Alanya – long beaches and nightlife

Alanya is the largest tourist destination in Turkey. In the 1980’s when the first charter tourists started travelling here, Alanya was a sleepy little fishing village. The area around the old harbour in Alanya and the peninsula with the castle still have a charming village-like atmosphere, but the rest of Alanya has grown enormously and today Alanya is a pulsating tourist city.


View from the Castle in Alanya (photo from Wikimedia)

I antique times Alanyas name was Coracesium, and the legend tells that Marcus Antonius gave the Western beach in Alanya as a wedding present to Cleopatra of Egypt, and that beach is still called “Cleopatra Beach” today. In the 1200’s the Selchuk sultan Aladdin Keykubat changed the name to ”Alaiye” which was short for ”Aladdin’s City”. The castle in Alanya, the antique ship yard and the octagonal Red Tower (Kizil kule) was built during under Sultan Aladdin Keykubat.


Beaches

Alanya has two long beaches on each side of the city centre, Cleopatra Beach and the Eastern Beach which continues for miles towards Mahmutlar. If you travel to Alanya city you will be using these beaches. However, there are more beaches near Alanya, in Avsallar, Konakli og Incekum, some charter operators sell travels here as well. In these areas large hotel complexes (often all inclusive) situated right onto the beach, are typical.

The weather

Alanya has a hot Mediterranean climate. The season is long, summer temperatures (18-25 Celsius) start already around Easter, and several charter operators start their season in the middle of April. July and August are normally very hot months this much East in the Mediterranean; so hot that the natives tend to “escape” to cottages up in the cool mountains above Alanya. So if you are sensitive towards heat, avoid July and August – it sometimes get as much as 45 Celsius degrees in the shadow. Later in the year the temperature cools off, but it might be lovely 25-30 C until the end of October.

Even outside the season, meaning November, December, January, February and March Alanya is a comfortable place to be (although the weather is a bit more unstable these months). Some tour operators offers long time travels for people who prefer a mild winter, and due to the large amount of properties sold to foreigners in Alanya, this kind of tourism and more direct flights in winter will surely increase.

Transportation

Taxi is reasonably priced and an easy way to get home in the night, but during the day you should try the dolmus! ”Dolmus” means ”filled up” in Turkish and that is exactly what it is; a minibus with the slogan “ always rooms for one more”… The dolmus operates from morning till late evening along the main road, with no regular bus stops; you just give a wave and it will stop to take you in, and it will let you off wherever you want, just give them a sign. And it costs almost nothing.

Shopping

Alanya has a lot of shopping possibilities for tourists, bazaar streets with typical souvenirs and interesting items, copy clothes, shoes, bags and accessories, and not to forget carpet shops, gold shops and spice sellers. Do not forget to haggle! And remember, if you bargain with a little glimpse in your eye and some humour, it is much easier to get a good price. It is usually easier to get good prices towards the end of the season. The sellers can be a bit nagging; but that is part of the sales culture. Try to just laugh about it.

For a more advanced fashion shopping (genuine international brands, Turkish designers etc.) a shopping trip to Antalya is recommended. Antalya is a larger city 1,5 hours drive away, where the airport is.

Nightlife

There is a lot of night life in Alanya. To stay in the hotels in the old harbour is very cosy, but if you want to avoid noisy nights, it is better to find a hotel further away. There are many bars and discos for the younger travellers, but also good places for people a bit older.

I have been recommended a restaurant called Kordon, where there is live music from the 60’s to the 80’s. Apparently it is a very popular place to start the evening, later people usually continues to a disco.

A barbeque restaurant for meat (ocakbasi) called Kervansaray is also known to be very good, with delicious meze’s (starters) and meat. Harbour Restaurant below the Red Tower is also an option, with live music in the background and a wonderful view of the sea.



The antique ship yard by night, photo by Stenjeep at Flickr. Tip! If you go to Flickr.com and search "Alanya" you will get up a lot of wonderful photos!

Useful links

Alanya’s official web page: http://www.alanya.bel.tr/translationEN/
Alanya’s hotel unions web page: http://www.alanya.com.tr/en

How to get to Alanya

Airlines / tour operators:
Try to search cheap flight at TUI, Neckermann and Sunweb at the side of this Blog. Sometimes they have very special promotions and prices! You can find flights, charter trips, and hotels or rent a car.

Nearest airport: Antalya

Distance from the Antalya airport to Alanya: 135 kilometres, aprox. 1 ½ hour by car

Recommended excursions:
- Damlatas Cave
- DimCay River
- Boat trips from the harbour
- Turkish Night (A nice combination of traditional Turkish food and culture)
- A walk up to the Castle (amazing view)
- The white limestone rocks of Pamukkale (longer trip, usually with one overnight stop)