Lycia has two mountain ranges, with the tallest peaks standing well over 3000 meters (10,000 feet) high. These mountains cut off Lycia from ancient Caria to the west and Pamphylia to the east. In the north a lower but no less rugged range and a great plateau cut Lycia off from central Anatolia. Near the coast a series of mountain ranges drop precipitously into the sea. The highest peaks of Akdag in the west and Bey Dagi (ancient Mt Solymnus) in the east are covered in snow on the highest slopes until early summer. Transportation in this area was very difficult up until the 1970’s and sea travel was often preferred. The Lycian Coast was the first place where a scheduled ferry service was organized.

Those at Caunos and Fethiye are the most impressive. House-tombs were modeled on the wooden houses of the Lycians and so give us some idea of what everyday accommodation was like several thousand years ago. They are smaller than the temple-tombs, though often several stories high and the stone has been hewn to imitate wooden roof beams and the doorway and portico.

found everywhere scattered over hill-sides, on the summits of hills, by the shore, and in the sea where the land has subsided. The older sarcophagi are the largest with massive stone bases, grave chambers, and heavy lids often with a peaked 'gothic' look to them. In Roman times the sarcophagi became smaller and less ornate.

The area is named after the ancient Luwian people who were mentioned in eastern and Egyptian descriptions as “Luqqu” or “Luqqa” who settled in the area around the Bronze Age (2000 BC). They are also mentioned in Homer's Iliad where they fought on the side of the Trojans in defense of Troy. The landscape is wild and so were the people who lived here. The ancient inhabitants of Lycia were known as being fiercely independent and would often fight to the death.

A half millennium later in 42 BC it happened again when Brutus attacked Xanthos. The Lycians fought to the end, but when they saw there was no hope of victory, they once again slew their women and children and burnt the city down. Plutarch recorded Brutus' feelings on this second mass suicide: "It was so tragically a sight that Brutus could not bear to see it, but wept at the very mention of the scene.” The Lycians were so fiercely independent that they were the last region to be incorporated into the Roman provinces in Asia Minor.

The Lycian coast is also frequently referred to as the 'pirate coast’ with its many coves, caves and islands where these sea-raiders could lie in wait for rich merchant ships cruising up and down the coast. Numerous campaigns were launched from as early as 1194 BC until the 19th century. A relief on the Nile delta records how Ramses III got together a great fleet to take on the “Lukka” and defeated them, leaving the coast free of piracy for a while. When Xerxes assembled his huge force for the invasion of Greece in 480 BC the Lycians contributed fifty ships and Herodotus gives us this description of the pirate-like crew that manned them: "They wore greaves and corsets; they carried bows of cornel wood, cane arrows without feathers, and javelins. They had goatskin slung round their shoulders, and hats stuck round with feathers. They also carried daggers and rip-hooks."

Piracy is mentioned again in the 5th century BC, but it is not until the Roman occupation of Asia Minor that attempts were again made to bring it under control. In 78 BC a campaign was mounted by Servilius Vatia, governor of Cilicia and also in 67 BC Pompey, an admiral, was given wide-ranging powers and almost unlimited resources to tackle the piracy problem, which he did with total success. After the fall of Rome the Lycian coast once again became a haven for pirate fleets and not until the 18th and 19th centuries and the presence of the British Navy was the piracy problem finally solved.

With the decline of the Roman Empire, the entire area went into decline and by Byzantine times there were only small settlements around the coast, and you can see a number of Byzantine churches in isolated spots. In the late Middle Ages this region was viewed as a wilderness and was called "Uc" or the "Frontier" by the Ottomans. Not until visits by travelers of the 19th century such as Francis Beaufort, Charles Newton, Thomas Spratt and Edward Forbes, was the existence and extent of Lycian culture to be brought to light.