ANTALYA

Antalya is the fifth-most populous city in Turkey as well as the capital of Antalya Province.It is seen as the “capital of tourism” in Turkey. Located on Anatolia’s southwest coast bordered by the Taurus Mountains, Antalya is the largest Turkish city on the Mediterranean coast outside the Aegean region with over 2.6 million people in its metropolitan area.

The city that is now Antalya was first settled around 200 BC by the Attalid dynasty of Pergamon, which was soon conquered by the Romans. Roman rule saw Antalya thrive, including the construction of several new monuments, such as Hadrian’s Gate, and the proliferation of neighboring cities. The city has changed hands several times, including to the Seljuk Empire in 1207 and an expanding Ottoman Empire in 1391. Ottoman rule brought relative peace and stability for the next five hundred years. The city was occupied by Italy for three years in the aftermath of World War I, but was recaptured by a newly independent Turkey in the Turkish War of Independence.

While the city itself only has modest elevation changes, Antalya has high mountains in all directions to its interior. With moisture being trapped, the local climate thus has high winter rainfall, while the interior bay setting result in very hot summers for a coastal city.

The city is Turkey’s biggest international sea resort, on the Turkish Riviera. Large-scale development and governmental funding has promoted tourism. Antalya has surpassed Paris and New York City to become the fourth most visited city in the world, with more than 16.5 million foreign visitors in 2023.