Daily Bafa Lake Tour from Didim – Herakleia under Latmos & Bird Paradise

Bafa Lake Day Trip from Didim: Nature, Legends and Ancient Herakleia

The daily Bafa Lake tour from Didim is a peaceful, fully guided day tour to one of the most atmospheric corners of the Aegean, where a broad lake lies beneath the rugged granite peaks of Mount Latmos. On this daily excursion you combine birdlife and quiet countryside with the scattered ruins of Herakleia, a town steeped in myth.

• Bafa Lake – once the innermost part of the Latmian Gulf, cut off from the sea by river silt
• Bird paradise – home to around 208 bird species, including pelicans and storks
• Herakleia under Latmos – an ancient harbour town on the slopes of the mountain
• Mount Latmos – a 1,375 m peak that remained sacred into the Byzantine era
• The legend of Selene and Endymion – the moon goddess and her sleeping lover
• Rural life – olive groves, cotton fields and beekeeping around the shore

Until Roman times Bafa was a bay of the Aegean, but the River Meander gradually filled the gulf with sediment and by around 400 AD the link to the open sea was gone. Today the lake measures about 15 km long and 10 km wide and reaches depths of around 25 metres. It is mostly fresh water with a partly salty section, and its waters hold sea bass, eels and carp. The reeds and islets attract a remarkable range of birds, which is why the area is valued by nature lovers and photographers.

Herakleia, also called Latmos after the mountain above it, was built as a port and lived from farming, fishing and sea trade. When the silt closed its outlet to the sea, the town lost its livelihood and slowly declined. The dramatic setting of boulders, walls and water inspired many legends, the best known being that of Selene, who sent the shepherd Endymion into eternal sleep so she could visit him each night. This Bafa Lake day trip includes hotel pickup and drop-off in Didim, a professional English-speaking guide and all entrance fees listed in the programme.