FOR COUPLES

The laid-back town of Dalyan on Turkey’s gorgeous Turquoise Coast is ideal for an ultra-relaxed holiday for couples. Nightlife is confined to simple cafés, bars and restaurants – some romantically situated right on the reed-fringed river on which the town is set. Who needs Lyon? There are boat tours upstream to the hot springs at Sultaniye, or across the river to explore ancient Kaunos and its fabulous temple-like tombs set in a cliff-face.

Most couples will be content to spend their days taking one of the regular cheap and cheerful co-operative boats 30 minutes downstream to the glorious white strand of undeveloped Iztuzu beach, spotting terrapins enroute. Cachet Travel (020 8847 8700; cachet-travel.co.uk) offer a one-week stay in a one-bed apartment in the idyllically situated Osmanli Hani Apartments from £729 per person including flights. Alternatively, unwind at the BC Spa Hotel (00 90 25228 42101; bcspahotel.com) for a spot of pampering; doubles from just £33 per night.

Further afield is Cappadocia in central Anatolia, a unique landscape of deep canyons, table mountains and weirdly sculpted rock cones known as fairy chimneys. What could be more romantic than staying in a “cave” hotel cut from the soft volcanic rock, enjoying

Riding high: leave real life behind and travel on horseback through age-old rock formations in Cappadocia a day’s horse-riding through this fabulous landscape or floating above it in a hot air balloon? Diamond Star (033 0390 0999; diamondstarexperience. com) has one-week stays in the boutique Cappadocia Cave Suites from £968 per person including flights. Drink wine from a local vineyard, try the delicious testi kebab – cooked to perfection in a sealed clay pot – and admire some stunning sunsets.

For couples who can’t sit still and want to be active all day long then chill out in the evening, a specialist water sports holiday is the solution. Kite-surfing

at Aegean Alacati, windsurfing off the Bodrum Peninsula or diving from Kas are just some options. The sea is warm and the wind just right at Foca, north-west of Izmir on the Aegean Coast, which is why Mark Warner (033 3220 4613; markwarner. co.uk) offer a one-week water sports holiday at Phokaia Beach Resort from £1,798 per person, including flights. Try sailing, windsurfing, paddleboarding and kayaking as well as tennis and cycling.