Best Antalya travel destinations and holiday guides: Tour boat in Alanya Harbor: From around May to October plenty of tour boats depart from Alanya Harbor for day-long trips around the dramatic rocky headland, visiting the sea caves where pirates once hid, along with anchoring off the coast for plenty of swim stops. The main sea caves visited by the boats are Pirate Cave and Damlatas Cave, though depending on the boat, several others can be visited, including Fosforlu Cave and Lovers’ Cave. Trips vary hugely in quality. Some boats are basically dedicated party trips, so make sure to check out the operators before departure and get recommendations from your hotel. In general, the smaller boats are usually a better option if you don’t want an onboard disco. For a shorter trip, opt for a sunset sail around the harbor. Find additional details on Antalya excursions.
The Dim River weaves down the east side of Alanya from the Taurus Mountains. As well as nourishing an abundance of vegetation on its banks, the river is wonderfully cool, even during the fierce heat of the summer months. It’s a local family tradition to visit the river below the Dim Dam to paddle in its calmer stretches, come fishing and take a barbecue on the banks. And catering to the many day-trippers are dozens of restaurants, many with shaded terraces on little wooden jetties or even on pontoons floating on the water. Some of these river restaurants have pools, slides and diving boards on the river, and others will give you a fishing rod to catch your own trout. Upstream from Dim Dam you can go rafting on a 5.5-kilometre course, setting off from Akköprü, and with lots of places to stop for a picnic on the banks.
Laodicea is located right across the ancient city of Hierapolis. It was once a trade city which was known with glossy black wool and eye salve trade. Mentioned in the Book of Revelation as the luke warm city. Recently Turkish archaeologists excavated a church dating to the time of Constantine. This is thought to be one of the earliest churches of the world. This site is recommended for biblical history lovers. Aphrodisias is 3 hours drive from Kusadasi town. Aphrodisias is derived from the goddess named as Aphrodite, the goddess of love. An artisan city known with sculpturors who made sculptures and sarcaphaguses with the local white marble. You can see the best examples of marble works in this city. The site has the most well preserved ancient stadium in the world which has a capacity of 30.000 people. The huge pool at the south agora is breathtaking.
You can plan a full day trip to see the ancient city of Side with the temples of Athena and Apollo, and the magnificent theater of Aspendos. The theater is one of the most distinguished representatives of Roman Age theaters today, with its well-preserved condition and architectural features. If you choose to make this trip with an organized tour, it will be either combined with the famous Manavgat bazaar where you can find many things such as souveneirs, clothes, spices, fresh fruits, and vegetables, or the marvelous Manavgat Waterfall. The itinerary depends on which excursion you book. Some have Side, Aspendos, and the waterfall, some have Side, Aspendos, and the bazaar. The weekly market days of the Manavgat Bazaar also make a difference.
Alanya Castle was built in 1221 by the Seljuk Sultan, Alaaddin Keykubat, who captured the city and had it rebuilt. You can take the cable car to go up to the castle. The cable car station is near Atatürk Park. You will need to walk uphill another 1 km to reach the entrance of the castle after exiting the cable car. İçkale (Inner castle) is the top sight up there. It’s an open air museum at the summit of the peninsula. Byzantine, Seljuk, and Ottoman artifacts can be found in the inner castle. When you go to Alanya Castle by cable car, you will come across the Süleymaniye Mosque, a Seljuk work renovated during the Ottoman period. There is also a covered bazaar (bedesten) behind the mosque.
Temple of Artemis, is also known as the Temple of Diana. The temple is dedicated to the goddess Artemis was completed in Ephesus around 550 BC. The temple was built entirely from marble. Even if the temple has been used for more than 800, it was never really completed. The architect of the temple, known as Artemisium in Latin, is known as Chersiphron from Greece. When the temple was first built, it was visited by many people from kings to artists, traders, and travelers, and was used as a religious building where they offered their blessings and beliefs to the goddess. There is no entrance fee for the Temple of Artemis. Visiting hours of the temple have been announced from 9 A.M to 7 P.M but as there are any guards in the neighborhood, the hours might be flexible too.
Alanya is also within day-tripping distance of some of this Mediterranean region’s most well-known ancient sites and tourist attractions, so if you want to brush off the sand for the day and head out to explore, there is plenty to keep you occupied off the beach. As well as the places mentioned on this list, you can easily also make day trips to Antalya to visit its museum and stroll its old town district, Aspendos (Turkey’s most famous Roman Theater), and other major archaeological sites near Antalya such as Perge. Read extra information on https://www.tourmoni.com/.
The city’s steep peninsula, protected on three sides by the Mediterranean, is topped by a 13th-century castle with 6.5 kilometres of fortified walls. This rocky mass is a natural defence, and today’s castle was built on earlier Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine enclosures. In all there are 83 towers and 140 towers in the walls, and many of the 1,200 original cisterns continue to fulfil their original role. Alanya Castle is one massive archaeological site that warrants hours of exploration. The starting point has to be the citadel or Kale on the southwest side, where you’ll come to the Byzantine Church of St George, later adapted as a mosque. The north side of the promontory is the scene of the Seljuk Ehmedek Fortress, built on Hellenistic vestiges and holding a military garrison, arsenal and Sultan’s treasury for hundreds of years. Here you’ll discover countless ruins, together with historic 19th-century houses that went up after the castle had lost its defensive purpose.