Just a few kilometres from the popular coastal town of Fethiye, Turkey, hundreds of roofless stone houses cover the hillside. They climb the slopes one after another, their empty windows looking across the valley as if waiting for people who will never return. This is Kayaköy ghost town, one of the most unusual abandoned places in Turkey.
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| The abandoned hillside settlement of Kayaköy near Fethiye in southwestern Turkey. |
Known historically as Levissi, Kayaköy was once a Greek-speaking settlement with homes, churches, schools, shops, and everyday village life. Today, its weathered buildings form a haunting archaeological landscape. The village was largely abandoned following the population exchange between Greece and Turkey in the early 20th century.
What makes Kayaköy especially fascinating is that it does not look like an ordinary archaeological ruin. The houses are arranged across the hillside in a remarkably organised pattern, creating the impression of a town that has simply stopped living.
Where Is Kayaköy?
Kayaköy is located in Muğla Province in southwestern Turkey, about 8 kilometres south of Fethiye. The abandoned settlement sits among hills not far from the Mediterranean coast and the popular resort area of Ölüdeniz.
The location is part of what makes the village so memorable. Instead of standing on a flat plain, the old houses spread across a hillside, with narrow paths connecting different parts of the settlement. Today, Kayaköy is preserved as an archaeological site and attracts visitors interested in history, architecture, and unusual places.
The Ancient History of Kayaköy
The history of the area goes much further back than the abandoned Greek village seen today. Official Turkish cultural sources identify ancient Kayaköy with Karmylassos. Philological evidence suggests a history extending as far back as the 3rd millennium BC, although the archaeological remains currently identified at the site do not extend earlier than the 4th century BC.
The connection between the ancient settlement and later Kayaköy is complicated. Earlier travellers attempted to identify the ancient city of Karmylassos with sites in the surrounding region, but comparisons with the descriptions of the ancient geographer Strabo have challenged some of those earlier identifications. The village that visitors see today belongs largely to a much later period.
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| Rows of weathered stone houses preserve the remains of the historic Greek settlement of Livissi. |
From Levissi to Kayaköy
Before it became known as Kayaköy, the settlement was called Levissi. It developed as a Greek settlement on the hillside, with houses carefully arranged so that one building did not block the light or view of another. The architecture reveals something about everyday life in the old village.
The houses were generally two stories high and relatively modest in size. Many had storage areas on the lower level, while underground cisterns collected rainwater. Official descriptions record approximately 350 to 400 houses within the archaeological settlement, along with religious and public buildings. Among the remains are chapels, two major churches, school buildings, and a former customs building. The settlement, therefore, was not simply a collection of houses. It had the infrastructure of a functioning community.
Why Was Kayaköy Abandoned?
The story of why Kayaköy was abandoned is closely connected with the population exchange between Greece and Turkey after the First World War and the Turkish War of Independence. The settlement's Greek inhabitants left following the population exchange associated with the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne. Official Turkish tourism material describes Kayaköy as having its houses and streets left after this population exchange.
People from Greece were subsequently settled in parts of the area, while the old hillside settlement gradually lost its former community. Over time, the abandoned houses deteriorated. Wooden doors, windows, and roof structures disappeared, while exposure to weather left the stone walls standing. According to the Turkish Museum's description, these natural processes helped provide Kayaköy with the ghost-town appearance it has today. It is this combination of historical events and natural decay that makes Kayaköy so different from a ruin created by a single disaster.
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| Roofless stone buildings spread across the hillside of Kayaköy, an abandoned village near Fethiye. |
Exploring the Ruins of Kayaköy
Walking through Kayaköy ghost town feels different from visiting a conventional ancient ruin. There are no grand palaces dominating the site. Instead, the landscape is made up of hundreds of ordinary homes, narrow paths, and religious buildings spread across the hillside.
The empty houses are perhaps the most striking feature. Their walls have survived while many of the original wooden elements have disappeared. From a distance, the buildings appear almost identical, but closer inspection reveals different layouts, entrances, and surviving architectural details.
The Upper Church
One of Kayaköy's most prominent landmarks is the Upper Church, originally known as Taksiyarhis. It stands on higher ground near the centre of the settlement and was designed as an important religious building. Its surviving features include an enclosed courtyard, stonework, and remnants of decorative pebble mosaics. Its elevated position also provides it with it a commanding view of the surrounding village.
The Lower Church
The Lower Church, originally known as Panayia Pirgiotissa, is located toward the western edge of the settlement. It has survived in comparatively better condition. One reason given by the Turkish Museums authority is that the building remained in use as a mosque until the 1960s, helping preserve parts of the structure. Its courtyard contains remnants of pebble mosaic, while a bell tower and small cemetery are also associated with the site.
Schools and Village Life
Kayaköy was more than a religious settlement. Official records indicate separate schools for boys and girls. Education was conducted in Greek, and students seeking higher education were sent to places such as Rhodes, Athens, and Istanbul. The old settlement also contained commercial areas where shops such as cafés, grocery stores, butchers and vegetable sellers once operated. These details are easy to overlook when looking at the ruins, but they reveal the ordinary life that once filled these now-empty streets.
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Kayaköy Today
Today, Kayaköy, an abandoned village, is preserved as an archaeological site and remains one of the most distinctive historical attractions around Fethiye. The modern world surrounds the ruins. The present-day village and tourism facilities exist around the historic settlement, while the wider area is also associated with hiking, trekking, and trips toward Gemiler Bay. The Muğla tourism authority notes that Kayaköy has become increasingly connected with tourism activities in the region.
Nearby Gemiler Island contains its own collection of Byzantine-era remains, including churches, graves, houses, and cisterns, making the surrounding region particularly compelling for travellers fascinated by abandoned and ancient settlements.
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| Kayaköy preserves the remains of a former Greek-speaking village on the Turkish Aegean coast. |
Frequently Asked Questions About Kayaköy
Is Kayaköy a real ghost town?
Yes. Kayaköy is an abandoned historic settlement whose empty houses, churches, and streets give it the appearance of a ghost town. It is also an officially recognised archaeological site. [www.turkishmuseums.com]
What was Kayaköy called before?
The historic Greek settlement was known as Levissi. The area is also associated with the ancient settlement of Karmylassos. [Mugla.ktb.gov.tr]
Why was Kayaköy abandoned?
The Greek population of Levissi left during the population exchange between Greece and Turkey following the events surrounding the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne. The abandoned buildings subsequently deteriorated over the decades. [Mugla.ktb.gov.tr]
How far is Kayaköy from Fethiye?
Kayaköy is approximately 8 kilometres south of Fethiye, according to Turkish cultural authorities. [Mugla.ktb.gov.tr]
What can you see at Kayaköy?
Visitors can see hundreds of abandoned stone houses, churches, chapels, former school buildings, cisterns, and other remains of the historic settlement. [Mugla.ktb.gov.tr]
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| Hundreds of weathered ruins give Kayaköy its distinctive ghost-town appearance. |
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| Empty houses and crumbling walls remain across the hillside of the historic settlement. |
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| The ruins of Kayaköy stretch across a hillside south of Fethiye in Muğla Province. |
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| A ruined church stands among the abandoned stone houses of historic Kayaköy. |
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| The silent ruins of Livissi reflect the history of the former Greek settlement at Kayaköy. |
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Conclusion
Kayaköy, a ghost town, is more than a picturesque collection of abandoned houses. Its empty streets preserve the physical remains of a once-active community, while its churches, schools, cisterns, and hillside homes provide clues to the people who lived here.
The village's abandonment is inseparable from the turbulent population movements of the early 20th century, but the ruins also tell a quieter story about everyday life. Houses were built for families, schools educated children, churches served their communities, and shops supplied ordinary needs.
Today, those functions have disappeared, leaving behind a remarkable landscape of stone walls and empty windows. Standing among the ruins of Kayaköy, Turkey, it is easy to understand why the place is called a ghost town. Yet perhaps its most striking quality is that the silence allows the vanished village to remain visible.
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References & Sources
- Muğla Provincial Directorate of Culture and Tourism — Kayaköy
- Turkish Museums — Muğla Kayaköy Archaeological Site
- Fethiye District Governorate — Kayaköy
- Muğla Culture and Tourism — Fethiye/Kayaköy information
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