EZTrip.com International Destination Guide and Hotel Listings

Until fifteen years ago, ALANYA was a sleepy coastal town with no more than a handful of flyblown hotels. Now it's one of the Mediterranean coast's major resorts, a booming place that has fortunately managed to hold on to much of its character and is much less crowded than Side, even in midsummer.

Most of old Alanya lies on the great rocky promontory that juts out into the sea, dominating the modern town, the bulk of which is occupied by the castle - an hour's winding climb or a short ride on an hourly bus from the tourist office. At the end of the road is the Iç Kale , or inner fortress (daily 8am-sunset; $5), built in 1226 and virtually intact, with the shell of a Byzantine church , decorated with fading frescoes, in the centre. In the northwestern corner of the fortress, a platform gives fine views of the western beaches and the mountains, though this originally served as a springboard from which prisoners were thrown to their deaths on the rocks below. On the opposite side of the promontory, the Kizilkule ("Red Tower") is a 35m-high defensive tower that today houses a pedestrian Ethnographic Museum (daily 8am-noon & 1.30-5.30pm; $4), and has a roof terrace that overlooks the town's eastern harbour. Back down at sea-level, apart from the hotels and restaurants, modern Alanya has little to offer. On the western side of the promontory, the Alanya Museum (daily 9am-noon & 1.30-6.30pm; $1) is filled with local archeological finds and ethnological ephemera, though the best thing about it is the garden, a former Ottoman graveyard. Nearby, the Damlatas or "Cave of Dripping Stones" (daily 6-10am for asthma sufferers; daily 10am-sunset for others; $1.50), is a stalactite- and stalagmite-filled cavern with a moist, warm atmosphere said to ease asthma; it's accessible from behind the Damlatas restaurant.

Alanya's beaches , though not particularly clean, are at least extensive, stretching 3km west and 8km east. Finer sand and fewer crowds can be found 23km away on the road to Side at Incekum (meaning "fine sand"), still a beautiful spot despite recent bouts of hotel building.