27 Best Restaurants in The Bodrum Peninsula, The Central and Southern Aegean Coast

At this waterfront restaurant, you should begin your meal with a selection of meze, like stuffed zucchini flowers, roasted eggplant with tulum cheese, and octopus salad. Then you can let the owner, Cengiz Bey, help you select the best local fish for the grill. Whatever you choose, don't skip dessert: Gaziantep baklava or irmik helvası (traditional warm semolina halvah) served with ice cream.

The peripatetic Turkish-Armenian maestro Garo heads the kitchen at this enduringly popular stone cottage–turned–waterfront restaurant in Türkbükü with a comfy Greek-taverna feel, friendly staff, and an outdoor terrace with blue-and-white checkered tablecloths. If you're not in the mood for seafood and meze, there are spicy Turkish meatballs or a Bodrum specialty, çökertme kebabı (beef strips over fried potatoes with yogurt sauce).

This lovely restaurant on the waterfront specializes not only in fresh fish, seafood, and meze but also serves an excellent summer brunch. Tables are only a few feet from the peaceful waters of the bay, with a truly romantic view of the ancient ruins of Rabbit Island, often with a soft breeze. The waitstaff are cheery and attentive, and though the kitchen has been refurbished almost beyond recognition, it retains a 300-year-old hearth from when it served as the bakery for the surrounding villages.

Down a quiet, pretty alley just a two-minute stroll from the waterfront, the white, candlelit tables at this seafood restaurant quickly fill with hungry locals. Accompany a heaping plate of fried local calamari (probably the most generous in town) with a tasting plate of up to four vegetable meze with toasted bread, and, if you're still hungry, order grilled fish and (more) rakı.

Tables are tucked into a lovely hidden garden in summer and in cooler weather service is in a quaint, Bodrum-style, one-story house. The Mediterranean cuisine includes some local favorites. Alcohol is served.

Bitez Dondurma's creamy ice-cream concoctions full of fresh fruit have proved so popular that the shop now has branches all over the Bodrum Peninsula, and as far away as Istanbul. The waterfront location in Bodrum's town center is a convenient spot to grab a scoop or two as you stroll along the promenade.

Famed for its kebabs and other meat dishes, Denizhan also serves up very good meze and appetizers, including lahmacun (Turkish-style whisper-thin flatbread topped with spices and minced meat) and vegetable dishes such as mustard greens salad. The restaurant has a prime location on the Bodrum waterfront and an extensive wine list.

This small and colorful eatery serving Greek and Turkish fare is an increasingly rare find in ever more chic Bodrum. Choose from meze like smoked fish or roasted eggplant with tahini sauce, followed by fresh fish, ending perhaps with a cream-topped candied mandarin for dessert. Reservations are recommended.

For almost half a century, this popular, no-frills restaurant near the marina has been serving the freshest seafood in town. House specialties include fish soup and octopus with pilaf, and their fried calamari has been voted one of the best versions in Turkey. Reservations recommended.

The specialty of the house at this simple eatery on the boardwalk in Türkbükü is large, rather greasy portions of çiğ böreği, a Crimean dish brought to Turkey that consists of flat, fried pastry stuffed with ground beef, onion, and spices. One of the few unpretentious (and relatively inexpensive) places left on the Türkbükü shoreline, this place has a beach-hut vibe, its own little patch of sand, and a family clientele.

Köfte (Turkish-style meatballs) are the mainstay of this popular, no-frills eatery, and you can enjoy them as a sandwich or with a side of piyaz (navy bean salad, with or without onions), homemade bread, and ayran (salted yogurt drink). The only other dish on the menu is çöp şiş, small pieces of skewered grilled lamb. No alcohol served.

Turkish grilled meatballs and home-style cuisine, served at just a few tables in a no-frills setting, have been a hit for more than half a century. Accompany any dish you order with homemade plain yogurt. Alcohol is not served.

This long-standing, family-run fish house overlooks the harbor and is especially noted for a wide selection of Cretan dishes and seafood appetizers that include delectable shrimp cooked in butter, garlic, and seaweed. A local institution with courteous waitstaff, Körfez also serves some meat dishes.

Settle into a lovely, fig-scented garden about 2 km (1 mile) outside town, overlooking citrus trees, the sea, and the ancient city of Myndos and enjoy a meal in these rural surroundings. While the late-risers' breakfast, served until 3 pm daily is a draw, the crowds come for dinner at sunset. Lunch or dinner should begin with the excellent fried calamari; the mantı (Turkish-style ravioli) is homemade.

This waterfront spot in pleasant Şevket Sabancı Park, just outside Turgutreis city center, has grand views of the sea along with a nice selection of Turkish and international dishes (though, perhaps surprisingly given the location, no fish). Alcohol is served and reservations advisable in high season.

Wonderfully prepared seafood is served with polish at this pleasant spot, as are the meat and pasta dishes. After midnight, there are often DJs at the garden bar. In wintertime, regulars cluster indoors around a cozy fireplace. Book in advance on weekends and in high season.

Popular with the yachting crowd and holidaymakers from Istanbul, this friendly steak house has live music—jazz, Latin, flamenco, Turkish, and pop—just about every night. The broad menu also includes chicken, fish, and other meat dishes, along with salads and assorted meze. Come for dinner, stay for the dancing.

This always-hopping waterfront bistro draws a local and tourist crowd with its broad Turkish-international menu of pastas, salads, bar snacks, and grilled meats. Some good local wines are available, too.

Settle in under the shady trees and vines covering and cooling this relaxed garden café just off the waterfront, where the eclectic menu includes a wide range of starters (from hummus to orange-infused chicken liver pate), salads, pastas, and mains. Be sure to save room for the dessert of the day. 

Italian-inspired pizzas, pastas, and salads are served alongside traditional Turkish chicken and beef dishes. It's always packed with local families and tourists sitting back at wooden tables filled with the enormous portions. Alcohol is served, and not at a ludicrous markup. There's also a branch in Turgutreis.

This popular bakery on Bodrum's main pedestrian shopping street is know for classic puddings, cheesecakes, pastries, and luxurious fruit-and-cream parfaits. There's also an outlet on Neyzen Tevfik Caddesi across from the marina.

A broad, mostly reasonably priced menu of well-executed dishes—both Turkish and international—is offered in a setting that encourages leisurely lingering over a meal. Tables are scattered throughout a peaceful, beautifully landscaped garden with sea views, and there’s a beach, too, if you want to cool off.