Didim is shaped as a peninsula surrounding Mugla on the east coast with huge inlet of Akbuk town, Aegean sea on the west and east coast, Lake Bafa and the Menderes River on the northern coast. 106 km's to Aydin provenience, 53 km' to Söke town, 73 km's to Kusadasi, 110 km's to Bodrum. Spread to 300 km2. of area.
About 15 years ago, the people from large cities around Turkey such as Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir first came to Altinkum ("altin: gold" + "kum:sand") and started to build their own summer houses, holiday homes. when Turkey's economy started to decline those people found very hard to survive in the big cities most of the summer house owners who were mainly retired people have decided to move into the small resorts such as Altinkum.
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The location of today's Didim used to take part around the Apollo temple at the ancient Didyma town. they called the area "Yoran" (name derives from Yeuwani) until the biggest earthquake in 1955-1956. which used to look like a fortress and locals of Yoran later on called it "hisar" meaning "castle". but just after the earthquake government supported locals and build them modern concrete houses down on the south west part of the old civilization later on called "Yenihisar", meaning "yeni: new" + "hisar: castle".
People of Yenihisar used to go to Söke for their weekly shopping and Akköy used to be the biggest town of those days. But just after tourism, the place itself have turned into a rapidly growing holiday resort for tourists. the unfertile tobacco fields derived ancient Didyma (meaning twins remarkable at the temple of Apollo Artemisia and Apollo twin sister and brothers) became very dear and poor owners of those fields are now businessmen (most of them) owner of their hotels, restaurants and bars, etc.. The name was changed into "Didim" which is one and only in Turkey including a large area in its borders with the towns and villages leading to it became the town centre.
Today's Didim as rapidly growing holiday resort completely different than what it used to be 10-15 years ago welcoming large population of tourists with its beautiful beaches, ancient towns, culture, climate from all over the world. But comparing to the big tourist resorts like Bodrum, Kusadasi it's not been spoiled we can say. most of the infrastructure work have done by last winter which we expect no more flooding of rain water in Altinkum and better main roads have finished including pedestrian walk paths by the beach. 
Local market of Didim is held on Saturdays can be visit by local transport between Altinkum - town centre, runs in every 5 minutes or take a walk for 25 minutes. You can discover the beaches, natural coves and bays by boat trips better, organised daily from the harbour in summer season which starts beginning of May. water sports, diving courses, fishing tours also available. Didim itself very close to ancient towns and natural wonders comparing to most of the holiday resorts of Turkey. You can discover the area itself by local travel agents who have organised tours to Lake Bafa, Akköy village, Didyma - Miletos - Priene, Söke Market, Kusadasi Market, Bodrum, Ephesus - Virgin Mary's house, Pamukkale, Aphrodisias, Dalyan, etc...
Ancient Didyma
Didyma is located in the village of Yenihisar. 4 km Inland from the coast called Altınkum (Golden sand) and 15 kms south of Akköy, near Soke. Didyma was actually a sacred site and not a city, in whose centre was a great temple built in the name of the sun god Apollo.
However much Apollo may be considered as one of the twelve deities dwelling on Mount Olympus in Greek mythology, he is actually an Anatolian god, the counterpart of the Hittite god, Apulunas. The finding of records which show him racing with King Midas or the satyr shepherd Marsyas who gave his name to the river Cine, are evidences that he is a very ancient god of Anatolian origin. Apollo is the son, of Zeus and twin brother to Artemis, the Moon-goddess. According to the legend their mother, Leto, gave birth to the twins in the Ortega woods north of Kusadasi. The word "Didymaion" means "twins" and this is the reason why the place the Temple of Apollo stands was called so. The Greeks, believing in fate, looked upon Apollo as an oracle as well. The oracles received from the priests in the temple of Apollo at Delphoi influenced and changed the lives of people to a great extent. The Ionians built the temple in Didyma as the second oracle centre, and they constructed it with such care that it was one of the most magnificent temples of the times. The temple flourished under the guardianship of the city of Miletus. Pausanius, one of the writers of the first century informs us that the cult seen in this region existed long before the Ionians arrived in Anatolia.
The first temple we know of was built in the 8th century B.C. It was surrounded by columns at the beginning of the 6th century B.C. This temple which had all the characteristics of archaic art, was finally completed around 550 B.C. Those who built the temple and took its guardianship upon themselves, who acted as priests and oracles were people called "Brankhid. This word was derived from the name of a person Apollo loved, "Branchos"; The Brankhids ruled in this region for a very long and peaceful period and founded a theocratic administration.
The biggest classical temples were formed by surrounding an inner space with columns in two rows, and were called "dipteros". The dipteros of the archaic Didymaion measured 38.40 X 85.15 meters. The columns with Ionic capitals and fluting 8 in the short rows and 21 in the long rows. The idol statue in the inner space was made by the famous sculptor, Kanachos. Sacred goods and valuable gifts were kept hidden here. For example, Herodotus writes that the Egyptian King, Necho II, gave the outfit he had on in the battle against the Syrians to the temple as a gift to the oracle. In front of the temple, there was a round sacrifice altar. The walls surrounding the sacred room are the walls we see now. These were 3.5 meters high and were built in 550 B.C.
A sacred road, paved with stones was built stretching from Didyma to Miletus and it was covered in four days of walking by those who wanted to visit the temple of Apollo or to appeal to the oracle. On both sides of this sacred road, there were marble statues of Brankhids sitting. Twelve statues of these very famous examples of archaic art, namely 8 men, two women and two lion statues were taken to the British Museum by C.N. Newton in 1858. Another group almost the same In numbers, found later, today decorate Louvre, Berlin and Istanbul Archaeological Museums. Four smaller samples are to be found in Miletus Museum. The archaic Didyma temple was completely destroyed during the Persian attacks to 494 B.C., Its treasures plundered, and the valuable Apollo statue, was taken to Ekbatan. The remains of the temple we see today are the remains of the building which was constructed on a larger scale during the reign of Alexander the great and during the Hellenistic period. Seleukos, one of the commanders of Alexander, had even returned the Apollo statue which was taken to Ekbatan to its original abode. The length of the new temple was 60 meters, its height 118 meters; it rises on a platform surrounded in all directions with seven steps. Around the temple were 124 Ionic columns 19.70 meters high, in two rows; 13 large steps lead to the front from where one enters the front hall with 12 octagonal columns whose bases are ornamented, 10 of which belong to the Hellenistic, and two to the Roman periods. Behind the front hall, there is the oracle room 1,5 meters higher than the front hall.
The connection between these two halls Is by a very magnificent door 5,65 meters to length and 19 meters high. Because of the difference to levels of the two halls, the visitors who wanted to go to the oracle room could not enter it directly but had to go through the first hall and make their petitions form there. Two big columns supported the roof of the windowless oracle room. From three doors in the back, people used to descend to the inner courtyard called "adition". The single piece of marble block behind these doors with its weight of 70 tons is a phenomenon as the biggest architectural element. There are stairs on both sides of the oracle room leading to the rooms at the top and to the roof. The connection of the adition with the outer world is by two slanting tunnels on each side of the front hall. The fact that the inner courtyard had no roof was due to Apollo being the sun god. The adition measured 21.70 X 45 meters, there were 11 facings on the side walls and three on the west wall over which there were friezes with griffon motifs. The crowns of the columns surrounding the temple were joined by slabs of marble called architraves ornamented by medusa and bull heads. Some of these ornaments made by the Aphrodian masters can be viewed in the museum area today. In 395 A.D. prophecies of all kinds were forbidden by order of Emperor Theodoles and thus the temple of Apollo lost its importance and its construction which had lasted for centuries remained unfinished.
Altinkum is a busy resort which has been receptive to the demands of the British holiday-maker. This resort has grown directly behind the beach and Altinkum refers to the beach area, Didim is the name of the actual town. Most of the locals working here speak English and the centre of the resort is full of restaurants and bars to satisfy the British palate.
The main beach in Altinkum (often referred to as First Beach) is a large bay of golden sand with incredibly shallow waters and therefore it is very popular. There are a couple of other sandy bays, the one to the left-hand side is broken by a headland but can be accessed by the beachfront promenade. Watersports are plentiful here so there is always something to watch or participate in. Altinkum receives a high number of repeat guests as well as being a sought after destination by Turkish holidaymakers. Dolphin Square no longer exists but the Tea Garden still remains and is a great place to sit whilst familiarising yourself with the resort and watching the world go by. Supermarket chains such as Migros, Tansas and Gima are located along the main Didyma to Altinkum road making it easy to self-cater and buy provisions.
The Saturday Bazaar is also at the top end of the town plus the old town of Didim and the ruins of Branchidai at Didyma, the site of an ancient temple which has been excavated since 1873, with wonderfully preserved inscriptions including the head of Medusa. Altinkum has developed into a lively destination with plenty to do night and day which is why we have chosen accommodation to suit all tastes, both close to the centre and a little further back. The sights of Ephesus, Pamukkale, and Bodrum are additional attractions easily accessible from Altinkum and shouldn’t be missed.
History
In antiquity a Sacred Way connected Miletus to the port of Didyma and its famous temple. The last stretch of road was flanked by statues of sphinxes and reclining lions, now to be seen in the British Museum in London, This important street dating back at least to the 6th century B.C. confirms the hypothesis of the existence here of a small archaic temple, far earlier than the foundation of the colossal place of worship dedicated to Apollo. Traces of this original building have in fact been identified inside the large temple. 
Evidence of the popularity of the sanctuary goes back to the archaic period, in particular from the 6th century B.C. on, when mention is made of gifts offered by the powerful and by kings, comparable to those offered to the famous oracle of Delphi. In line with what Pausanias affirms, it is highly likely that at Didyma, as in many other centers of Asia Minor, the Greeks replaced all forms of local cult with their own forms of worship. It seems to have been ascertained that the sacred place dedicated to Apollo existed before the first Ionic colonies settled here. Even the statue of Apollo capturing a stag found in the temple can be related to religious motifs of obvious Hittite and Anatolian extraction. Further evidence that a cult of Apollo existed prior to Greek colonization is to be found in Homer's Iliad.
The history of archaeology regarding this temple is relatively recent, and dates back only to the 1960s. Excavations undertaken by German archaeologists led first to the identification of the foundations of a perimetral wall of the sanctuary, thought to have been built in the 8th or 7th century B.C. The subsequent discovery of a colonnade dating to the end of the 7th century B.C. leads to the supposition that the original nucleus was at the time enlarged. The first temple was burned by the Persians at the beginning of the 5th century B.C., but when Alexander the Great conquered the Anatolian regions, a much larger and more scenographic place of worship was built on the same site. The Temple of Apollo Didyma is one of the largest of the Hellenistic classical period, preceded solely by the Artemision of Ephesus and the Temple of Hera in Samos. Still today an idea of the ancient splendor of the building with its impressive number of Ionic columns still transpires from these imposing magnificent ruins. Even though work on the temple complex continued from the 3rd century B.C. up to Roman times, it was never finished. The shrine itself was surrounded by a portico with two rows of columns. Some of these architectural Clements have withstood the ravages of time and the earthquakes and still stand in their solemn beauty, often complete with capitals and architraves. The shrine where prophecies were revealed in the name of Apollo was faced in marble brought from the Aegean islands. Of particular note among the numerous decorations found in the temple are various busts of divinities such as Apollo, Jupiter, Artemis and Latona, as well as capitals ornamented with heads of griffins and bulls, which, together with a head of Medusa that was part of a frieze on an architrave, are examples of 2nd century A.D. sculpture.
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Not far from the temple, a Stadium surrounded by seven rows of seats has been identified. Apparently this installation was used for the sacred competitions, which accompanied the religious rites held in the temple. Some of the tiers of seats are incised with names that belong to the late Hellenistic period.
Some useful links:
http://www.turizm.gov.tr/
http://www.turkey.org/
