Lycian Way Map
The Lycian Way is 540 km of waymarked footpath running from Fethiye in the west to Antalya in the east, broken into 26 walkable stages. This page collects the maps you actually need — the interactive map of the route and every stage, a free GPX download of the whole trail with each stage as its own track, and the offline-first phone app that most hikers end up using on the trail.
The Lycian Way at a glance
| Total length | 540 km / 336 miles |
|---|---|
| Stages | 26 (typical 25–30 walking days) |
| Total ascent | ~25,000 m |
| Highest point | Mt Tahtalı (Olympos), 2,366 m |
| Start (west) | Ovacık, near Fethiye |
| End (east) | Geyikbayırı, near Antalya |
| Waymarking | Red-and-white horizontal stripes (Grande Randonnée style) |
| Best months | March–May, September–November |
Interactive map of every stage
The interactive map is the easiest place to start. It draws the full route and puts a pin at the start of every stage and alternative. Tap a pin for the stage's distance and climb, and follow the link to its guide.
What the map shows
- Trail line — the waymarked route as mapped on OpenStreetMap, the same line the app and the GPX download use
- Stage pins — the start of every stage and alternative, with its distance and climb and a link to its guide
- Stage guides — each one covers what to expect on the trail, how to get there and where to find a bed nearby
Download the GPX
The whole route is one free GPX file: no signup, no email. Inside, every stage and alternative is its own track, and the ancient sites along the way are waypoints, so most apps let you show only the stages you are walking. It loads into any GPS app — Garmin, Wikiloc, Gaia GPS, OsmAnd, Komoot, Locus Map, AllTrails, BackCountry Navigator, or your wristwatch.
| File | Size | What is in it |
|---|---|---|
| Lycian Way GPX (whole route) | ~1.7 MB | Every stage and alternative as its own track, plus the ancient sites as waypoints |
Route data © OpenStreetMap contributors, available under the Open Database License.
Offline phone app — the one most hikers use
Lycian Way (free)
Our free Lycian Way app caches the full trail map for offline use. You download once over Wi-Fi at your pension, then walk for weeks without phone signal. GPS shows your position on the trail map, so you can check it against the route line yourself.
The app also lists 600+ pensions and camp spots with current prices, photos, the local landlord's WhatsApp, and the languages they speak. Buddy Finder matches you with hikers walking the same week if you want company.
A printed map (for the wall, not the trail)
A printed paper map is good for trip planning at home — visualising the whole 540 km, marking the section you'll walk, sharing with friends and family. It's not a great primary navigation tool on the trail itself: at A3 size you can't read the path-level detail, and waterproofing a 1.20 m strip-map is unwieldy.
We don't publish a printable PDF. To make your own, import the GPX above into a mapping tool you can print from, such as Google My Maps, and print the section you'll walk.
The Kate Clow guidebook map (paper)
The trail's founder, Kate Clow, publishes the canonical guidebook The Lycian Way through the Trekking In Turkey series. The 4th edition (2020, with 2024 reprints) includes hand-drawn strip maps of every stage, hiker's notes, and historical commentary on every ruin. The book is widely available on Amazon UK (~€18) and in pension bookshops along the trail.
Most hikers carry the guidebook for narrative and historical context, and use the phone app for live navigation. The two are complementary, not substitutes — the book tells you the story of Olympos, the app tells you which switchback to take down to it.
What the trail markers look like
The Lycian Way is waymarked in the French Grande Randonnée style: two horizontal stripes — red on top, white below — painted onto rocks, walls, tree trunks, fences, and any reasonably permanent surface, roughly every 50–100 metres along the route.
Other markings to know:
- Red & white × (cross) — wrong way; turn back
- Red & white arrow — sharp change of direction here
- Yellow stripes — local Turkish forestry or village paths, not the Lycian Way
- Blue stripes — alternate or summit route (e.g., the Mt Tahtalı variant)
- Stone cairns — supplementary, especially on the limestone moonscapes around Bel
Waymarks are repainted by volunteers each spring, usually in February before the season starts. After winter rains they can be faded — if you go three or four minutes without seeing one, stop, check the GPS, and backtrack to the last known marker rather than pushing on.
Mobile coverage and dead zones
Roughly 80 % of the trail has 3G or 4G signal on at least one Turkish network. The remaining 20 % is genuinely without coverage, sometimes for half a day at a time. The longest dead zones are:
- Alınca → Gavurağılı — 5–6 hours, no signal once you drop below the village
- Gökçeören → Bel — exposed limestone plateau, intermittent
- Around Mt Tahtalı — patchy on the eastern slopes
- Karaöz → Adrasan — pine forest, signal mostly absent
- Üçağız → Kapaklı — long stretches with nothing
This is the entire reason the offline app exists. Cache the route before you leave Wi-Fi, carry a 10,000 mAh power bank, and assume for safety planning that you cannot phone for help on those stretches.
Frequently asked questions
Is there an official Lycian Way map?
The original waymarked map was produced in 1999 by the Kate Clow Trust and updated in successive guidebook editions. There is no single government-issued map. The route line on this site, in its GPX download and in the app comes from OpenStreetMap, where the waymarked trail is mapped by volunteers.
Can I download a GPX file of the Lycian Way?
Yes. A free GPX of the whole route is linked above, with each stage and alternative as its own track and the ancient sites as waypoints. No signup, no email-gate.
Does the Lycian Way map work offline?
The mobile app caches the full trail map and your downloaded stages. Once cached, you can navigate without any phone signal. This is essential — see the dead-zones list above.
Is the trail well marked?
Yes, in most places. The red-and-white stripes are repainted each spring. Sections that were burned in the 2021 wildfires (between Adrasan and Olympos) and any new construction reroutes are the exceptions — those are where the GPS app earns its keep.
What's the easiest way to follow the trail?
Combine the painted waymarks with the offline GPS map on your phone. The waymarks confirm you're on the trail; the GPS confirms which way it goes when waymarks are missing. Don't rely on either one alone.
Where can I see the trail before I commit to a trip?
The stages page lets you click through every section with photos, elevation profiles, and the towns you'd sleep in. Use the stage cards to picture the trip; use this map to plan the logistics.