Recently we wrote about the Greek island of Meis, favoured destination for the 90-day visa run, and how it is also a really good destination for a day trip from Fethiye especially for those readers who live here and have family and friends visiting regularly from the UK.

You do eventually run out of Lycian sites to visit and then the ‘Where shall we take them?’ conversations start.

So this is the second in an occasional series of articles about alternative days out around Fethiye.

The Palm Centre at Köyceğiz is an excellent destination for a day out with a difference.

It’s about an hour’s drive from Fethiye to Köyceğiz where you should park in the town, take a walk around and along the edge of the lake.

There are lots of good value small cafes in the main square adjacent to the lake where you can enjoy lunch – or take a picnic and eat it further along the lakeside, after the lakefront restaurants end, where there are benches.

Then head out to the Palm Centre – ‘Palmiye Merkezi’ in Turkish.

Just follow the road alongside the lake for about 2km and you will see the huge plastic tunnels which are the Centre’s plant sales area, with the large arched entrance to the Centre itself next door.

Entry costs 10TL which includes a guided tour of the gardens and tea or coffee and a cake at the end of your tour.

The gardens were established by a Turkish doctor, Ragip Esener, who spent part of his career in Africa and fell in love with palm trees. 
He bought the land now occupied by the Palm Centre in 1993 and from 1996 has been developing his gardens, an extensive palmery and the Plant Sales area.

The gardens are lovely and include a koi pond, turtle pond, collections of palms (of course) but also of cactus, succulents, water lilies and oleanders amongst others.

If you’re lucky your guide could be Ragip himself who has the patient of saint when answering questions about plants, and speaks excellent English.

Of course if your guests are flying home to the UK soon they can’t buy large plants – but seed is also for sale at the Centre, or they could buy a plant for your garden/balcony as a memento of a lovely day out.

If you do go to the Palm Centre let us know what you think.

The Gardens are open from 1st June to 31st October, 09.00 – 18.00.

And if you have ideas for any other alternative days out, why not pass those on as well.

A map of the location of Köyceğiz can be found here.