Lycian Way Map
The Lycian Way is 540 km of waymarked footpath running from Fethiye in the west to Antalya in the east, broken into 27 walkable stages. This page collects every map you actually need — the interactive online map, downloadable GPX files for every stage, the printable overview PDF, and the offline-first phone app that most hikers end up using on the trail.
The Lycian Way at a glance
| Total length | 540 km / 336 miles |
|---|---|
| Stages | 27 (typical 25–30 walking days) |
| Total ascent | ~25,000 m |
| Highest point | Mt Tahtalı (Olympos), 2,366 m |
| Start (west) | Ovacık, near Fethiye |
| End (east) | Geyikbayırı, near Antalya |
| Waymarking | Red-and-white horizontal stripes (Grande Randonnée style) |
| Best months | March–May, September–November |
Interactive map of all 27 stages
The interactive map is the easiest place to start. It plots the full route, overlays each of the 27 stages, marks every village, pension, ruin and water source, and lets you click any stage for distance, elevation profile, difficulty rating, and the next two or three accommodation options at the end-of-stage village.
→ Open the full Lycian Way trail map
What the map shows
- Trail line — the official red-and-white waymarked route, kept current as the route is rerouted (most recently around the wildfire scar between Adrasan and Olympos)
- 27 stage markers — clickable for distance, ascent, descent, time, and difficulty
- Villages and pensions — every settlement large enough to sleep, eat, or resupply
- Water sources — perennial springs, seasonal sources marked separately
- Ancient sites — Patara, Xanthos, Letoon, Phaselis, Olympos, Aperlae, Kekova, Apollonia and the smaller tombs along the route
- Transport links — dolmuş stops, intercity bus pickups, ferry quays
- Camp spots — flat ground, established hiker camps, water proximity
Download GPX files
Every stage has a GPX track that loads into any GPS app — Garmin, Wikiloc, Gaia GPS, OsmAnd, Komoot, Locus Map, AllTrails, BackCountry Navigator, or your wristwatch. There is also a single combined GPX of the full 540 km route for hikers planning a thru-hike.
| File | Size | Use |
|---|---|---|
| Full Lycian Way GPX (540 km) | ~1.2 MB | Thru-hike planning, watch sync |
| Per-stage GPX (×27) | ~40–80 KB each | Day-by-day navigation |
| Western route GPX (Fethiye → Kaş) | ~600 KB | Section-hike, ~250 km |
| Eastern route GPX (Kaş → Antalya) | ~700 KB | Section-hike, ~290 km |
| KML version (Google Earth) | ~1.5 MB | Pre-trip visualisation |
Offline phone app — the one most hikers use
Lycian Way (free)
The official Lycian Way app caches the full trail map for offline use. You download once over Wi-Fi at your pension, then walk for weeks without phone signal. Live GPS shows your position on the trail, an off-route alert pings you if you drift more than 50 m, and the safety check-in lets a friend track your daily progress.
The app also lists 600+ pensions and camp spots with current prices, photos, the local landlord's WhatsApp, and the languages they speak. Buddy Finder matches you with hikers walking the same week if you want company.
Printable PDF map (for the wall, not the trail)
A printed paper map is good for trip planning at home — visualising the whole 540 km, marking the section you'll walk, sharing with friends and family. It's not a great primary navigation tool on the trail itself: at A3 size you can't read the path-level detail, and waterproofing a 1.20 m strip-map is unwieldy.
The downloadable A3 PDF includes:
- Full coastal route Fethiye → Antalya at 1:240,000
- All 27 stages numbered with end-of-stage villages
- Major ancient sites (Patara, Xanthos, Olympos, Phaselis…)
- Airports, ferry ports, intercity bus hubs
- Elevation profile of the full route along the bottom
The Kate Clow guidebook map (paper)
The trail's founder, Kate Clow, publishes the canonical guidebook The Lycian Way through the Trekking In Turkey series. The 4th edition (2020, with 2024 reprints) includes hand-drawn strip maps of every stage, hiker's notes, and historical commentary on every ruin. The book is widely available on Amazon UK (~£18) and in pension bookshops along the trail.
Most hikers carry the guidebook for narrative and historical context, and use the phone app for live navigation. The two are complementary, not substitutes — the book tells you the story of Olympos, the app tells you which switchback to take down to it.
What the trail markers look like
The Lycian Way is waymarked in the French Grande Randonnée style: two horizontal stripes — red on top, white below — painted onto rocks, walls, tree trunks, fences, and any reasonably permanent surface, roughly every 50–100 metres along the route.
Other markings to know:
- Red & white × (cross) — wrong way; turn back
- Red & white arrow — sharp change of direction here
- Yellow stripes — local Turkish forestry or village paths, not the Lycian Way
- Blue stripes — alternate or summit route (e.g., the Mt Tahtalı variant)
- Stone cairns — supplementary, especially on the limestone moonscapes around Bel
Waymarks are repainted by volunteers each spring, usually in February before the season starts. After winter rains they can be faded — if you go three or four minutes without seeing one, stop, check the GPS, and backtrack to the last known marker rather than pushing on.
Mobile coverage and dead zones
Roughly 80 % of the trail has 3G or 4G signal on at least one Turkish network. The remaining 20 % is genuinely without coverage, sometimes for half a day at a time. The longest dead zones are:
- Alınca → Gavurağılı — 5–6 hours, no signal once you drop below the village
- Gökçeören → Bel — exposed limestone plateau, intermittent
- Around Mt Tahtalı — patchy on the eastern slopes
- Karaöz → Adrasan — pine forest, signal mostly absent
- Üçağız → Kapaklı — long stretches with nothing
This is the entire reason the offline app exists. Cache the route before you leave Wi-Fi, carry a 10,000 mAh power bank, and assume for safety planning that you cannot phone for help on those stretches. The trail safety guide covers the emergency callout procedure.
Frequently asked questions
Is there an official Lycian Way map?
The original waymarked map was produced in 1999 by the Kate Clow Trust and updated in successive guidebook editions. There is no single government-issued map. The most accurate digital track today is the GPX maintained by the Culture Routes Society, mirrored in this site's stage pages and the mobile app.
Can I download a GPX file of the Lycian Way?
Yes. Per-stage GPX and a combined full-route GPX are linked from every stage page on this site. Files are free, no signup, no email-gate.
Does the Lycian Way map work offline?
The mobile app caches the full trail map and your downloaded stages. Once cached, you can navigate without any phone signal. This is essential — see the dead-zones list above.
Is the trail well marked?
Yes, in most places. The red-and-white stripes are repainted each spring. Sections that were burned in the 2021 wildfires (between Adrasan and Olympos) and any new construction reroutes are the exceptions — those are where the GPS app earns its keep.
What's the easiest way to follow the trail?
Combine the painted waymarks with the offline GPS map on your phone. The waymarks confirm you're on the trail; the GPS confirms which way it goes when waymarks are missing. Don't rely on either one alone.
Where can I see the trail before I commit to a trip?
The stages page lets you click through every section with photos, elevation profiles, and the towns you'd sleep in. The routes page packages the trail into curated multi-day options (the Highlights Trek, the full thru-hike, weekend escapes). Use those to picture the trip; use this map to plan the logistics.