Muğla sits inland from Turkey's Aegean resort coast, high enough to feel cooler than Bodrum, Marmaris, or Fethiye in summer. Most travellers meet it only as a provincial capital on the road to somewhere beachier, which is a shame: the old centre has kept a handsome knot of Ottoman and Greek-style houses, mosques, and small lanes.
This is a good slow day rather than a blockbuster. The Saburhane quarter is the main reason to wander, with 18th- and 19th-century houses climbing the hillside. Around the market streets are the Great Mosque of Muğla, Kurşunlu Cami, the Saat Kulesi, and old hans that still give the centre some texture.
Muğla does not compete with the coast for drama. It is better as a pause from it: cooler air, old stone, quiet lanes, and the feeling of a Turkish market town that has not entirely been rebuilt for passing traffic.