A Gulet is a wooden vessel of traditional style, originally built to serve as fishing and sponge-fishing vessels but later modified to accommodate passenger groups numbering between eight and eighteen people. A gulet is ketch or schooner rigged, although as gullets are "motor-sailers", the sails serve more to stabilize the vessel as it travels under motor than to actually propel the vessel.

The beamy design of the gulet allows not only for a huge area of deck space, but also for a good number of cabins: from four to an average of six, although numerous gullets have as many as eight or ten cabins. Each cabin has its own en suite bathroom and plenty of space for storage. A gulet may or may not be air-conditioned, although any built in recent years have been fitted with air-conditioning as a matter of course.

One of the resounding features of the Turkish gulets is the expansive aft deck. Covered with a sun awning, the aft deck has a wide cushioned area for lounging and a table with chairs for "al fresco" dining. Gulets offer plenty of room for sunbathing and are equipped with sun mattresses, snorkeling gear and either a sea kayak or a windsurfing board. The crew of three, captain, cook and deckhand are all accommodated in their own quarters.