Discover 11 hidden attractions, cool sights, and unusual things to do in Antalya (Turkey). Don't miss out on these must-see attractions: Atatürk's House Museum, Antalya Museum, and Yivli Minare. Also, be sure to include Hadrian's Gate in your itinerary.
Below, you can find the list of the most amazing places you should visit in Antalya (Antalya).
Table of Contents
Atatürk's House Museum
Museum in Antalya, Turkey. Atatürk's House Museum) is a national museum in Antalya, Turkey dedicated to the visits of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk to this city.[1]
Address: Antalya Muratpaşa, Antalya
Antalya Museum
Also known as: Antalya Müzesi
Anatolia from prehistory to the present. The Antalya Museum or Antalya Archeological Museum is one of Turkey's largest museums, located in Konyaaltı, Antalya. It includes 13 exhibition halls and an open air gallery. It covers an area of 7,000 m2 and 5000 works of art are exhibited. In addition a further 25,000–30,000 artifacts which cannot be displayed are in storage. As a museum exhibiting examples of works, which illuminate the history of the Mediterranean and Pamphylia regions in Anatolia, Antalya Museum is one of the most important of Turkey's museums. The Museum won the “European Council Special Prize” in 1988.[2]
Address: Konyaalti Cad. No: 88, 07050 Antalya
Yivli Minare
13th-century mosque with fluted minaret. The Alaaddin Mosque or Yivli Minare Mosque, commonly also called Ulu Mosque in Antalya is a historical mosque built by the Anatolian Seljuk Sultan Alaaddin Keykubad I. It is part of a külliye which includes the Gıyaseddin Keyhüsrev Medrese, Seljuk and Dervish lodge, and the vaults of Zincirkıran and Nigar Hatun. The mosque is located in Kaleiçi along Cumhuriyet Caddesi, next to Kalekapısı Meydanı. The mosque's fluted minaret called the Yivli Minare, which is decorated with dark blue tiles, is a landmark and symbol of the city. In 2016 it was inscribed in the Tentative list of World Heritage Sites in Turkey.[3]
Address: Selçuk Mh. İskele Cd., Antalya
Hadrian's Gate
Also known as: Hadrian Kapısı
Gate honoring Roman emperor's visit. Hadrian's Gate or Üçkapılar is a triumphal arch located in Antalya, Turkey, which was built in the name of the Roman emperor Hadrian, who visited the city in the year 130. It is the only remaining entrance gate in the walls that surround the city and harbor.
The gate was rediscovered by Francis Beaufort in 1817, while commanding on HMS Fridericksteen.[4]
Address: Barbaros Mahallesi, Hesapçı Sk. No:8, 07100 Muratpaşa
Kurşunlu Waterfall Nature Park
Also known as: Kurşunlu Şelalesi
Waterfall. The Kurşunlu Waterfall is located 19 km from Antalya, Turkey at the end of a 7 km road branching off to the north of the Antalya-Serik-Alanya highway at a point 12 km east of Antalya. It is reduced to a mere trickle in the summer months.
The waterfall is on one of the tributaries of the Aksu River, where the tributary drops from Antalya's plateau to the coastal plain. It is situated in the midst of a pine forest of exceptional beauty, and the environs provide a picnic and pleasure spot about twenty minutes by car from the centre of the city of Antalya.
The waterfall and its surroundings covering an area of 586.5 ha (1,449 acres) was declared a nature park by the Ministry of Environment and Forest on May 21, 1991.[5]
Address: Antalya - Isparta Yolu 24. km, Antalya
Aqualand Dolphinland
Watersports, Theme park, Amusement park, Water park, Swimming
Address: Meltem Mah. Dumlupinar Bulvari Konyaalti Korulugu Yani, Antalya
Karaalioğlu Park
Park in Antalya, Turkey. Karaalioğlu Park is a large park in Antalya, Turkey. It is just south of Kaleiçi in the city center, easily reached on foot or by tram. The mayor's office, Municipal city theater, and an ancient fortress called Hıdırlık Tower overlooking the Roman harbor, view of the cliffs and the broad blue expanse of the Gulf of Antalya are major attractions of the park.
Urban History museum is planning to the park as of mid 2000s.
There are the following monuments and statues in the park: the Nâzım Hikmet monument at 36°52′50.4″N 30°42′14.3″E which was created in 2010 on the 47th anniversary of the poet's death, the statue of Don Quixote at 36°52′47.2″N 30°42′14.9″E, the Worker and Son monument at 36°52′45.0″N 30°42′16.9″E, the Hand sculpture at 36°52′41.5″N 30°42′20.6″E and the Frog sculptures at 36°52′45.6″N 30°42′33.4″E.[6]
Address: Park Sk. Fevzi Çakmak Cd., 07100 Muratpaşa
National Ascension Monument
Sculpture by Hüseyin Gezer. The National Ascension Monument is an Atatürk monument by Hüseyin Gezer created in 1964 and located in Antalya, Turkey. It has been described as one of Turkey's most meaningful monuments.
The monument represents, with a sudden rising base and figures right on the edge, the unity, and leadership of Ataturk leading Turkey through a series of victories leading up to the foundation of the Turkish Republic.[7]
Murat Pasha Mosque
Also known as: Antalya Murat Paşa Camii
Mosque in Antalya, Turkey. The Murat Paşa Mosque is an Ottoman mosque in the Muratpaşa borough of Antalya, Turkey.[8]
Address: Kızılsaray Mahallesi, 76. Sk. 10b, 07040 Muratpaşa
Düden Waterfalls
Also known as: Düden Şelalesi
Waterfall in Turkey. Düden Waterfalls are a group of waterfalls in the province of Antalya, Turkey. The waterfalls, formed by the recycle station water, are located 12 kilometres northeast of Antalya. They end where the waters of the Lower Düden Falls drop off a rocky cliff directly into the Mediterranean Sea.
A group of Düden Waterfalls consists of two waterfalls, Upper Düden Waterfalls and Lower Düden Waterfalls.[9]
Kesik Minare
The Kesik Minare Cami, Korkut Cami or Cumanın Cami standing in the streets of Kaleiçi in southern Turkey, was originally built as a Roman temple in the 2nd century AD. In the 7th century, it was converted into a Byzantine church in honor of the Virgin Mary, but it was heavily damaged in the 7th century during the Arab invasions. In the 9th century it was repaired again. The minaret was added in the early 13th century when the Sultanate of Rum established their rule in Antalya and converted the church into a mosque. In 1361, when the crusader king of Cyprus took Antalya from the Seljuks, it was consecrated a church again, only to become a mosque once more during the rule of Şehzade Korkut, son of the Ottoman sultan Bayezid II. The main building was destroyed in a fire in 1800, but the surviving minaret, located today on Kaleiçi Hespçi Street, is known as the Kesik Minare.
Restoration work began in 2018. In 2019 the top cone and roof were restored. The structure officially reopened as a mosque in 2021 on the 5th of March, the day Antalya was conquered by the Seljuk Empire. It will welcomed worshippers for the first time in nearly 125 years.[10]
Address: Kilincarslan Mah. Cami Sok, Antalya