TURKEY – Fethiye, Çalış Beach // Skyfall (2012)
A neat beach bar, scorpion dare games on the menue: James Bond has an excklusive Turkish hideout in “Skyfall”. But is the spot a real place? The locals in Fethiye treat their Bond history their own way.
Why Bond was here
After a pursuit went south in Istanbul, James Bond (Daniel Craig) gets shoot and vanishes. He starts to enjoy the anonymous life at a beach in southern Turkey. Bond drinks scorpion infused cocktails there and drowns himself in sorrow. But the missing in action becomes a missing the action. One morning 007 watches a news report from an attack on the MI6 headquarter. It is time to head back.
How you gonna get there
Both Bonds beach hut and the beach bar are at Çalış Beach. The beach is a famous hangout in Fethiye on the southwestern coast of Turkey. The beach runs along most part of the city. But the filming was in the northern part, at an area called Koca. You may easily walk along the beach from Fethiyes city center up north or take a
Dolmuš, a local bus.
Getting to Fethiye is also quite a ride: The closest airport is Dalaman, an hour to the north. Nearby is also famous beach hub Antalya, but here the ride takes up to three hours. Look for agencies Havataş or Muttaş for local bus tours from the airports to Fethiye.
Good to know
So you are at Çalış Beach. The sun is setting over the Mediterranean Sea and you fancy some scorpion action? Don’t be upset, there is no such beach bar as in “Skyfall”. Both Bonds hut and the bar where movie sets and scrapped after filming. Thus you won’t be able to find more than sand and sun at Fethiye.
Locals told me, you also won’t find a scorpion dare at any other Fethiye night club. You probably won’t even find scorpions at all. Yet, the beach front is full of clubs and cafes, offering drinks and shishas till the early hour. There also is a Surf Club, that claims, filming took place at his venue. But it doesn’t really work out, the original shooting must have been more up north at the more quiet end of the beach.
Next to the beach, the crew also went sailing between the islands off shore. The area was used as the location for the scene, where Bond and Solange head to Silvas hideout. The hideout itself though is a fictional place inspired by the famous Hashima Island off Japan.
If you do it like Bond and stick around in Fethiye till sunrise, go find yourself a neat Turkish breakfast. But don’t go the expensive restaurants at the beach. Head inward for some more decent bakery’s and join the locals. My choice: Mehtap at Bariş Manço Boulevard. The little bakery is at a roundabout a few minutes eastwards from the beach. The owners offer tasty Simit, the famous sesame rings, and strong coffee.
© 2026 Huntingbond (1,3), © 2012 Danjaq, LLC, United Artists Corporation, Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. (2)