, so locals and visitors alike will soon be able to enjoy the region year round.

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The goal of Traveling Ted is to inspire people to outdoor adventure travel and then provide tips on where and how to go. If you liked this post then enter your email in the box to get email notifications for each new entry. Daily travel photos are excluded from your email in order to not flood you with posts. There is no spam and email information will not be shared. Other e-follow options include Facebook (click on the like box to the right) or twitter (click on the pretty bird on the rainbow above).

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