Bodrum

Is Bodrum safe?

Yes. Bodrum is a low-crime place for a holiday, and the things that go wrong for visitors are mostly accidents, not attacks. Eurostat counts 22 homicides in Muğla province in 2024, about 2.1 per 100,000 people, a little below Antalya. The UK Foreign Office's street-crime warning for Turkey is aimed at Istanbul, and it says most terrorist attacks have been in Istanbul, Ankara and the south-east; the nearest recent one was a gun attack on a police station in Izmir in September 2025.

This page covers Bodrum district: the town with its castle and marina, and the peninsula resorts of Gümbet, Bitez, Ortakent, Turgutreis, Gündoğan and Yalıkavak. About 207,000 people were registered there at the end of 2025, and many more stay in summer.

What harms visitors here is the roads, the summer fires and heat, the sea and, rarely, the ground. We score Bodrum 73, a little below Antalya and Rhodes, just across the water.

Crime and scams in the resorts

Theft is a nuisance rather than a threat. The FCDOFCDO travel adviceThe UK government's travel advice for each country, which can advise against all travel or all but essential travel to specific areas.More in the glossary says street robbery and pickpocketing are common in Istanbul's tourist areas; it gives no such warning for the coast. What you are more likely to meet in Bodrum is about money:

• Unofficial taxis. The FCDO calls lifts from unofficial drivers "highly risky". Use a registered taxi, note the plate and make sure the meter runs, or use an app or a pre-booked transfer.
• Friendly strangers. People who offer to change money or take you to a restaurant or club may be setting up an overpriced bill, and the FCDO warns that food and drinks from strangers can be spiked.
• Counterfeit dollars. Banks may refuse $50 and $100 notes because of a surge in fakes. Pay in lira or by card.
• Hire-firm claims. If you rent a quad or moped, photograph it first. The FCDO says you are likely to be charged for any damage and may face arrest if you do not pay.

Robbery is a little more common than in Antalya, at about 17 per 100,000 people across Muğla province in 2024, but those figures cover the whole province, and attacks on tourists are rare.

Nights out and drinks

Bodrum's bars and clubs run late in summer, both in the town and in the beach resorts. There is no night-safety survey for Bodrum, so we use Antalya, the nearest Turkish city in the European Commission's 2023 survey of residents, where 80% said they feel safe walking alone at night.

Two FCDOFCDO travel adviceThe UK government's travel advice for each country, which can advise against all travel or all but essential travel to specific areas.More in the glossary warnings matter more than the survey. Of 4.27 million British visitors to Turkey in 2025, 29 reported a sexual assault, including rape, to consular staff, most in coastal resorts during the season and often by someone they had met that day, including hotel and spa staff. And people in Turkey have died from illegally made spirits and fake branded bottles containing methanol, which you cannot taste or smell. Buy your own drinks, keep them in sight, and stick to beer, wine or sealed bottles.

Roads are the biggest danger

TÜİK recorded 154 road deaths and 7,193 injury crashes in Muğla province in 2025. That is about 14 deaths per 100,000 residents, half as high again as Antalya's rate and roughly eight times Istanbul's. Some of the gap comes from summer visitors, who drive on the province's roads but are not counted as residents; even so, this is Bodrum's weakest factor.

• Ride a moped only if you have an A1 licence and real experience. Helmets are the law and police fine riders without them.
• The FCDOFCDO travel adviceThe UK government's travel advice for each country, which can advise against all travel or all but essential travel to specific areas.More in the glossary calls quad biking an extreme sport that needs specific insurance, and says jeep safaris have had a number of accidents.
• The FCDO advises particular care on the roads at night. Do not drink and drive: police fine drunk drivers and can take your licence for six months.
• On foot, cross at lights rather than trusting zebra crossings.

Earthquakes and the 2017 tsunami

The Bodrum peninsula faces the Greek island of Kos across a narrow strait, and the sea floor between them is seismically active. On 21 July 2017 a magnitude 6.6 earthquake struck about 11 km from Kos (USGS). Two tourists died on Kos when a ceiling collapsed. In Bodrum, Kandilli Observatory said the quake caused a small tsunami, about 70 people were treated in hospital for minor injuries, and no one died (AP). Some property near Bodrum town was damaged (EMSC).

In June 2025 a magnitude 5.8 quake struck at depth off Marmaris, further east along the coast; the provincial governor reported no collapsed buildings, but 69 people were affected and a 14-year-old in Fethiye died after a panic attack. Choose a newer hotel, learn where its assembly area is, and in shaking drop, cover and hold on. If you are on the shore after a strong quake and the sea pulls back, move inland or uphill.

Fires, heat and the sea

Wildfires are the hazard most likely to change a summer trip. In early August 2021 the worst fires Turkey had seen in years burned along the coast, including around Bodrum and Milas, where flames engulfed several neighbourhoods after residents had left (dpa). The FCDOFCDO travel adviceThe UK government's travel advice for each country, which can advise against all travel or all but essential travel to specific areas.More in the glossary says fires happen frequently in summer, that lighting any fire or dropping a cigarette in woodland can bring a fine or prison, and that authorities may order hotels to empty. If they do, go.

The FCDO warns of extreme summer temperatures, so plan excursions for the morning. It also says people drown every year in Turkey's sea and pools; some beaches have strong currents and hidden rocks. Swim where there are lifeguards, follow the flags (red means stay out) and never jump headfirst into water you do not know.

Bodrum has a state hospital and private hospitals, including American Hospital Bodrum, which the FCDO lists as having English-speaking staff. Treatment is quick but billed, and the European health insurance card is not valid in Turkey, so bring travel insurance.

How we scored it

Walking at night (85) uses Antalya's survey result, the same method we use for every Turkish city. Violent crime (84) and theft and scams (80) follow Muğla's provincial figures and the FCDOFCDO travel adviceThe UK government's travel advice for each country, which can advise against all travel or all but essential travel to specific areas.More in the glossary's advice. Traffic safety (42) is the weakest factor because of the province's road death rate, and natural hazards (60) reflects the 2017 quake and tsunami, the 2021 fires and summer heat. For the next bays along the coast, see Marmaris and Fethiye.