Kalkan Apartments with a Private Pool, the Sea View on a Smaller Plot

The pool is a rectangle of blue on the roof terrace, and by eight in the morning it is the brightest thing up there. Beyond the rail the roofs of Kalkan step down toward the harbour, and the bay sits a shade darker than the sky. Somewhere below, a hose is running. Coffee goes out onto the table, and the stone underfoot is already warm.

A week in a Kalkan apartment with a private pool is built on one bargain. You get the terrace, the water and the outlook, usually for less than a villa with the same view would ask, and you give up the plot. A villa owns a hillside. An apartment owns a terrace and shares the rest.

Two kinds of private pool

Most private pools in Kalkan apartments come in one of two forms. A garden-level apartment has its pool set into its own patch of garden, wide enough for proper swimming. A penthouse keeps its pool on the roof terrace: more sky, a longer view, a staircase for the shopping, and a pool made for sitting in rather than swimming. If swimming is the point, take the garden. If the view is, take the roof.

The view is a direction

Listings promise a view of Kalkan bay, of the harbour or of Kalamar bay, and these are not the same view. Ask which one, and ask what stands in front of it. A neighbouring roofline at the wrong height turns a sea view into a sea sliver.

Down is easy

Kalkan is built on a hill, and the walking times in listings are measured downhill. Ten minutes into the old town can mean twenty coming back, in sun, with bags. Ask whether the walk home has steps, whether the building has a lift, and where the car parks. A short taxi ride back up solves the rest.

A good apartment makes a modest case for itself. It does not need a garden to be generous, only a terrace that catches the morning, a kitchen where the first coffee can be made, and a place to leave wet towels. Look at those three before you look at the bedroom count.

Editor's picks

• Cook the first night.Tomatoes, white cheese, olives and bread from a shop in the old town make a table on the terrace. Ask the shopkeeper what is ripe that day.
• Go to the Thursday market.Kalkan's market is where the town does its produce shopping, so stock the terrace kitchen there.
• Breakfast at Islamlar.The village sits about 8 km above Kalkan, with trout pools beside the tables. It is a good reason to leave the pool for a morning.
• Swim at Patara.The beach is about twenty minutes by car, long and fine-sanded. Kalkan's own beach is pebble.
• Drive to Kaputaş.Ten minutes toward Kaş, then 180 steps down to the cove. Go before nine.
• Try a beach club platform.Kalkan's clubs are paved platforms with loungers and ladders into deep water, a change of scene from the apartment pool.
• Eat out once, with the menu in hand.Ask for it before you sit, and ask the price of fish by weight before it is brought to the table.

Insider notes

Weekly rentals are sold by the apartment, so ask what the week includes: cleaning, towel changes and pool care. Ask who skims the pool and how often, because leaves and dust show on still water by noon.

Sound carries between terraces in an apartment building, and the hour after dinner is the loud one. Ask which units sit next to yours.

A Museum Pass (Müze Kart) is valid at the Patara and Xanthos entrances, so buy it once if you plan to see both sets of ruins.

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How to get to Kalkan

Dalaman is the closest airport, about 1 hour 45 minutes by road. From the airport you can book a private VIP transfer or a seat on a shared shuttle minibus, or pick up a hire car there with little fuss. In Kalkan, dolmuş minibuses run to Kaş and to Fethiye. Flights from Europe and Istanbul are covered in Getting there.

A wet footprint dries from the edges inward on the terrace tile, and the lights come on along the harbour.