The Turkish Riviera ( tr, Türk Rivierası), also known popularly as the Turquoise Coast, is an area of southwest

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...

encompassing the provinces of

Antalya la, Attalensis grc, Ἀτταλειώτης , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = 07xxx , area_code = (+90) 242 , registration_plate = 07 , blank_name = Licence plate ...

and Muğla, and to a lesser extent Aydın, southern

İzmir İzmir ( , ; ), also spelled Izmir, is a metropolitan city in the western extremity of Anatolia, capital of the province of the same name. It is the third most populous city in Turkey, after Istanbul and Ankara and the second largest urban aggl ...

and western Mersin. The combination of a favorable climate, warm sea, mountainous scenery, fine beaches along more than a of shoreline along the Aegean and

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western Europe, Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa ...

waters, and abundant natural and archaeological points of interest makes this stretch of Turkey's coastline a popular national and international tourist destination. Among the archaeological points of interest are two of the

Seven Wonders of the Ancient World The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, also known as the Seven Wonders of the World or simply the Seven Wonders, is a list of seven notable structures present during classical antiquity. The first known list of seven wonders dates back to the 2 ...

: The ruins of the Mausoleum of Maussollos in

Halicarnassus Halicarnassus (; grc, Ἁλικαρνᾱσσός ''Halikarnāssós'' or ''Alikarnāssós''; tr, Halikarnas; Carian: 𐊠𐊣𐊫𐊰 𐊴𐊠𐊥𐊵𐊫𐊰 ''alos k̂arnos'') was an ancient Greek city in Caria, in Anatolia. It was located i ...

; and the

Temple of Artemis The Temple of Artemis or Artemision ( gr, Ἀρτεμίσιον; tr, Artemis Tapınağı), also known as the Temple of Diana, was a Greek temple dedicated to an ancient, local form of the goddess Artemis (identified with Diana, a Roman go ...

in Ephesus. The Turkish Riviera is also the home of the internationally known Blue Voyage (a.k.a.

Caria Caria (; from Greek: Καρία, ''Karia''; tr, Karya) was a region of western Anatolia extending along the coast from mid- Ionia (Mycale) south to Lycia and east to Phrygia. The Ionian and Dorian Greeks colonized the west of it and joined ...

n Cruise), which allows participants to take a week-long trip aboard the local

gulet A ''gulet'' () is a traditional design of a two-masted or three-masted wooden sailing vessel (the most common design has two masts) from the southwestern coast of Turkey, particularly built in the coastal towns of Bodrum and Marmaris; althou ...

schooners to ancient cities, harbors, tombs, mausolea, and beaches in the small coves, forests, and streams that are on the Turquoise Coast. The coastline is regarded as a cultural trove that provides background on a fascinating mixture of factual and mythological individuals, conflicts and events, and has frequently been referred to in the folklore of various cultures throughout history. As such, it is regarded as the home of scholars, saints, warriors, kings, and heroes, as well as the site of numerous well-known myths.

Mark Antony Marcus Antonius (14 January 1 August 30 BC), commonly known in English as Mark Antony, was a Roman politician and general who played a critical role in the transformation of the Roman Republic from a constitutional republic into the au ...

of the

Roman Republic The Roman Republic ( la, Res publica Romana ) was a form of government of Rome and the era of the classical Roman civilization when it was run through public representation of the Roman people. Beginning with the overthrow of the Roman Ki ...

is said to have picked the Turkish Riviera as the most beautiful wedding gift for his beloved Cleopatra of

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...

.The Mediterranean Region of Turkey

at web.archive.org. Saint Nicholas, who later became the basis of the Santa Claus legend, was born in Patara, a small town close to present-day Demre.

Herodotus Herodotus ( ; grc, , }; BC) was an ancient Greek historian and geographer A geographer is a physical scientist, social scientist or humanist whose area of study is geography, the study of Earth's natural environment and human society ...

, regarded as the "father of History", was born in

Bodrum Bodrum () is a port city in Muğla Province, southwestern Turkey, at the entrance to the Gulf of Gökova. Its population was 35,795 at the 2012 census, with a total of 136,317 inhabitants residing within the district's borders. Known in ancient ...

(ancient

) in c. 484 BC. The volcanic mountains to the west of

Antalya la, Attalensis grc, Ἀτταλειώτης , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = 07xxx , area_code = (+90) 242 , registration_plate = 07 , blank_name = Licence plate ...

, near Dalyan, are believed to have been the inspiration for the mythical

Chimera Chimera, Chimaera, or Chimaira (Greek for " she-goat") originally referred to: * Chimera (mythology), a fire-breathing monster of Ancient Lycia said to combine parts from multiple animals * Mount Chimaera, a fire-spewing region of Lycia or Cilici ...

— the fire-breathing monster that Bellerophon slew.

Communities and settlements

Many cities, towns and villages in the area are internationally known, such as

Alanya Alanya (; ), formerly Alaiye, is a beach resort city and a district of Antalya Province on the southern coast of Turkey, in the country's Mediterranean Region, east of the city of Antalya. As of Turkey's 2010 census, the city had a population of ...

Antalya la, Attalensis grc, Ἀτταλειώτης , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = 07xxx , area_code = (+90) 242 , registration_plate = 07 , blank_name = Licence plate ...

Belek Belek is a township in the Serik district in Turkey's Antalya Province. The local population in 2022 is 73,260. Belek is one of the centers of Turkey's tourism industry and is home to more than thirty four-star and five-star hotels and many ...

, Çeşme,

Didim Didim is a small town, popular seaside holiday resort, and district of Aydın Province on the Aegean coast of western Turkey, from the provincial capital city of Aydın. Didim is the site of the antique city of Didyma with its ruined Temple ...

Fethiye Fethiye () is a city and district of Muğla Province in the Aegean Region of Turkey. It is one of the prominent tourist destinations in the Turkish Riviera. In 2019 its population was 162,686. History Fethiye was formerly known as Makri (). ...

, Kalkan, Kaş,

Kemer Kemer is a seaside resort and district of Antalya Province on the Mediterranean coast of Turkey, west of the city of Antalya, on the Turkish Riviera. Kemer is on the Gulf of Antalya, of sea coast with the skirts of the western Taurus Mounta ...

Kuşadası Kuşadası () is a large resort town on Turkey's Aegean coast, and the center of the seaside district of the same name within Aydın Province. Kuşadası is south of İzmir, and about from Aydın. The municipality's primary industry is tour ...

Marmaris Marmaris () is a port city and tourist resort on the Mediterranean coast, located in Muğla Province, southwest Turkey, along the shoreline of the Turkish Riviera. Although Marmaris is known for its honey, its main source of income is internationa ...

, and

Side Side or Sides may refer to: Geometry * Edge (geometry) of a polygon (two-dimensional shape) * Face (geometry) of a polyhedron (three-dimensional shape) Places * Side (Ainis), a town of Ainis, ancient Thessaly, Greece * Side (Caria), a town of an ...

. Notable places on the Turkish Riviera include: * Akbük * Akyaka * Alaçatı *

Antalya la, Attalensis grc, Ἀτταλειώτης , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = 07xxx , area_code = (+90) 242 , registration_plate = 07 , blank_name = Licence plate ...

Armutalan Armutalan is a town in Marmaris district of Muğla Province, Turkey. Although an independent municipality it is merged to Marmaris to the southeast. At , the distance to Muğla is . The population is of Armutalan is 17365 Beldibi *

* Beycik * Bitez *

Bozburun Bozburun is a small seaside town with own municipality in Marmaris district, in southwestern Turkey. The permanent population is about 2000. It is situated on the coast of the peninsula of the same name ( Bozburun Peninsula) which extends in para ...

* Çamyuva * Çeşme * Çıralı *

Dalaman Dalaman is a district, as well as the central town of that district, situated on the southwestern coast of Turkey, in the Muğla Province. Dalaman Stream (''Dalaman çayı'') forms much of the western border of the district, where its neighbo ...

* Dalyan *

Datça Datça is a district of Muğla Province in south-west Turkey, and the center town of the district. The center is situated midway through the peninsula which carries the same name as the district and the town ( Datça Peninsula). It was a nahiya of ...

* Demre *

Finike Finike, the ancient Phoenix or Phoinix ( grc, Φοῖνιξ), also formerly Phineka, is a town and a district on the Mediterranean coast of Antalya Province in Turkey, to the west of the city of Antalya, along the Turkish Riviera. It is located o ...

* Gazipaşa * Göcek *

Gökova Gökova is a Administrative divisions of Turkey, municipality (''belde'') in the district of Ula, Muğla, Ula in Muğla Province, Turkey. It lies at the head of the Gulf of Gökova in a plain also known as Gökova. The ancient Carian city of Id ...

Gümüşlük Gümüşlük is a seaside village and fishing port in Bodrum, Muğla Province, southwestern Turkey. Location In the Aegean Region, it is situated on the remains of the ancient city of Myndos. The remains of the foundations of buildings can be ...

Güzelçamlı Güzelçamlı (''also referred to locally as Çamlı for short'') is a sea-side town and municipality in the district of Kuşadası in Turkey's Aydın Province, and an increasingly popular tourist resort. It is situated at a distance of following ...

Hisarönü Hisarönü is a tourist resort village in the Fethiye district of the Muğla Province of Turkey. It is situated at the western extreme of the Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the ...

* Ilıca * İçmeler * Kalkan * Kaş * Kekova *

* Kızkumu *

Kumluca Kumluca is a town and district of Antalya Province on the Mediterranean coast of Turkey, part of the Turkish Riviera. Kumluca is located west of the city of Antalya, on the Teke Peninsula, (between the bays of Antalya and Fethiye). Its neighbou ...

* Konyaaltı *

Köyceğiz Köyceğiz is a town and district of Muğla Province in the Aegean region of Turkey. The town of Köyceğiz lies at the northern end of a lake of the same name ( Köyceğiz Lake) which is joined to the Mediterranean Sea by a natural channel cal ...

Lara Lara may refer to: Places * Lara (state), a state in Venezuela *Electoral district of Lara, an electoral district in Victoria, Australia * Lara, Antalya, an urban district in Turkey * Lara, Victoria, a township in Australia * Lara de los In ...

Manavgat Manavgat is a city in the district of the Antalya Province in Turkey, from the city of Antalya. The Manavgat River has a waterfall near the city. The population of the district is 242,490 (2020 census). Geography Between the Taurus Mountains ...

Milas Milas ( grc, Μύλασα, Mylasa) is an ancient city and the seat of the district of the same name in Muğla Province in southwestern Turkey. The city commands a region with an active economy and very rich in history and ancient remains, the ter ...

* Muğla * Olympos *

Ortaca Ortaca () is a town and district of Muğla Province in the Aegean region of Turkey. Formerly a township depending Köyceğiz administratively, it was made into a separate district in 1987. Apart from Ortaca district center, there is one dependin ...

* Ovacık *

Ölüdeniz Ölüdeniz (literally ''Dead Sea'', due to its calm waters even during storms; official translation name Blue Lagoon) is a small neighbourhood and beach resort in the Fethiye district of Muğla Province, on the Turquoise Coast of southwestern Tu ...

* Ören *

Özdere Özdere (, ) is a small Turkish coastal settlement and resort town in the Menderes district of İzmir Province, along the Aegean Sea coast. It has a permanent population of around 15,000 people, which can rise to nearly 100,000 during the summ ...

* Patara * Selimiye *

* Simena * Torba * Turgutreis * Turunç * Türkbükü * Ulupınar * Yalıkavak

Gallery

File:Cesme-streets.JPG, Typical architecture of Alaçatı File:Alanyafromcastle.JPG, Castle and harbour of

File:Tip of the Alanya peninsula.jpg, Tip of the

peninsula File:Yivli Minaret Mosque Antalya.jpg, Yivli Minaret Mosque, near the

Gulf of Antalya The Gulf of Antalya ( tr, Antalya Körfezi) is a large bay of the northern Levantine Sea, in the eastern Mediterranean Sea south of Antalya Province, Turkey. It includes some of the main seaside resorts of Turkey, also known as the "Turkish Riviera" ...

File:Aspendos_Amphitheatre.jpg, Roman theatre in

Aspendos Aspendos or Aspendus ( Pamphylian: ΕΣΤϜΕΔΥΣ; Attic: Ἄσπενδος) was an ancient Greco-Roman city in Antalya province of Turkey. The site is located 40 km east of the modern city of Antalya. It was situated on the Eurymedon ...

Antalya la, Attalensis grc, Ἀτταλειώτης , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = 07xxx , area_code = (+90) 242 , registration_plate = 07 , blank_name = Licence plate ...

File:Turkish.town.cesme.jpg, Castle of Çeşme File:Fethiye_2020-03-15-4.jpg, View of the

coast File:Myra Theatre.JPG, Roman theatre in Demre, where

St. Nicholas Saint Nicholas of Myra, ; la, Sanctus Nicolaus (traditionally 15 March 270 – 6 December 343), also known as Nicholas of Bari, was an early Christian bishop of Greek descent from the maritime city of Myra in Asia Minor (; modern-day Demre ...

lived File:Rock_tombs_(1091851058).jpg,

Lycia Lycia ( Lycian: 𐊗𐊕𐊐𐊎𐊆𐊖 ''Trm̃mis''; el, Λυκία, ; tr, Likya) was a state or nationality that flourished in Anatolia from 15–14th centuries BC (as Lukka) to 546 BC. It bordered the Mediterranean Sea in what is ...

n tombs in

File:Kelebekler_Vadisi_(1).jpg,

Butterfly Valley Butterfly Valley, or Wu Tip Kuk (), is a valley in north of Lai Chi Kok in New Kowloon of Hong Kong, located between O Pui Shan and Piper's Hill. The valley was a habitat of butterflies before Japanese occupation of Hong Kong and thus named aft ...

File:Oludeniz.jpg, Ölüdeniz Beach,

File:Gelidonya_lighthouse.jpg, Cape Gelidonya near

is the site of the wreck of a

Phoenicia Phoenicia () was an ancient thalassocratic civilization originating in the Levant region of the eastern Mediterranean, primarily located in modern Lebanon. The territory of the Phoenician city-states extended and shrank throughout their histor ...

n merchant ship from about 1200 BC File:Foça pictures 6.jpg, Port of

Foça Foça is a town and district in Turkey's İzmir Province, on the Aegean coast. The town of Foça is situated at about northwest of İzmir's city center. The district also has a township with its own municipality named Yenifoça (literally ''"Ne ...

, home of the

Mediterranean monk seal The Mediterranean monk seal (''Monachus monachus'') is a monk seal belonging to the family Phocidae. , it is estimated that fewer than 700 individuals survive in three or four isolated subpopulations in the Mediterranean, (especially) in the Ae ...

File:Ingiliz_limani_04510_-_6115.jpg, Traditional two-masted gulet schooner visiting a cove in

as part of the

Blue Cruise A Blue Cruise, also known as a ''Blue Voyage'' () or ''Blue Tour'' (), is a term used for recreational voyages along the Turkish Riviera, on Turkey's southwestern coast along the Aegean and Mediterranean seas. The cruise is typically a week- ...

File:Sunken_City_Simena.JPG, Ancient sites of Kaleköy (or Simena) File:A street in Kaş.jpg, A street in Kaş with traditional houses and a

n tomb in the background File:Kemer beach, Antalya.jpg, Beach and marina of

File:Kemerayisigi.jpg, Moonlight Beach in

File:Kusadasi, Kuşadası-Aydın Province, Turkey - panoramio (5).jpg, A view of Güvercinada island,

File:Manavgat waterfall by tomgensler.JPG,

waterfall File:Marmaris harbor (aerial view), Muğla Province, southwest Turkey, Mediterranean.jpg, Castle and harbour of

File:48700_Karaca-Marmaris-Muğla,_Turkey_-_panoramio_(14).jpg, Karaca in

File:Cirali_-_panoramio_(1).jpg, Olympos Beach File:Olympos_beach.jpg, Mt. Olympos (Mt. Tahtalı) was the namesake of the town of Olympos in

File:Patara_Main_Avenue_2019.jpg, Ancient ruins in Patara File:Sunrise_apollo_side.jpg, The ruins of the Temple of Apollo, near

File:Side TH au.JPG, Exterior walls of the ancient theatre in

File:Ancient_Lycian_Tombs_-_2014.10_-_panoramio.jpg,

n tombs in Simena

Notes

{{Authority control Coasts of Turkey Seaside resorts in Turkey Landforms of Antalya Province Landforms of Muğla Province Landforms of Aydın Province Landforms of İzmir Province

Communities and settlements

Gallery

See also

Notes