16 Best Alanya Attractions

Alanya is a resort city in Turkey, which has col­lect­ed every­thing you need for a great hol­i­day. Here you can not only swim and sun­bathe on sandy beach­es, but also vis­it inter­est­ing places: parks, muse­ums, caves and grot­toes, as well as unique archi­tec­tur­al struc­tures.

Who and why to go to Alanya

If you like to learn some­thing new about the city you come to on vaca­tion, then you will def­i­nite­ly like Alanya. Here you can vis­it the archae­o­log­i­cal muse­um, wan­der through the ruins of Siedra and numer­ous caves, as well as see the Suley­maniye Mosque and the Byzan­tine Church of St. George.

To feel the spir­it of the city, be sure to vis­it the Alanya fortress and the Red Tow­er.

Cou­ples with chil­dren will love the dol­phi­nar­i­um, where you can not only watch shows fea­tur­ing these amaz­ing ani­mals, but also expe­ri­ence the won­ders of dol­phin ther­a­py. You can also take the kids to the water park. On the ter­ri­to­ry of the com­plex there are swim­ming pools, attrac­tions, cafes and restau­rants. Kids are enter­tained by ani­ma­tors while par­ents relax and drink cof­fee.

For those look­ing for a more relax­ing hol­i­day, sandy beach­es and leisure­ly walks await. There are many green parks in Alanya where you can admire sculp­tur­al com­po­si­tions and foun­tains, vis­it an exhi­bi­tion of artists. And after a day full of events and excur­sions, you can stroll along the embank­ment, go to a cozy restau­rant and have din­ner.

Cultural attractions and museums

Archaeological Museum

The date of foun­da­tion of the Alanya Muse­um is 1967, and since that time the col­lec­tion of exhibits has been con­stant­ly updat­ed. The muse­um has two large depart­ments: archae­o­log­i­cal and ethno­graph­ic art. In the hall of arche­ol­o­gy, vis­i­tors can see the prod­ucts made of bronze, glass, baked clay from the time of the exis­tence of the Roman Empire and Byzan­tium.

The depart­ment of ethno­graph­ic art presents clothes, jew­el­ry, house­hold items, weapons — in gen­er­al, every­thing that was found in Alanya itself and its envi­rons. The most ancient exhib­it of the muse­um is a stone with sur­viv­ing Phoeni­cian inscrip­tions made in 625 BC.

Ruins of Siedra

In Cili­cia (35 km from Alanya) are the ruins of the ancient Roman city of Siedra, which was found­ed in the III cen­tu­ry BC. The ruins are locat­ed on a hill between two vil­lages — Seki and Kor­gisak. The columns and mosaics, the tri­umphal arch and the source of water used by the locals have sur­vived to this day.

Also vis­i­ble are the remains of the street, where you can see the frag­ments of gran­ite columns — evi­dence of the for­mer wealth and great­ness of the city. In the cen­ter of Siedra, a cave has been pre­served, carved into the rock for reli­gious cer­e­monies. In the evening, the ruins are illu­mi­nat­ed, which gives the dilap­i­dat­ed city a spe­cial charm.

Sharavsinsky caravanserai

The foun­da­tion date of the Shar­avsin­sky car­a­vanserai (Shara­p­sa Khan) is the mid­dle of the 13th cen­tu­ry. The idea to build it belonged to the son of Sul­tan Alaadin Kay-Kubad. He want­ed to attach Alanya to the cap­i­tal of the state of Konya, so that mer­chants and wan­der­ers could rest from the road and water the hors­es. The car­a­van house was sur­round­ed by thick walls, and watch­men stood on the tow­ers.

The build­ing is well pre­served and has recent­ly been restored. Today it is an enter­tain­ment cen­ter with restau­rants and sou­venir tents. The show “Turk­ish Night” is also held here.

The most interesting places in Alanya

Ataturk Park

The park is locat­ed in the city cen­ter, close to the famous Cleopa­tra Beach, so that vaca­tion­ers can stroll in the pleas­ant shade of green spaces. It stretched for 950 m in length and 480 m in width.

The park has the atmos­phere of a south­ern gar­den: olive trees, var­i­ous types of palm trees, creep­ers and mag­no­lias grow here. There is a pond and three foun­tains on the ter­ri­to­ry.

Dolphinarium Sealanya

You can get from the city to the dol­phi­nar­i­um by bus, the trip will take only 20 min­utes. An inter­est­ing per­for­mance awaits you with the par­tic­i­pa­tion of marine ani­mals: dol­phins, sea lions and seals. “Artists” per­form tricks and amuse the audi­ence — both adults and chil­dren.

If you wish, you can even swim with the dol­phins. On the ter­ri­to­ry of the dol­phi­nar­i­um there is a water park with water attrac­tions, and you can have a bite to eat in a local cozy restau­rant.

Waterfront park in Kestel

This park is suit­able for an evening walk. Here you can admire the beau­ti­ful foun­tain and aque­duct, look at the water­fall. Also, a lot of exot­ic plants grow in the park, as well as exhi­bi­tions of artists and enter­tain­ment events.

Water Planet Waterpark

The largest enter­tain­ment cen­ter on the coast, locat­ed on the ter­ri­to­ry of a 5‑star hotel. The park offers var­i­ous attrac­tions for vaca­tion­ers: slides, tow­ers, pools, an arti­fi­cial reser­voir where you can swim in inflat­able boats, etc.

For a fee, you can jump from the bungee. Active recre­ation awak­ens the appetite, so there are cafes and bars in the park where you can have a bite to eat and rest.

natural caves

Pirate Cave

Many leg­ends are asso­ci­at­ed with the Pirate’s Cave. It is believed that this is where the pirates hid their trea­sures and kid­napped girls. The city and the cave were con­nect­ed by a tun­nel through which the rob­bers trans­port­ed their trea­sures. Under its vaults there is a large “hall” about 8 m high. You can get to the cave by boat.

Damlatash

This cave is of nat­ur­al ori­gin, and was acci­den­tal­ly dis­cov­ered in 1948 dur­ing the extrac­tion of stone for the con­struc­tion of a fortress. How­ev­er, it has exist­ed since ancient times — its sta­lac­tites and sta­lag­mites date back to the 15th-10th cen­turies. BC.

It is gen­er­al­ly accept­ed that being in a cave has a ben­e­fi­cial effect on peo­ple with asth­ma and lung dis­eases. The cave is locat­ed in the very cen­ter of Alanya, and you can get here on foot, by bus, taxi or as part of a city tour.

Dim

Dim Cave is locat­ed 12 km from the city and takes its name from the Dim Chay Riv­er, which flows near­by. There is a small lake inside, and sta­lac­tites and sta­lag­mites hang from the walls and ceil­ing.

The cave was formed as a result of streams of rain­wa­ter falling into the crevices of the rock and it is already about a mil­lion years old, but it was dis­cov­ered only in 1986.

Cave of the Lovers

There are also many leg­ends and leg­ends about this cave. They say that under its vaults they found the skele­tons of a man and a woman tight­ly embrac­ing.

Hav­ing over­come the wind­ing cor­ri­dor pass­ing through the entire rock, you can reach a ledge 8 m high above the sea. It is believed that lovers who jump into the water from here, hold­ing hands, will be togeth­er for­ev­er, and noth­ing will sep­a­rate them.

Notable buildings

Alanya fortress

The Byzan­tine fortress, built at the begin­ning of the 13th cen­tu­ry, is a sym­bol of the city along with the Kyzyl Kule tow­er. The walls of the fortress are made of cob­ble­stones and bond­ed with a spe­cial mor­tar to with­stand can­non vol­leys.

Var­i­ous tow­ers are built into the walls, and inside there are about 400 reser­voirs and wells with water sup­plies. The arched gates of the fortress are an exam­ple of medieval archi­tec­ture. You can enjoy a beau­ti­ful view of the sea from a spe­cial obser­va­tion deck.

Red tower of Kyzyl Kule

This is the most vis­it­ed attrac­tion in Alanya. The tow­er has the shape of an octa­he­dron and is built of red brick, which explains its name. It was cre­at­ed to pro­tect the city from the inva­sion of ene­mies, there­fore it is equipped with every­thing nec­es­sary: ​​loop­holes, sites for caul­drons with resin, thick walls and a bar­ri­er line.

Suleymaniye Mosque

The mosque is a fine exam­ple of Turk­ish archi­tec­ture. It was first built in the 13th cen­tu­ry, but sub­se­quent­ly destroyed. It was restored only in the 16th cen­tu­ry dur­ing the reign of Sul­tan Suleiman the Mag­nif­i­cent, which gave the mosque its name.

The build­ing is built of stone, the main dome is made in dark green, and below it is a prayer hall with expen­sive ori­en­tal car­pets on the floor. Win­dows, doors and gates are made of wood and dec­o­rat­ed with carv­ings. Suley­maniye is not just an archi­tec­tur­al mon­u­ment, but also a func­tion­ing mosque.

Kizkalesi Maiden Castle

The cas­tle is locat­ed on an island that is clos­er to the city of Mersin than to Alanya, but it is worth a vis­it for any­one who is fond of his­to­ry or just wants to vis­it an unusu­al and inter­est­ing place.

Pre­vi­ous­ly, there was the ancient city of Korikos, but after the inva­sion of Sha­pur, the king of Per­sia, it was destroyed. They tried to restore it, but by the 11th cen­tu­ry, Korikos was prac­ti­cal­ly wiped off the face of the earth.

Then the Byzan­tines paid atten­tion to it and built the Kyzkale­si cas­tle, which became part of the defense of the island. The wed­ding of the Byzan­tine Emper­or John III and the daugh­ter of King Fred­er­ick II was cel­e­brat­ed here. 3 floors of the cas­tle have sur­vived to this day.

Lighthouse

The city light­house made of snow-white stone illu­mi­nates the road at night for arriv­ing ships. Its light spreads over 200 nau­ti­cal miles, and the height of the light­house is 22 m.

Tourists can go up to the obser­va­tion deck to enjoy the view of the city and the sea. On the walls inside the light­house there are col­ored pan­els depict­ing sail­boats and sea waves.