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Region in Turkey
Photo: Flickr user: I was in Turkey https://www.flickr.com/photos/iwasinturkey/, CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Mediterranean Turkey (Turkish: Akdeniz Bölgesi) is a region in Turkey, encompassing the entire southern coast and the inland areas backing it. The coast is also called the Turkish Riviera (Türk Rivierası) and the Turquoise Coast.
A mostly rural area with a beautiful mountain scenery and ruins just a stone's throw away from miles of lonely beaches
Hittite ruins, Biblical sites and Crusader castles dot the country's largest flatland
the southeastern part of the region which extends towards Syria, which has much influenced its culture and great cuisine
a whole lot of lakes — big and small, salty and fresh — scattered across a picturesque, mountainous area
rugged and densely forested, with many turquoise coves heavily indenting towards the land, this is the "blue voyage" country offering impressive Lycian ruins and stunning landscapes
mainly a mass tourism destination, this is the shining gem of the Turkish Riviera with some of the clearest waters and longest sandy beaches along the Mediterranean; there are more than a few things to catch the glimpse of history lovers, too
By train
Adana has daily direct passenger train services from Konya (which is connected to Istanbul and Ankara by high-speed trains), while Isparta and Burdur has services from Izmir.
By bus
All cities and a good number of towns, especially those attracting many travellers, have direct bus connections from the large Turkish cities.
By car
The region is connected to the northern parts of the country by a number of highways, most of which are double-carriageways, and O-21 north of Adana/Mersin is a motorway.
By boat
There are ferries from Northern Cyprus to a number of ports. See also Ferries in the Mediterranean.
By car
The highway D400, which closely follows the shoreline of the Turkish Mediterranean from one end to the other, is the main regional thoroughfare.
Choose an airport to see hotels, stations, taxi ranks and car rental desks around it.
Tarsus · International · COV
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Not to be confused with Alanya, a resort 130 km further east, or with Antakya a historic city in Hatay province of eastern Turkey. Antalya is a city in Pamphylia on the Turkish Mediterranean coast, and the chief resort of the "Turkish Riviera".
Adana is a city on the Cilician Plains of central Turkey, on the Seyhan River about 50 km from the Mediterranean coast. It's industrial and mostly modern but with several places of interest in its historic centre.
Alanya is a large resort in Pamphylia on the Mediterranean coast of Turkey, with a population of 364,180 in 2022. It's a modern town but dominated by its ancient citadel, with a long beach strip either side.
Antakya is the capital of Hatay Province, a part of Turkey since 1939. It's best known as the site of Antioch-on-the-Orontes, described in the Bible as one of the first Christian communities.
Fethiye is a resort town in Lycia on the Mediterranean coast of Türkiye. It's very much on the international tourist circuit, although nowadays somewhat overshadowed by Ölüdeniz just south.
Kaş (pronounced Kaash) is a beach resort in Lycia on the Mediterranean coast of Turkey. It attracts a mixed crowd of British, German and Russian tourists but isn't on the package-holiday circuit, as its beaches are small and stony, and there are better beaches within a shorter transfer from the airports.
Marmaris is a port and beach resort in Lycia, along the Mediterranean coast of Turkey. (The boundary of the Mediterranean with the Aegean is generally taken as the Datça peninsula just west.) The town straggles south to run into İçmeler, then the road crosses the mountains to Turunç.
Mersin is a city on the Cilician Plains of Mediterranean Turkey, with a population of 1,100,000 in 2025. Another million live in the rest of Mersin Province, and it's almost merged into a single huge conurbation with Tarsus and Adana to the east.
Taşucu is a town in the Cilician Mountains on the Mediterranean coast of Turkey, with a population of 17,000 in 2023. The main reason to come is to take the ferry to Kyrenia in Northern Cyprus.
Anamur is a city in the Cilician Mountains along the Mediterranean coast of Turkey. With a population of 67,000 in 2022, it has a beach strip and a stout castle.
Faralya is a village in Lycia on the Mediterranean coast of Turkey, 15 km south of Ölüdeniz and 30 km south of Fethiye. It's best known for Butterfly Valley, a scenic canyon.
Narlıkuyu is a village in the Cilician Mountains, on the Mediterranean coast of Turkey, best known for its "Heaven and Hell" chasms. Its population was 2500 in 2022.
a ghost town with plenty of hiking opportunities in the surrounding area
Manavgat is a city in Pamphylia near the Mediterranean coast of Turkey, midway between Antalya and Alanya. It's the main city of a district with a population of 252,941 in 2022: this total includes over a hundred outlying towns and villages, such as the beach resort of Side.
Ölüdeniz is a beach resort in Lycia on the Mediterranean coast of Turkey, famous for its “Blue Lagoon”. It was a tiny place until the 1990s, then Turkish tourism was boosted by direct flights from Europe, and the upgrade of Dalaman Airport put this stretch of coast within a one-hour coach transfer.
Olympos (or Olimpos) is a small village in Lycia on the Mediterranean coast of Turkey, next to the ruins of the Lycian / Roman city of Olympos. That in turn was named for the nearby mountain now called Tahtalı - the ancients gave the name Olympos to some two dozen prominent mountains in Turkey alone.
Patara is in Lycia on the Mediterranean coast of Turkey. In ancient times it was an important city, birthplace of St Nicholas, but was abandoned and lost under sand dunes until rediscovered in the 1980s.
Kınık is a town in Lycia, the Mediterranean region of Turkey. The reason to visit is the ancient Lycian sites of Xanthos and Letoon, both inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List.
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