Place where the sun smiles

With its coastline,the second longest one worldwide,with its fine Stones and clean shore,Mediterranean, shining blue under the sunshine will make an addict with its dream-like history and cultural richness.

Alanya presents you picturial beauties with its colorful and quality night restaurants and bars addressing to all tastes and pure air of its peaceful natural park and uplands.Alanya is an international tourism city,having the highest bed capacity in Mediterranean.City center rather appear as a resort with its population over 100 thousands and tourist capacity over 110 thousands and tourism-based economy.In this regard,there are lots options in the city,not only for lodging,but also for food entertaining and beaches.There is a wide range of lodging facilities,from five-star tourism hotels and resorts to boarding houses.In Alanya,it takes about 10 minutes in average to go to seaside from any tourism facility in downtown.As tourism is an integral part of everyday life,people walk in the streets with their beach clothes on them.That’s why it likes a big resort.

HISTORICAL SITES IN ALANYA

ALANYA CASTLE
With its city walls reaching 6.5 km in length, Alanya Castle is situated on a peninsula rising 250 meters from the sea… The settlement in Alanya peninsula, which is also referred as “Kandeleri”, goes back to Hellenistic era while the historical texture that can be observed today dates back to Seljuk era of 13th century. The castle was built by Seljuk Sultan Alaaddin Keykubat that conquered the city in 1221 and rebuilt it. The castle has 83 towers and 140 bastions. There are also approximately 400 cisterns that were placed within the city walls in order to cater for water need of the city. Some of these cisterns are still used today. Walls were constructed on a well planned route starting from Ehmedek, İçkale, Adam Atacağı, Cilvarda cape and then to Arap Evliyası Bastion and Esat Bastion down to Tophane and Tersane reaching Kızılkule in the end. There is İçkale (interior castle) that is used as open air museum at the top of the peninsula. Sultan Alaaddin Keykubat built his palace here… Settlement still persists in the castle today. People weave silk and cotton on wooden looms in front of the wooden and stone houses, paint gourds in various figures and serve authentic food in small gardens. Moreover, there are restaurants and cafes on slopes dominating the port and on the road leading up to the castle. The castle is open for vehicle traffic. It takes approximately 1 hour to walk to the castle on foot.

KIZILKULE
This structure is located in the marina. This octagon planned structure is a work of Seljuk empire dating back to 13th century and has become the symbol of the city. It was commissioned by Seljuk Sultan Alaaddin Keykubat in 1226 to be built by Ebu Ali Reha el Kettani of Aleppo who also built Sinop Castle. Since it was hard to lift the stone blocks after a certain height during construction, the upper section of this structure was covered with fired red bricks and for that reason it has come to be referred as “Kızılkule” (red tower). There are also marble blocks left from ancient times on the walls of the tower. The tower measures 33 meters in height and 29 meters in width with an octagon plan and each wall reaching 12.5 meters in thickness. There are 5 floors including the ground floor. The tower is climbed with 85 stepped and high interval stone stairs. The sunlight coming from the top of the tower reaches even the first floor. There is a cistern in the middle of the tower. The tower was built in order to defend marina and shipyard against attacks from sea and used for military purposes for centuries. After having been repaired in 1950s, the tower was opened for visit in 1979 and its first floor was turned into Ethnography Museum.

SHIPYARD
The shipyard started to be built in 1227 near Kızılkule six years after the conquest of the city by Seljuk Sultan Alaaddin Keykubat and finished in one year. The façade of the shipyard overlooking sea consisting of five arcs measures 56.5 meters while its depth reaches 44 meters. The place that was chosen for shipyard was planned in such a way to benefit from sunlight as much as possible. The epigraph on the entrance of the shipyard bears the emblem of Sultan Keykubat and ornamented with rosettes. Alanya Shipyard is the first shipyard of Seljuks in Mediterranean Sea. Having built Sinop Shipyard in Black Sea before, Alaaddin Keykubat received the title “Sultan of two seas”. There is a prayer room in one corner and a guard room on the other corner. There is a well that has dried in time in one of the meshes. Entrance to shipyard is free and it can be accessed by means of boats from sea or walking through the city walls next to Kızılkule.

TOPHANE
There is Tophane (Arsenal) that was built with the aim of defending the shipyard on a rock measuring 10 meters in height next to shipyard. Having been built from cut stone in 1227, the structure has a three storey and rectangular plan and used for manufacturing canons for war ships. There are still attempts to turn Shipyard and Arsenal into a Maritime Museum by the Ministry of Culture and Alanya Municipality.

CLIMATE AND TEMPERATURE IN ALANYA
There is a typical Mediterranean climate in our district. The most important feature of this climate is that it is rainy and humid in winter and dry and hot in summer. Moreover, it is also distinguished from other regions thanks to its location. The eastern, northern and western side of the district is surrounded by high mountains and for that reason, the winds coming from these three main directions are fragmented; this has caused Alanya to host different plant varieties. One of the most important reasons that Alanya, which is a natural and historical wonder, attracts the attention of the whole world is its climate. When we analyze the climate data from past years, it can be seen that yearly average temperature is 19 0C. When we look at yearly averages again, the hottest month is August with an average of 27 0C while the coldest month is January with an average of 12 0C.