Beaches And Babes, Culture And Caves - Totally Turkey

The Republic of Turkey is known as the bridge between Europe and Asia. The country has become increasingly integrated with the West, whilst at the same time continuing to maintain strong ties with the Eastern world.

Turkey's geography is diverse; unbeknown to most, the country has vast mountain ranges with snowy peaks over 5000m high, dense forests, rocky coast lines and rolling plateaus, but it is Turkey's long sandy beaches and warm blue waters that attract the most number of visitors.

Turkey has not one, but two huge stretches of coastline with hundreds of beaches. Turkey's Black Sea coastline is the less visited of the two shores, yet the Black Sea region offers the more untouched scenery. From the western European border with Bulgaria, all the way to the eastern border with Georgia there are miles of un-crowded beaches offering fun, sun and swimming in the Black sea. The wooden houses in the fishing villages and mountain hamlets that dot this part of the country offer a rustic and rural charm, where the traditional way of life continues much as it has done for hundreds of years.

The southern coast of Turkey, which meets the Mediterranean Sea is the most popular of the two coastlines. It's longer, hotter and livelier. The coastline is extremely attractive, the weather is reliably excellent and there's plenty to see and do. Known as the "Turquoise coast", due to the beautiful blue green waters, it is the destination of choice for many of Turkey's holidaying natives, as well as hundreds of foreign visitors.

Every year, tourists from around Europe, and especially Britain, take advantage of the huge number of cheap holidays that appear in estate agent's windows, holiday brochures and travel websites. Places such as the city of Antalya are deemed major playgrounds for tourists and serve as a base for several nearby attractions. The area has varied nightlife featuring everything from belly dancers to techno-music clubs that continue until sunrise; scuba diving including some wreck dives from the Bronze age, and an incredible cave system with underground lakes and caverns full of stalactites and stalagmites.

Turkey's beautiful beaches, ancient culture, warm blue sea and white sands continue to attract visitors from all over the world and at less than 4 hours flight time from the UK, the country is likely to remain one of the most popular beach holiday destinations with Brits for a long time to come.