Sail & Sea / Day Trips

Meis, the Greek Harbour Twenty Minutes from Kaş

A short ferry from Kaş reaches a horseshoe of painted houses, a Lycian tomb cut into red rock and a sea cave that turns blue. Go early, and bring your passport.

By Lycia Journal5 min read
The harbour front at Meis, with painted houses along a still waterline

The queue forms on Kaş quay with passports already out: a few dozen people and hardly any luggage. A booth stamps you out of Turkey. The ferry takes about twenty minutes, and the island ahead stops looking like part of the coast. A church dome, a minaret, a long row of tall houses in ochre and pale blue.

The Greeks call Meis Megisti, and most maps print Kastellorizo. It is the easternmost inhabited Greek island, close enough that many phones keep catching Turkish masts, and the easiest border crossing on the coast to make before lunch.

Red rock, painted front

Castello Rosso, the Red Castle, gave the island its modern name, after the russet ridge the Knights of St John fortified in the fourteenth century. Little of it is left, but a metal stair climbs the ridge, with the town below on one side and Mandraki's small harbour on the other.

The town is a horseshoe of two-storey mansions around a flat harbour. The old mosque at one end holds a small museum of island life, and a few small hotels sit at the other. Fishing boats unload on the quay each morning and the catch goes straight to the tavernas. A plaque marks the house used in the Oscar-winning Italian film Mediterraneo. You can walk the whole front in twenty minutes.

A rowing boat gliding into a sea cave lit blue from the entrance
Diners at a harbour-side table, with masts and moored boats behind

The cave sets the order of the day

The Blue Cave lies on the southeast coast and can only be reached by boat. Its entrance stands about a metre above the water, so boats go in only when the sea is calm, and the colour is best early, while the sun is low. Skippers wait along the quay. Most trips run to the cave first, then to the islet of St George, a few minutes across the bay, where there are loungers, a small taverna and clear water.

Timing decides the day. Take the first ferry and the cave is likely to be open. Take a later one and the swell may have closed it. Ask the skipper whether guests can swim inside, because not every boat allows it. Organised tours from Kaş bundle the crossing, the cave and the islet, and leave about as much time in town as a lunch. The ferry on its own is looser: your own boat, your own hours.

The tomb on the Mandraki path

Walk east from the harbour on the path to Mandraki and a sign on the right points to a short flight of steps. At the top is a Lycian tomb cut into the red rock, with a temple front and Ionic columns, dated to the fourth century BC. It is the only one of its kind in Greece, and a close cousin of the tombs above Kaş. Beyond it, Mandraki is a sleepy second harbour with a pebbly place to swim and a painted chapel at the water's edge.

Editor's picks

  • Take the first ferry.The cave, the light and a long lunch all work better with a morning start.
  • Ask about the sea before you pay for a boat.The cave entrance is low, and the skippers on the quay read the swell by eye.
  • Walk to the tomb, then on to Mandraki.A sign, a few steps, then a swim.
  • Climb to the castle.A metal stair, with both harbours below you.
  • Eat what came in that morning.Fish goes from the quay to the tavernas within hours.
  • Give Kaş a second day.Take a private yacht to Kekova and the sunken city (see Sailing from Kaş), or drive west to Kaputaş on the D400.
  • Drive to Xanthos or Patara.Both are about 45 minutes west of Kaş by road. Bring your Müze Kart if you have one, as it is valid at both gates.
A pale balcony and stone steps looking out over the sea from Meis

Insider notes

Passport control sits on both sides of the crossing, so reach Kaş harbour at least half an hour before your sailing. Tickets are sold at offices on the waterfront, and you will be asked for passport details when you buy. Meis is inside the Schengen area, so a passport that needs a Schengen visa needs one here too. Check the current rules for your own passport before you book.

Boatmen on the island want cash in euros. Small port charges are collected on both sides, so ask what your ticket already covers.

Leave slack at the end of the day. When a larger ferry from Rhodes is docking, the Kaş boat waits for its berth, and the Greek passport desk can be slow. Plan a late dinner in Kaş rather than a tight connection.

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How to get to Kaş

Dalaman is the closest airport, about two hours by road, through Kalkan on the D400, so allow for the bends. The ferry leaves from the middle of town and the harbour is a walk from the old town, so the island is the one part of this trip that needs no car. Flights from Europe and Istanbul are covered in Getting there.

For the length of one lunch it is Greece, and the ferry home waits at the quay.

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