History Of Didim ( Altinkum )

Didim is shaped as a peninsula surrounding Mugla on the east coast with huge inlet of Akbuk town, Aegean sea on the west and east coast, Lake Bafa and the Menderes River on the northern coast. 106 km's to Aydin provenience, 53 km' to Söke town, 73 km's to Kusadasi, 110 km's to Bodrum. Spread to 300 km2. of area.

15 years

 ago, the people from large cities around Turkey such as Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir first came to Didim - Altinkum ("altin: gold" + "kum:sand") and started to build their own summer houses, holiday homes. When Turkey's economy started to decline those people found very hard to survive in the big cities most of the summer house owners who were mainly retired people have decided to move into the small resorts such as Didim.

The location of Didim used to take part around the Apollo temple at the ancient Didyma town. They called the area "Yoran" (name derives from Yeuwani) and after a long time government supported locals and build them modern concrete houses down on the south west part of the old civilization called "Yenihisar", meaning "yeni: new" + "hisar: castle".

People of Yenihisar used to go to Söke for their weekly shopping and Akköy used to be the biggest town of those days. However, just after tourism, the place itself have turned into a rapidly growing holiday resort for tourists. The unfertile tobacco fields derived ancient Didyma (meaning twins remarkable at Temple of Apollo Artemisia and Apollo twin sister and brothers) became very dear and left its space to hotels, restaurants, bars with a sparkling combination of history and modernity. The name was changed into "Didim" which is one and only in Turkey including a large area in its borders with the towns and villages leading to it became the town centre.

Today's Growing Didim is a rapidly rising holiday resort being completely different than what it used to be 10-15 years ago welcoming large population of tourists from all over the world with its beautiful beaches, ancient towns, culture, climate and comparing to the big tourist resorts like Bodrum, Kusadasi, Marmaris, there are more strict rules governed to prevent Didim being spoiled. With the rising economy of the town, roads, pedestrians,  parks etc.. help Didim look more beautiful day by day.

Since about 2003 foreign people (mainly British people) have shown a great interest in the area to buy holiday homes. With establishing themselves as a visible community of many thousands, to the extent that utility bills in the district are now printed in English as well as Turkish.

The construction of the new fifty million dollar Didim D Marina is expected to encourage further tourism and rising property prices in the area. Development of the third beach area in Didim has already begun with an expected completion date of 2009.

Plans for a £22.8 million golf resort in Turkish holiday resort of Didim have been given the go-ahead by local planning officials and the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism. A Turkish steel and shipping company, is developing the 18-hole golf course and residential village on a 170 acre site between Didim – Akbuk , as a destination for package tourists and property buyers from other countries.

You can discover the area itself joining the tours such as Lake Bafa, Akköy Village, Didyma - Miletos - Priene, Söke Market, Kusadasi Market, Bodrum, Ephesus - Virgin Mary's house, Pamukkale, Aphrodisias, Dalyan and many more.