Madam Marta Koyu

Good to know

• Public beach
• Good for kids
• 3.9 / 51,668 reviews
• Türkiye

A hidden cove born of green and blue

Step off the Burgazada ferry and head along the coast road for roughly twenty minutes, following the lane that winds beneath the pines, and the bay opens out almost without warning: Burgazada's deep green on one side, the Marmara's shifting blue on the other, the two melting together at the shoreline. The cove spreads across a broad stretch of coast facing Yassıada, the water running clear and turquoise over a bed of pale pebbles. Locals describe it as one of the very best places on the island, and the comparison that recurs is simple—standing here you find yourself wondering whether the sky is bluer, or the sea.↗↗↗

What sets the cove apart is its untouched character. There are no sprawling beach clubs or row upon row of rented loungers here; the appeal is exactly the opposite—a quiet, natural swimming spot where you can lie on a towel among the stones, slip into the cool water, and feel a world away from Istanbul, even though the city is only a short ferry crossing behind you.↗↗

The woman behind the name

The cove's name is its most haunting feature. Madam Martha (Martha Arat) was, by the island's stories, one of a kind—a trained ballerina among Turkey's first generation of female dancers, and a woman utterly devoted to the sea and the hills of Burgazada. Accounts of her origins differ—Armenian Catholic roots, an upbringing that brought her to Istanbul as a child, a marriage into an island family—but the portrait is consistent: free-spirited, unconventional, generous, and at home in the water in winter as much as in summer. She swam naked in this very bay regardless of the season, washed the cove and kept it clean, and made jewellery from the coloured pebbles the sea had tumbled, handing it out to the island's children.↗↗↗

Her independence drew gossip, and the weight of it eventually broke her. According to the most widely told version, she left a note reading 'Now you will be at rest' and took her own life in the waters she loved, dying in the 1980s. The islanders she had been accused of scandalising were plunged into grief; local youngsters decided that the name of the cove—previously called Fisherman's Cove—should be hers, and 'Martha's Cove' stuck. Her legend still colours the place: the writer Bercuhi Berberyan's portrait of a woman who 'swam as if in prayer' is part of how visitors picture the bay today, and Martha has even been the subject of island plays and a documentary series.↗↗↗

Swimming, sunsets and a digital detox

The water is calm and clear enough to reward anyone who wants to linger in it or look beneath the surface over the rocky bottom, and the deepening floor is gentle. Above the bay, a small grassy highland to one side is the place islanders favour for settling in at the end of the afternoon: Madam Martha Cove is known across Burgazada for its sunsets, the sky setting the Marmara alight as the sun drops toward the western islands.↗↗↗

There is an old, easy-going camping culture here—once the cove filled with tents from spring onwards, mostly students chasing the sea breeze and both sunrise and sunset over the water. Camping has since been prohibited, but the relaxed, back-to-nature feeling remains, helped along by the patchy phone signal that quietly obliges you to put the screen away and stay in the moment. The island's famously friendly dogs are your likeliest companions.↗↗↗

Pairing the cove with the island

The bay sits within easy range of Burgazada's other pleasures, so it fits well into a full day on the island. The dramatic clifftop promontory of Kalpazankaya, with its restaurant and sweeping views, lies nearby along the same coast; inland, the island is rich in the multicultural layering—Greek Orthodox churches, the Aya Yorgi monastery, a lone mosque—typical of the Princes' Islands. The short-story writer Sait Faik Abasıyanık, who immortalised island life in prose, is honoured in a small museum near the pier, and the pine-lined tracks that connect these spots are part of why the walk to the cove feels like an excursion in itself.↗↗

Visiting well

The Marmara around the islands is a natural, pebbly sea rather than a sandy resort beach, so come in the spirit of the place: bring a towel, water, and something for shade, since facilities at the cove itself are minimal or absent, and the entry has traditionally been free. Sturdy sandals or water shoes make both the shore and the seabed far more comfortable. If you need a break or a toilet, a nearby tea garden close to the cove has long served visitors, and food and drinks are easy enough to carry in for a picnic by the water.↗↗↗

The single most important thing a visitor can do here is leave the cove as beautiful as you found it. Litter has become a sore point on an island whose locals watch over their coast carefully, so carry your rubbish back out; and because the land around Madam Martha's Cove is a first-degree protected site that has been the subject of a controversial long-term lease, it is worth a quick check on the current access situation before you make a special trip.↗↗↗↗