Turkey takes the plunge into swimming tourism

There are easier, warmer and more comfortable ways to travel from Europe to Asia – and definitely less challenging – than swimming across Turkey’s Bosphorus and Dardanelles straits.

For almost 40 years, local and international open sea swimming enthusiasts have had the chance to swim across these waterways that separate the two continents, either in the city Istanbul – which the Bosphorus divides – or the Dardanelles, further south near the World War I battlefields of Gallipoli.

What started as small events attracting a handful of diehard swimmers has grown into main attractions on the global so-called blue water circuit, and encouraged other Turkish regions to offer similar challenges.

Since it was first staged 37 years ago, numbers at the Bosphorus 6.5 kilometre swim have risen from 68 contestants to almost 3,000 last year. The even more storied, though shorter 4.5 km Dardanelles event, dating back 38 years, now draws well over 1,000 swimmers, with at least half from overseas.

The events attract a mixed group of contestants – from Olympians past and present to amateurs – from teens to septuagenarians. In last year’s Bosphorus swim, swimmers from 80 countries took to the water.

Open water swimming is not only healthy for those who take part; those who accompany the swimmers also make a valuable contribution to the Turkish economy, Ahmet Çelik, head of travel company WilusaTur, one of the key sponsors and organisers of the straits swims, tells AGBI. 

“They spend maybe three times as much as normal international tourists, as many are well off,” he says of open water eventers. “If we get 250 foreigners coming to take part in an event there may be another one hundred or two hundred accompanying them; it becomes a family event.”

   WilusaTur

With the average spend of international tourists last year a little under $100 per night, according to data from state statistics agency Turkstat, the estimated four-times multiplier makes the blue water swimming niche a growing contributor to the Turkish economy, given eventers usually stay a week or more taking in the lead up to the race and beyond. 

International tourist arrivals to Turkey rose to almost 50 million in 2023. Turkey’s tourism industry was worth more than $61 billion to the economy last year, according to the country’s tourism board.

While not necessarily following in their footsteps across land, the modern day eventers in the Dardanelles – known as the Hellespont in ancient times – nonetheless swim in the wake of some mighty figures from the past. 

Legend has it that Leander, a prince of the city of Abydos on the Asian shore of the Dardanelles, would swim the strait every night to be with his lover, a priestess of the goddess Aphrodite called Hero who lived in a temple in the city of Sestos above the European coastline. 

The tale ended badly, with Leander drowning one stormy night and Hero committing suicide, throwing herself into the waters from Aphrodite’s temple. 

While long considered a myth and the swim itself thought impossible, the British poet Lord Byron recreated Leander’s feat, crossing the Dardanelles in 1810. The ancient lovers and the more recent poet now serve to inspire a modern generation. 

For hardy adventurers, the two blue water events can now be attempted in the same month.

   WilusaTur

The Bosphorus race has been shifted from July to late August, while the shorter Dardanelles race is held around a week later on August 30, the anniversary of Turkey’s victory against foreign invaders in 1922 that heralded the founding of the modern Turkish nation.

Other Turkish regions, such as Kaş and Kekova on the Mediterranean, are also trying to tap the open sea market, offering coastal swims that can include routes taking in sunken ancient ruins and island to island hops. 

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Foreign groups chartering crewed boats for weeklong swim and dive cruises is becoming a feature.

What began as a few select blue water swim tours along Turkey’s Turquoise Coast in the southwest has expanded to a 28 week-long season, boosting regional boat hires, hotel booking rates and hospitality services. 

Turkish-American journalist and writer Ayla Jean Yackley has taken part in the open water Dardanelles race for more than a decade, along with other blue water events around the country. 

“Turkey is surrounded by sea and the warm temperatures and unusual courses make it one of the best places for open water swimming,” she says.

The number of visitors coming to Turkey to take advantage of these conditions is rising as more dive into the sport and look to take on the major swim challenges in their bucket list, says travel agent Çelik. 

“There is a worldwide community of open water swimmers, so they may say ‘Hellespont, tick’, and then come back again,” he says. “The potential is there for not only increasing visitor numbers but also for expanding the number of locations and the variety of swims as well.”