Antalya Sightseeing Through the Ages

A city in layers

Antalya’s sights are easiest to understand in the order they were built. Nearly all of the old town can be seen on foot and for free, so one unhurried day is enough. Start at the eastern edge of Kaleiçi, the walled quarter above the harbour, and work forward through time toward the clifftop park.

Roman Antalya

Hadrian’s Gate (Üçkapılar) is a triple-arched white marble gate put up in AD 130 to mark the emperor’s visit. It stands on Atatürk Caddesi, is open to view at any hour, and is the usual way into the old town.

Hıdırlık Tower is a round Roman tower and tomb from the 1st or 2nd century AD, about 13 to 14 m high, at the south-west corner of Kaleiçi where the walls meet the park. You look at it from outside; there is no fee to quote.

Seljuk Antalya

Yivli Minare is the fluted red-brick minaret built about 1230 by Sultan Ala ad-Din Kayqubad I, and it works as the city’s emblem. The complex around it holds the free Mevlevihane Museum, which covers the Mevlevi order of whirling dervishes. The museum was restored in 2018.

Kesik Minare, the Broken Minaret, on Hesapçı Sokak, has been a Roman temple, a Byzantine church and, from the 13th century, a mosque. A fire in 1896 left only the minaret standing. After restoration it reopened and is used for worship, so look from the street, keep your voice down and dress modestly if you step in during opening hours.

Ottoman Antalya

Near the gate stand the clock tower and the Tekeli Mehmet Paşa Mosque, built between 1606 and 1616. Restoration has been under way since 2008, so enjoy the exterior and do not plan on an interior visit. Further in, the lanes are lined with timber-and-stone Ottoman houses, many now small hotels. The Suna and İnan Kıraç Kaleiçi Museum, at Kocatepe Sokak 25, occupies two restored buildings, a house and a former church, and shows 19th-century city life. Listing sites report that it is closed on Mondays and charges about 60 lira, so check before going.

Modern Antalya and its viewpoints

The Atatürk House Museum, at Işıklar Caddesi 11, is a free reconstruction of a house where Atatürk stayed in the 1930s. Ministry hours are 08:30 to 19:00 in summer and 08:30 to 18:00 in winter, and one guide notes a Monday closure, so check the day.

Karaalioğlu Park, a clifftop park laid out in the 1940s, gives the best free panorama of the Gulf of Antalya and the Taurus peaks. Use it in place of the Tünektepe cable car, which is closed with no reopening date.

Lower Düden Park in Lara is free and open day and night. The river drops about 40 m off a cliff into the Mediterranean, with fenced viewing points, so stay behind the barriers. The park operator discourages swimming below both falls. Upper Düden in Kepez is a separate ticketed park, with a reported fee of roughly 70 to 100 lira.

What is closed

The Antalya Museum has been closed since July 2025 and its building has been demolished, with no reopening date. The tram stop called Müze still exists, but no galleries stand behind it. The nostalgic T2 tram is suspended and buses run its route.

Out of town

If you have a second day, Perge (about 18 km, €11) and Aspendos (about 47 km, €15) are the nearest Roman sites, and Termessos (€3) is a mountain city that rewards an early start. Konyaaltı, about 7 km of free pebble beach with a promenade along Akdeniz Boulevard, is the place for an evening walk.

Tips

  • In July and August highs reach the mid-30s to low 40s °C. Sightsee before 10:00 or after 17:00.
  • Use an AntalyaKart on the Antray tram, which takes no cash.
  • Government travel warnings for Turkey name the Syrian and Iraqi border strips, far from Antalya.

Read more: Walking tours in Antalya and the 2-day Antalya itinerary .

For a guided overview, search GetYourGuide for Antalya old town tours . The Wikipedia article on Kesik Minare traces the building’s phases, and the Ministry of Culture and Tourism Perge page lists hours for the nearest big ruins.