Dalyan on Your Own: Boat Trips for Solo Travellers

Travelling alone in a place built around group boat trips can feel awkward before you arrive. The photographs are full of families and couples, the booking forms ask how many adults, and it is easy to imagine sitting by yourself at the end of a long table while everyone else talks.

In practice, Dalyan is an easy place to be on your own. Shared boats seat people together whatever their party size, the day has a natural rhythm that carries you along, and a single seat is exactly what a shared trip is designed to sell. What follows is how to make the most of it, and the few practical problems that are different when there is nobody to watch your bag.

Why shared boats suit solo travellers

A shared boat is priced by the seat, not by the boat. That means a solo traveller pays for exactly one place and gets the same trip as everyone else. There is no surcharge for being alone on a shared day trip, which is not something you can say about many hotel rooms.

It also means you are never really on your own. Boats seat passengers together under the canopy, lunch is eaten at shared tables, and the stops are places where people naturally talk. You can join in as much or as little as you like. Plenty of solo travellers spend the whole day in easy conversation. Others read, look at the river and say three words all day, and nobody finds that strange.

The best trips to do alone

Some Dalyan trips are better alone than others, mostly because of how much time they spend moving compared with sitting at a stop.

• The full day on the river is the classic choice. It has variety, a shared lunch and enough stops to keep the day moving.
• The shuttle boat to Iztuzu gives you independence. You travel with others, then have the beach on your own terms and choose when to come back.
• An evening or sunset trip is the most sociable. People are relaxed, the heat has gone, and conversation comes more easily.
• A jeep safari or land excursion is good for meeting people, because you share a vehicle and the day is organised around activity.

Where you sit shapes the day

On a shared boat, arrive at the quay in good time and choose your seat deliberately. Sitting at a shared table or on a bench with other passengers makes conversation natural. Sitting at the rail at the side gives you the best views and some quiet. Either is fine, but it helps to decide which kind of day you want.

If you want to talk to people, the crew are a good place to start. They know the river, they are used to questions, and a solo passenger who shows interest in the tombs or the birds often gets a better running commentary than anyone else on the boat.

The swim stop problem

The one real practical difficulty for solo travellers is what to do with your things when you swim. A couple can take turns. You cannot. At a swim stop from the boat this matters less, because your bag stays on board. At the mud baths and at Iztuzu, where you leave the boat and move around, it matters more.

The simplest solution is to carry very little. Leave your passport and spare cards at your accommodation. Bring a small amount of cash and one card in a waterproof pouch that you can wear into the water. Keep your phone in a waterproof case on a lanyard, or leave it on the boat with the crew's agreement.

1. Take only the cash and card you need for the day.
2. Use a waterproof pouch you can keep on you while swimming.
3. Ask the crew whether it is sensible to leave a bag on board during a stop.
4. At the beach, do not leave a phone or wallet alone on a towel while you swim.

Photographs without a companion

The other small problem is that nobody takes your photograph. Asking a fellow passenger is completely normal on a boat, and people usually offer to return the favour. Crews are also used to being handed phones at the rock tombs.

A light, collapsible stand or a phone with a timer solves it if you prefer not to ask. On the river, the best photographs are of the tombs from the water, which do not need you in them anyway.

Timing and safety

Dalyan is a small, relaxed town, and most solo visitors feel comfortable there. Ordinary common sense applies, as it would anywhere: keep an eye on your belongings in busy places, agree prices before you use a service, and let someone at your accommodation know if you are heading off somewhere unusual.

On the water, the practical safety rule for solo travellers is simple. Always know when the boat leaves each stop. When you are on your own nobody else is keeping track of the time, and a long walk down Iztuzu can end with a hurried walk back in the heat. Set an alarm on your phone as soon as you step off the boat.

When a private boat makes sense alone

For most solo travellers a shared boat is the right choice. A private boat costs the same whether one person or several are on it, so on your own it is a much larger expense per person.

It can still be worth it in particular cases. A photographer who wants to wait for the light at the tombs, a birdwatcher who wants to move slowly through the reed channels, or someone who simply wants the river quiet and to themselves may find a short private trip in the early morning or evening worth the cost.

Meeting people after the boat

One of the pleasures of a small place is that you keep seeing the same faces. The person you shared a table with at lunch may be at the next table along the riverfront that evening. Evening trips especially tend to lead on to dinner in town.

If you would rather have a quiet evening, the riverfront is an easy place to eat alone. The view of the tombs lit by the setting sun is company enough.

A good first solo day

If you are unsure how you will feel about a whole day on a shared boat, start small. Take the shuttle boat to Iztuzu in the morning, see how the boats work and how people behave, and come back when you like. If that goes well, book the full river day for later in the week, with an evening trip on another day for the sociable end of things.