Akçay

One of the popular summer resort towns lining the northern coast of the Gulf of Edremit in a succession, Akçay stands out with its ice-cold seawater, due to the freshwater discharge from the seabottom.

• HasanboğulduAn area of small waterfalls and quite deep ponds on the hillside in verdant surroundings, Hasanboğuldu is a popular local picnic and freshwater swimming spot (though, with a constant temperature of 7°C/45°F it's just as, if not more, "refreshing" as the seawater below at Akçay). However beautiful and peaceful the place nowadays may be, there is a tragic love story behind the name of the place, which literally translates "Hasan was drowned": Hasan, a young farmer from the lowland village of Zeytinli, fell in love with Emine, a sturdy maiden from the nomadic tribes of the mountain. As a marriage between a sedentary farmer and a nomad was frowned upon, there was no way for Emine to move into Hasan's village, and as such Hasan would have to move to the upland pastures. Emine's family set a condition for Hasan to fulfill, so that he could prove that he would be hardy enough to overcome an austere mountain lifestyle: He had to carry 50 kg of pure salt over the mountains to Emine's tribe. Having failed the objection by knocking down at the halfway, Hasan committed a suicide in one of the ponds in what is now Hasanboğuldu. Emine, upon hearing the death of her lover, has also committed a suicide as well, by hanging herself on one of the plane trees next to the pond.

Campgrounds

• Akcay Camping

  phone: +90 266 384 28 18
  address: Yeni Mahalle

• Gine Camping

  phone: +90 266 384 11 34
  address: Turgut Reis Caddesi

• Pat Camping

  address: Güneş Caddesi

• Saka Camping

  phone: +90 266 384 37 89
  address: Güneş Caddesi