Antalya, Turkey — Towns & Travel Guide

What is Antalya known for?

Antalya Province is known as the heart of the Turkish Riviera, the great resort coast of Turkey on the Mediterranean. The beaches draw the crowds. Below the wall of the Taurus Mountains, the province lines the southwest coast of Anatolia with harbours, ancient ruins, and long shores, the old land of Pamphylia turned into the country's leading holiday coast.

Where is Antalya?

Antalya Province stretches along the southwest coast of Anatolia, a long band of shore between the sea and the mountains. Sea and mountain define it. The Mediterranean fills the whole southern edge, while behind the coast the Taurus Mountains rise in a steep wall, hemming the lowland into a narrow, fertile strip of the old region of Pamphylia.

The land tilts to the sea. Between the peaks and the water lies the resort coast of Turkey. The plain runs narrow.

Rivers drop out of the Taurus Mountains onto the coastal flat, crossing the ancient country of Pamphylia before they reach the Mediterranean, and the city of Antalya sits at the centre of this shore as the hub of the whole province. The mountains never leave the view.

What is Antalya like?

Antalya Province lives by the sea and the seasons of the coast. Turkish is its language. As the leading holiday region of Turkey, the province blends the easy rhythm of a Mediterranean shore with the deep past of Pamphylia, whose ruined cities and harbours still stand among the resorts along the Turkish Riviera.

Old and new sit close together here. The past is never far. Ancient ruins from the age of Pamphylia rise beside modern hotels, and the culture of the coast turns on the warm sea, the markets, and the flow of visitors who come for the shore beneath the Taurus Mountains.

The Mediterranean shapes daily life.

What is the history of Antalya?

Antalya Province rests on ancient ground, the coast long known as Pamphylia. The past reaches far back. The region has been settled for ages along the shore between the Taurus Mountains and the Mediterranean, growing around old harbour towns, and the city of Antalya rose as the chief port of this coast, the seat that now heads the whole province of the Turkish Riviera.

History layers the coast.

What is the climate of Antalya?

Antalya Province has a warm Mediterranean climate, the reason the coast fills with visitors. Long hot summers rule the year. Dry, sun-baked months stretch along the shore from spring deep into autumn, while mild wet winters bring the year's rain to the foot of the Taurus Mountains.

The sea keeps the coast gentle.

How do you get to Antalya?

Antalya Province is reached mainly through the city of Antalya, whose airport is a major arrival point on the Mediterranean coast of Turkey. Charter flights pour in. From the city, coastal roads run west and east along the Turkish Riviera beneath the Taurus Mountains, while mountain passes climb inland from the shore toward the Anatolian interior.

The coast draws its own traffic.