“Sandy Village” (Kumköy)
Population: 4,000
Old names: Kilia, Kumköy
One of the great things about living in !stanbul is that you’re never very far away from the seaside, be it at at Florya or Kilyos on the European side of the Bosphorus, or at Şile, Riva or Ağva on the Asian side. Technically speaking, Kilyos is in Thrace but it’s still an easy day-trip destination from the centre of İstanbul, especially if you have a car.
Kilyos lives entirely for tourism, and mainly for the short summer season, too, which means that you can come here in winter and find virtually everything boarded up.
The small town is the focal point for a string of sandy beaches of varying quality, some of them private, others only available to those prepared to fork out a fee for their tan. Bear in mind that the waters of the Black Sea can be treacherous – it’s only wise to swim within sight of a lifeguard.
Although Kilyos is hardly unspoilt, it is relatively cut off since the coast road stops dead at Rumeli Feneri. To reach it you have to divert inland from Sarıyer, bypassing more surviving forest than you might expect.
Backstory
There has been a settlement of some sort at Kilyos at least since the days of the ancient Greeks, when it appears to have been called Kilia, a rare instance of an Istanbul city name that has survived virtually unchanged over the centuries. Not much is known about the early settlement although it seems to have had a port and a lifeguard service, with boats on hand to rescue those who got into trouble on the frequently rough Black Sea. At the same time, it is thought that some of the locals earned a living as wreckers, deliberately luring ships onto the rocks so that they could rush down and scavenge whatever they could from the remains.
Around town
There’s not a great deal left of ancient Kilyos. Whereas the castle at Şile dominates the harbour, Kilyos Kalesi (Kilyos Castle) lurks to one side and takes some hunting out.
More obvious are three strange tower-like structures called su terazisi (water balances) which were part of the system used to regulate the flow of water from the reservoirs in the nearby Belgrade Forest. The towers date back to Ottoman times, and there are other examples dotted about Istanbul itself, including at the Sultanahmet end of Divan Yolu and near one corner of the Karacaahmet Cemetery on the Asia shore.
In the centre of Kilyos you’ll find a cluster of conventional, if somewhat old-fashioned, hotels overlooking the harbour and public beaches. Surprisingly, the harbour is not especially inviting, not least because the centrepiece of every view is the remains of a ship that ran aground in 2003 and has been slowly rusting in full view of sunbathers ever since. There’s talk of removing it — but then there has been talk of removing it ever since 2003. Perhaps it has now vanished. I hope so.
As for the hotels, don’t come here expecting boutique flash and originality. Instead you’ll be reminded of what Turkey has always done best – small, family-run two and three-star places that set themselves high standards in terms of welcome, cleanliness and good food. Prices inevitably reflect a captive market – you’ll pay perhaps 30 per cent more here than you would for the same thing outside İstanbul.
Beach Clubs
Of course most people don’t come to Kilyos to stay in a hotel, the majority of visitors being İstanbullus. Instead what has happened here is much the same as what has happened at Çeşme, near Izmir, and that is the development of a string of private beach clubs that offer the comfort and facilities of hotels but for the benefit of day-trippers.
The best known of these is Solar Beach, a kilometre-long swathe of sand that plays host to outdoor concerts and festivals throughout the summer. It’s a family-friendly kind of place with a Kids’ Club, where parents can leave their children safely, and with a full range of facilities for water sports, whether your tastes run to the conventional (windsurfing, jet skiing) or the more upstart (banana boats, inner tubing).
Even on land you won’t be able to escape the pressure to be up and doing, whether it’s playing beach volleyball, kicking a football around or just plain battling with a kite. It goes without saying that there’s a full range of bars and restaurants as well as summer-only shops where you can offload any leftover lira before heading home again.
It’s a similar, if somewhat smaller, scene at Nonstop Beach, whose name says it all for how quiet you should expect to find the sands.
Things are rather different at the more discreet Uzunya Beach Restaurant, a little further out at Demirciköy, where small rocky bays are backed with greenery and large fish-and-meze restaurants perch just above the water.
For sheer exclusivity, though, you can hardly beat BURÇ Beach Club back in Kilyos proper.This belongs to Boğaziçi (Bosphorus) University and is only open to current and past students and staff and their guests. It’s supposed to be great for kitesurfing.
Prices to use the private beaches sink midweek, then ratchet up sharply at weekends.
Sleeping
Erzurumlu Hotel. Tel: 0212-201 1003
Kale Otel. Tel: 0212-201 1818
Yuva Hotel. Tel: 0212-201 1043
Transport info
Frequent dolmuşes run from Sarıyer in Istanbul to Kilyos — just walk up Sarıyer high street to find them. If you prefer to drive, expect long tailbacks at weekends.
