Best Side Alanya attractions and holiday advices: Not to be confused with Side’s agora area that neighbors the Roman theater, this imposing complex on the road to Side’s East Beach functioned as the State Agora. On its east side, an originally two-story building is thought to have been used as a library, while in a columned niche, you can still see a figure of Nemesis, the goddess of fate. If you carry on from the agora, heading towards the eastern old town walls, you’ll come to the extensive ruins of the Byzantine bishop’s palace, principal, and baptistery. These early Christian buildings date from between the 5th and 10th centuries AD. The fine remains of the town of Seleucia (also known as Seleukia) were part of ancient Pamphylia. The ruins lie one kilometer above the village of Bucak Seyler, about 15 kilometers north of Side (reached from Side via the Manavgat Waterfalls). The rambling ruins are enclosed within a pine forest, which gives the site a charming lost-in-time ambience. Little is known of this town’s history, and archaeologists still debate its exact identity-some suggest that it is not Seleucia at all but rather the town of Lyrba. Excavations here during the 1970s unearthed a large baths complex; a well-preserved agora with surviving storerooms, colonnades, and shop rows; a Byzantine era church; and an odeon with a mosaic of Orpheus.
Our tour that we have organized bringing the Jeep safari and the rafting tour together takes you to the climax of adrenaline and enjoyment. While watching village life in the Taurus mountains in Jeeps on one side, see the wild nature along the Köprülü canyon river on the other side. Have a meal in a restaurant in the forest with a spectacular view on this tour lasting 8 hours. Don’t miss out on this adrenaline-filled activity organized for those who want to go on the Side Jeep safari and the rafting tour on the same day. The one-of-a-kind naturality of the Taurus mountains which is visited by thousands of people every year and the Köprülü canyon national park is waiting for you on this tour. We will pick you up in the morning from your hotel in the Side and Belek regions in 4×4 Jeeps. You will be able to see wildlife in its unique beauty as we begin our journey into the Taurus mountains.
Lonely Travel is a well known licensed travel agency in Alanya & Side. We organize travel tours services since 1997. We let our customers to save their time and money also providing them a high quality service. In our Travel Agency employees highly trained specialists that are licensed by the Ministry of Tourism of Turkey. We work 7 days a week to provide the best service to our guests. We organize more than 50 tours around Alanya and Side, each and every single excursion of ours is fully insured and maintained by our professional tour guides. See additional info on Side Jeep Safari & Rafting.
The legendary Cleopatra Beach is one of the most beautiful beaches in Turkey, clearly worth visiting during your trip to Antalya. With its crystal-clear water and numerous water sport activities, it attracts about 2 million tourists a year and gets more and more popular every year. The Alanya Archeology Museum is located in the very center of Alanya, on Ismet Hilmi Balcı Street behind Alanya Castle and Damlataş Cave. Alanya is a city with a very rich historical heritage in every aspect. However, you don’t have a lot of chances to visit a cultural places in Alanya. Although the best cultural museum in the region is the Antalya Museum, followed by the Side Archaeology Museum, the Alanya Archaeology Museum is the best witness of the area’s heritage. It’s located in the heart of the city. The Archaeology Museum in Alanya exhibits bronze, marble, terra-cotta, and glass artifacts, mosaics and coin collections belonging to the Archaic and Classical periods, and also Turkish Islamic works of art from the Seljuk and Ottoman Periods.
Alanya’s port for tourist cruises and diving excursions is defended to the south by Kızılkule, and is as good a place as any to potter around and see where your curiosity takes you. Along the water there’s a promenade, hemmed by gardens with palms, lawns and topiaries. There are lots of spaces to just park up and soak up the views out to sea, down to the castle or up to the Taurus Mountains, a constant, imposing presence all along the coast. You’ll never be far from a cafe for a hit of Turkish coffee, and for the best views you can walk along the harbour’s south arm to ponder Alanya and its mountainous hinterland. You may want to spend a whole day descending into the clear waters off Alanya. This experience is open to divers of all experience levels, and includes hotel pick-up and boat trips from the harbour to two dive sites, with a cooked lunch aboard the yacht on the way to the second site.
This sleek resort is squeezed against the Gulf of Antalya by the dark slopes of the Taurus Mountains. The scenery is defined by a 250-metre-high promontory, sticking out into the Mediterranean and fortified since time immemorial. In Alanya, your days will be spent lazing on an enticing beach and adventuring through those lofty castle ruins, which can be reached by a cable car that opened in 2017. This is one of a few projects that have helped turn Alanya into a 21st century beach resort. The city is also a jumping off point for scuba diving, cruises and trips into the Taurus Mountains where you can hike in canyons, explore caves and bathe in cool mountain streams.
Pergamon in the third century BC was one of the most prosperous cities of the ancient world. Known today as Bergama. Located 100 km. north of Izmir. Attalid Dynasty assigned the city as a capital for their kingdom named as Pergamon Kingdom. Pergamon has also a biblical importance. Mentioned in the book of revelation in the new testament among the seven churches of asia minor. The city was known as the city where the throne of satan is located. Once it was the Lydian Kingdoms capital. A very rich city where Lydians invented the coins in a river called pactolus. Today a 3rd century AD imperial gymnasium and the largest ancient synagogue stands in the site. The gymansium is reerected today. The mosaics in the synagogue are amazing. Sardes is mentioned in the Book of Revelation among the 7 churches of Asia Minor.
Alanya was once a famous pirate harbor in antiquity. Pompeius, the enemy of Julius Ceasar, in the Roman Civil war defeated the pirates. Nowadays, pirate themed boats in Alanya’s harbor are a reminder of these times long gone. There is non-stop entertainment on the cruises with music and animations, as well as many swimming breaks in the blue waters of the Turkish Riviera. Alara Han is on the Antalya-Alanya route, in Çakallar village in the town of Okurcalar . Alara Han is a historical caravanserai built in the 13th century by the Seljuks. It’s an exceptional masterpiece awaiting visitors seeking discoveries about the cultural heritage of Alanya. The nearby Alara Castle was once a majestic fortress along the southern silk road in Turkey.
The person known as Prytan was the Mayor of Ephesus. Since there are emperor and goddess statues around the Prytaneion, this palace is accepted as a sacred place. Prytaneion is the sacred place where the sacred fire of Hestia is lit, which represents the independence and sovereignty of the city in every Greek city-state. The word comes from the word prytaneis or pyrtan (the executive board of the democratic Greek city), where sacred rituals and dinner parties attended by the city’s rulers were held, and above all important decisions were made for the city government. The sacred fire of Hestia symbolizes the immortality of the city, the extinction of this fire was regarded as bad luck, Prytan’s most important task was to make sure that this sacred fire won’t blow out. With this location, it was the most important of the official buildings and the heart of the city. Besides, the official guesthouse was also within the parts of this building. Find more info on https://www.sideexcursion.com/.
When the Seljuk’s took control of this region in the 13th century, they built on the foundations of previous rulers. Much of the remaining building works still standing today in the castle area date from this period, when Alanya became a commercial hub. The lower castle area, nearest to the entrance gate, is known as the Ehmedek neighborhood. Wander the alleyways of red-roofed Ottoman-era houses and historical buildings here, then follow the winding lanes up to the Iç Kale (the castle’s inner fortress) for older Seljuk and Byzantine ruins plus views that soar across the sea, the coastal plateau, and the peaks of the Taurus Mountains beyond.
Cleopatra Beach: For many visitors, a vacation in Alanya will always be about the beach. The sandy shores, rimmed by resorts, trail the stretch of coastline between Side and Alanya. In Alanya itself, the main strip of sand is Cleopatra Beach, which sits on the western side of town, separated from downtown Alanya by the rocky, forested slope of the castle promontory. This stretch of white sand offers easygoing days of swimming and sunbathing with excellent facilities on hand for a full day at the beach. In the July and August peak season, the beach can get packed. Come in late spring or early fall, though, when the weather here is still sunny and warm, and you’ll find this strip of sand surprisingly uncrowded.