Turkey · Mersin
Where to Stay in Silifke, Mersin
Where to stay in Silifke
Where you base yourself shapes the visit — here's the character of each area.
In Silifke the choice is between the streets under the castle and the shore at the river mouth. The old streets below the castle keep the ruins, the market, and the river within a walk, and staying in the centre suits anyone here for the history. The castle lights up at night.
Rooms sit near the old bridge. Out toward the delta and the sea, the town gives way to beaches and reeds. A room by the coast trades the old streets for the shore, the delta, and the quiet of the river mouth.
The wide sea opens past the edge. If you want the castle and the ruins, stay in the centre; if you want the sea, take a room by the coast. Both choices leave Silifke's castle and old streets within reach.
About Silifke
Silifke is the old town of Seleucia on the Göksu.
What is Silifke known for?
Founded by one of Alexander's generals long ago, it guards the river with a hilltop castle, keeps a Roman temple and an early Christian shrine, and looks down on the delta where the Göksu meets the sea. A famous emperor drowned in that river. Castle and river mark the town.
What are the main landmarks in Silifke?
The castle crowns the hill above Silifke. The old stone fortress, fought over by Crusaders and Byzantines, looks down on the town, the emblem of the city, over the Göksu. Ancient ruins lie around.
The Roman Temple of Jupiter and the cave-church of Saint Thecla stand near the town, while the old bridge and the museum keep the story of Seleucia.
What is the history of Silifke?
Silifke was founded by a general of Alexander. Seleucus, who took the east after Alexander died, built a city on the Göksu and gave it his name, Seleucia, and it grew as a Greek and Roman town of Cilicia, with temples, a theatre, and a bridge over the river. Pilgrims came for a saint.
Nearby stood the shrine of Saint Thecla, a holy woman of the first days of the faith, and Christians climbed to her cave-church for centuries. Crusaders and Turks held the castle in turn. On the hill above the town a great castle rose and was fought over by Byzantines, Armenians, and Crusaders, guarding the road to the Holy Land.
An emperor met his end in the river. Frederick Barbarossa, marching on crusade, drowned in the Göksu below the town, and his army broke apart in grief. The old castle still crowns the hill.
Silifke keeps its river and its ruins on the Cilician coast.
Where is Silifke?
Silifke lies on the Göksu river near the Mediterranean coast of southern Turkey. The town sits a few miles inland where the river breaks out of the Taurus mountains, above the wide delta where the Göksu meets the sea, in the old land of Cilicia. Bare mountains rise to the north.
The green delta spreads to the sea.
What is the climate of Silifke?
Silifke's weather is Mediterranean and warm. Hot, dry summers bake the coast and the delta, and the winters stay mild and wet, cooled by the sea and the mountains, so the land is green much of the year. Sea breezes ease the summer heat.
The coast stays warm and bright.
How do you get to Silifke?
Silifke lies on the coast road west of Mersin in southern Turkey. The shore highway runs east to Mersin and west along the coast, and a road climbs north through the Taurus to the interior. Buses run out to the other towns along this stretch of shore.
Most arrive by road along the shore.
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Updated August 2026