Take a tour of Turkey’s women-only beach

On my visit to Sarısu Beach, the free-of-charge, women-only beach in the southern province of Antalya that has recently caused such a stir, it perhaps should not have been a surprise to see that a Salvador Dali image was the only reference to a male in sight. 

While at the beach, I met with Neriman from Trabzon, who said she wanted her youngest daughter to be a model, and also with Özlem, a burka-clad women living in Lyon who is fluent in French. I was also very impressed by Kerime, who told me that she had “bought a bikini for the first time in her life” for her trip to the beach. 

Arriving in Antayla, I asked a local 20-year-old gas station worker for directions to the women-only beach. He blushed and then started to look at me with a teasing smile, as if I had asked “Where’s the nudist beach?” He then told me to turn left after about a kilometer… 

“Soon enough, guys like this young man will be trying whatever they can to get a peek at such a beach,” I thought to myself.

The beach is located very close to the Konyaaltı neighbourhood of Antalya, and I found it easily with the help of road signs. It has kebab and fish restaurants, a tea garden, a beach buffet and a marketplace made up of a market and six shops. I don’t know if it was because it was only the fourth day after its opening, but it was the cleanest beach I have ever seen. The grass was green and the flowers were beautiful. The women responsible for rubbish collection waited until I finished my bottle of water and then took it away. 

Even though it was Wednesday, the beach was quite crowded. All 300 sunbeds and the 150 umbrellas placed on the beach were taken. I sat in the cafe after changing my...