Cycling through Turkey’s Taurus Mountains
Explore this sparsely populated region’s wild mountain rivers and ancient ruins

They rise just north of the sprawling coastal resort of Antalya, but Turkey’s western Taurus Mountains are a sparsely populated “hard-bitten corner of the Mediterranean hinterland”, home to timeless villages and “barely explored” ancient ruins.
With few hotels in the area, tour operator The Slow Cyclist had to “improvise” in planning its week-long guided group trips, says Tim Moore in House & Garden, arranging stays in “clean and comfortable” local homes, where meals are “vivid” feasts of local produce, often served outside under cherry blossom by “three generations of the hosting family”. The result is a deep sense of immersion in the region’s life, while the cycling is great fun, with electric bikes to take the “spirit-sapping” slog out of the journey.
Known as Pisidia by the ancients, this area enjoyed “a millennium of bustle and prosperity” until the fall of Rome and a series of earthquakes dented its fortunes. Its cities were “reclaimed by nature”, and people returned to farming.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Leaving your bike and hiking off road, you can wander “in awed silence” between temples and amphitheatres “lost in the trees”, where the forest floor is strewn with ancient pot shards. The scenery is “muscular and tirelessly strange”. Jagged, snowcapped peaks tower over valleys “stacked with bulbous grey mounds of conglomerate rock, like elephants sleeping in a heap”, and laced among them is an “arcadia of wildflowers and junipers”, and of fields and orchards fragrant with lavender, apples and almond blossom.
There are chances to swim in wild mountain rivers along the way, and particularly “magical” is a night spent in a remote valley, where the trip organisers have set up a campsite of bell tents equipped with “proper beds”, candles and Turkish rugs.
The trip costs from £3,350pp, excluding flights (theslowcyclist.com).
Sign up for The Week’s Travel newsletter for destination inspiration and the latest news and trends.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
5 explosively funny cartoons about the 4th of July
Cartoons Artists take on liberty and justice for all, a terrifying firework, and more
-
Jeff in Venice: a "triumph of tackiness"?
In the Spotlight Locals protest as Bezos uses the city as a 'private amusement park' for his wedding celebrations
-
Sudoku medium: July 5, 2025
The Week's daily medium sudoku puzzle
-
Jeff in Venice: a 'triumph of tackiness'?
In the Spotlight Locals protest as Bezos uses the city as a 'private amusement park' for his wedding celebrations
-
Shami Chakrabarti picks her favourite books
The Week Recommends The politician and human rights activist shares the polemics that inspired her
-
The Anatomy of Painting: Jenny Saville's 'stunning' retrospective
The Week Recommends Saville's new collection features 'masterpieces' from throughout her career
-
M3GAN 2.0: riotous action sequel to the comedy-horror hit about a killer doll
The Week Recommends A 'ridiculously' entertaining 'hyper-camp mash-up' of Terminator 2 and Mission: Impossible
-
Properties of the week: bright and cheerful houses
The Week Recommends Featuring homes in Cornwall, London and Norfolk
-
6 sleek homes for modernists
Feature Featuring a concrete-and-steel home in South Carolina and a renovated 19th-century former carriage house in Pennsylvania
-
The Genius Myth: a 'fresh and unpretentious' book from Helen Lewis
The Week Recommends This 'angry, witty book' by Helen Lewis is a valuable critique of the 'flattering fiction' of genius
-
From Hilde, With Love – the 'moving' story of an accidental revolutionary
The Week Recommends Liv Lisa Fries gives a 'compelling' performance as the soft-spoken heroine.