Beautiful Ölü Deniz is situated on the Turquoise Coast of southwestern Turkey, about 10km southeast of the large town of Fethiye. The resort itself has a sandy beach, which extends westwards into a sand-bar, separating the Mediterranean from the salty lagoon which is the real Ölü Deniz ("dead sea"). Immediately behind the main beach is the resort area of Belcekiz, which extends north-eastwards before passing into pine woodland covering the steep slope up to the Hisarönü and Ovacik plateau.
This open plateau is surrounded by hills to the south, west and north, and bounded to the east and south-east by the mountains Mendos Dag (1758m) and Baba Dag (1969m). At the foot of Mendos Dag is a small limestone gorge with an interesting woodland and chasmophytic flora. The taller Baba Dag is reached by a track leading up from the south-eastern corner of the plateau. At about 1000m, the first individuals of Cedar of Lebanon occur, becoming the main forest tree above 1200m, with an underflora of woodland orchids and peonies. On the northern slopes, the cedar forest extends to 1650m, above which are very steep limestone slopes with montane plants. On the southern side grows Eremurus spectabilis, the spectacular foxtail lily. At 1800m, the track up Baba Dag reaches a bare shoulder on the summit-ridge, with plants including Tulipa armena and Pelargonium endlicherianum. From here on up, a fabulous selection of small subalpine plants grow in limestone crevices. The summit is also used as a take-off point for paragliders, with the occasional gruesome fatality below.
The coastline to the south of Ölü Deniz is mostly sparsely populated, but indented with valleys, the nearest one of which drains the slopes of Baba Dag. At the mouth of this valley is the Kidirak area, where interesting habitats occur including vertical limestone cliffs, which face both north and south and support a chasmophytic flora. The next large limestone gorge is Kelebek Vadisi, the Valley of the Butterflies, below the village of Faralya.
