Marmaris and İçmeler
Lost a ring in Marmaris or İçmeler?
Marmaris town, İçmeler, Armutalan, Cennet Adası, Turunç and Kumlubük, along with the quieter water at Orhaniye, Hisarönü, Selimiye and Bozburun.
How small a piece of ground you can point at matters more here than almost anything else about the loss. A bracelet gone in the shallows at İçmeler and one gone in the bazaar at Marmaris are both worth a search, and each is searched in a completely different way.
Ring Seekers is a lost ring and jewellery recovery service that works with experienced local metal detectorists to search for a ring, wedding band, watch or phone lost in Marmaris and İçmeler, on the southwest coast of Turkey. You write once, in English.
Tell us what happened and where. We choose an experienced detectorist who knows the town, brief them with your map and photos, and tell you honestly if the odds are poor.
Kale Mahallesi, the old quarter of Marmaris, stands on a hill running out towards the sea, and the town spread from it down the lower slopes and along the shore. İçmeler grew up close by, as a separate tourism centre of its own.
What makes one of these searches workable
The shape of the ground counts for more than the size of it. Open beach with hotels behind it is cut down by whatever stands on it, and a lane in the bazaar by the shops along it. What cannot be cut down is somewhere in Marmaris, which is roughly what a first message amounts to. That is fine, because the rest comes out of a few questions.
If the day went on the water rather than the shore, start from the harbour. Day boat tours run out of Marmaris harbour to the coves and islands around the bay, and the ferries to Rhodes and Symi leave from there as well, so one end of that day is usually recoverable even when the middle of it has gone.
Places we cover in Marmaris and İçmeler
- Marmaris town and its sea front
- Kale Mahallesi, the old quarter on the hill
- Marmaris castle and the museum inside it
- The Hafsa Sultan caravanserai and the stepped lane above it
- The historical bazaar
- Kordon Caddesi and the Eski Cami
- Bar Street, one street inland from the waterfront
- The municipal public beach in the centre of Marmaris
- Netsel Marmaris Marina
- Marmaris harbour and the ferry berths for Rhodes and Symi
- The Jinan Garden
- Yalancıboğaz, its yacht marina and the boat yards
- Cennet Adası, its jetty and the Phosphorus Cave
- Günnücek picnic ground on the Yalancıboğaz road
- Adaköy and its yacht harbour
- Armutalan
- İçmeler and its public beach
- Köyiçi, behind the İçmeler shore
- The park at the entrance to İçmeler
- The canyon beyond İçmeler
- Turunç and its cove
- Amos bay, between Turunç and Kumlubük
- Kumlubük and the slopes above it
- Orhaniye and Kızkumu
- The shore on the Hisarönü gulf
- Selimiye
- The Hisarönü gulf bays, among them Dirsekbükü, İnbükü, Bencik and Hurmalıbük
- Bozburun and the coves of Sömbeki bay
- Söğüt and its jetties
- Çiftlik Koyu
Taken piece by piece around the bay
What each of these places is like once you are standing on it.
The castle, the bazaar and the streets under them
The town centre is where the castle, the port and the marina all are. The castle sits on a peninsula looking out over the sea and holds a museum, with the Hafsa Sultan caravanserai just below it at the entrance to the narrow stepped lane that climbs up. The historical bazaar runs below that again.
The waterfront, Bar Street and the marinas
Bar Street lies one street inland from the waterfront, next to the marina, and Netsel Marmaris Marina is on the water beside the centre. The town has marinas of its own, with others out at Orhaniye, Selimiye and Karacasöğüt. The municipal public beach is in among all this, and so is the Jinan Garden.
İçmeler, along the same bay
İçmeler took its name from the healing spring waters that used to be in the area, and grew up near Marmaris as a separate tourism centre. The park at the entrance to the town is described as being like a botanical garden. Köyiçi, the old village part, is just behind the shore within walking distance, and further on again there is a canyon with facilities at the mouth of it.
Turunç, Amos and Kumlubük
Turunç sits in a cove facing east on the bay of Marmaris, its beach a blend of coarse sand and pebbles, with restaurants and walking areas close to the water. Amos bay lies between Turunç and Kumlubük, with no public transport to it. Kumlubük is known for its beach and for the slopes above it, which carry walking and trekking routes.
Yalancıboğaz, Cennet Adası and Adaköy
Yalancıboğaz is the natural bar that joins Cennet Adası, the Nimara peninsula, to the mainland and looks like a strait when you see it from Marmaris. The yacht marina is there, and so are the boat yards. Cennet Adası itself is pine forest with walking paths and a clean shoreline for a swim, a regular stop for the day boats, with restaurants round its jetty and the Phosphorus Cave to swim into. Günnücek, on the Yalancıboğaz road just past the marina, is a shady picnic ground under sweetgum trees with a stream through it. Adaköy lies out in front of the gulf, tied to the shore by a thin tongue of land, and has a yacht harbour of its own.
Bozburun, Söğüt and Çiftlik
Bozburun sits in one of the coves of Sömbeki bay, a quiet place known to yachtsmen and for building gulets, with calm coves nearby that you reach by boat. Söğüt, out towards the tip of the peninsula, is known for the jetties where yachts tie up and for its seafood restaurants. Çiftlik Koyu, down through the pines off the Bayır to Söğüt road, has a coarse sand beach and water that stays clean.
Orhaniye, Hisarönü and Selimiye
At Orhaniye the sea is calm the year round, and Kızkumu is the shallow strip that runs out from the land across the bay. The shore on the Hisarönü gulf carries red sand. Selimiye is a natural harbour that boats run into in stormy weather, with a quiet waterfront of small hotels and restaurants.
A few things worth knowing before you write
The same person answers each time
You will not be passed along a line of people. One person reads your first message and every message after it, in English, with no queue and no reference number in between.
Say who has already been over the ground
If you have walked the sand again yourself, or somebody at the hotel had a look, write that down. It changes what is left to do and stops the same ground being covered twice.
Conditions round this bay
Small things that change how a search here is put together.
Not every shore around this bay is the same stuff
The beach at Turunç is a blend of coarse sand and pebbles, the Hisarönü shore carries red sand, and both İçmeler and the centre of Marmaris have a public beach of their own. Whichever of those you were standing on, saying so narrows the list before anybody sets off.
The pine comes down close to the water
Marmaris is covered in pine forest. If your afternoon moved up among the trees, onto a path or to a table under them, say so, because that is not the same job as open sand.
There is no tide here to wait for
This is the Mediterranean, so the water will not draw back and leave the spot dry for anybody. What was under water then is under water now, which makes how deep you were standing one of the first things we ask.
Want a first idea of your chances? Try the lost ring recovery calculator.
Questions about Marmaris and İçmeler
I was in the water at İçmeler when I noticed the bracelet had gone.
Say how far out you had waded and whether your feet were still on the bottom. İçmeler has a public beach run by the municipality, and the park at the entrance to the town and the Köyiçi behind the shore are fixed points to place yourself against. It may still be close to where you were standing.
It was gone by the time we left the Marmaris bazaar.
The bazaar is a run of small stores selling souvenirs, clothes, spices and handicrafts, so start from what you bought and where you paid. The stepped lane climbing to the castle, with the Hafsa Sultan caravanserai at the entrance to it, is the landmark people can usually still find again.
We were on the boat at Netsel Marmaris Marina when it dropped.
Tell us the berth or the pontoon and which side of the boat you were on. If it went straight into the water inside the harbour, that is a long shot, and you would hear that from us first. On the pontoon or the quay it is another matter, because that ground is small enough to go over properly.
A watch is somewhere at Turunç.
The beach there is coarse sand and pebbles together, in a cove facing east on the bay. Say whether you were on the sand, in the water, or back among the restaurants near the shore. Then write down the look of the watch and anything marked on it.
An earring went missing at Kumlubük.
Kumlubük is known for its beach and for the slopes behind it, which carry walking and trekking routes, so the thing to settle is whether the day stayed down on the sand or went up onto the paths. An earring is small, and ground like that has to be cut right down before anybody starts.
We were at Kızkumu and walked out into the sea.
That is the shallow strip at Orhaniye, which runs from the land out across the bay, so people on it look as though they are standing in the middle of the water. What helps is how far along it you had gone and which side you stepped off. The sea there stays calm, which makes the afternoon easier to picture.
We stayed at Armutalan but everything we booked said Marmaris.
Both names are right. Armutalan stands on the same flat ground as Marmaris and carries a great many places to stay, and the area around it has routes for walking and cycling. Send the hotel name along with whichever of those names you have.
We only realised after we had flown home.
That does not close it off. Put down what you remember now, while it is still near the surface, and mark up a map as best you can. Anything that surfaces afterwards is simply added to what we already hold.
Marmaris and İçmeler
Where you were staying is a good opening line
WhatsApp works best for this, and English is all you need.
Begin with the hotel or the apartment and which part of the shore or the town the day was spent in. The gaps get filled by the questions that come back, so an unfinished account is still an account worth sending.