# Red Tower, Alanya > The Red Tower (Kızılkule) is a 33-metre octagonal Seljuk tower from 1226 on Alanya harbour — the town’s emblem. Inside is a small ethnographic museum and 85 steps to a roof terrace over the port. Entry is paid; we could not confirm today’s price. Allow 45 minutes, in daytime; 10 minutes’ walk from the seafront. Web page: https://yesgo.io/turkey/alanya/alanya-red-tower - City: [Alanya](https://yesgo.io/turkey/alanya), Turkey - YesGo score: 38/100 (Yes, if nearby) - Time on site: 45 min - With kids: Fine with kids - Entry: Paid, price being verified - Opening times: Daily; guides give 9:00–19:00 in summer, to 17:00–17:30 in winter - Combined ticket: Sold with the Tersane shipyard and other sites — ask what it covers - Payment: Bring a bank card — cash may not be accepted - Time needed: ≈ 45 minutes including the climb to the top - Getting there: Walk south along the harbour to its end, 10–20 minutes from the centre - Address: End of İskele Caddesi, Alanya harbour - Coordinates: 36.53644, 31.99831 - Facts checked: 30.10.2026 ## Key facts - **1226** — completed under the Seljuk Sultan Alaeddin Keykubad I (source: Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism; Alanya Municipality; English and Turkish Wikipedia) - **33 m** — tall on the east side; the west side is 3 m lower, as the rock beneath slopes (source: Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism; Alanya Municipality; English and Turkish Wikipedia) - **8 sides** — an octagonal plan, each wall 12.5 m long (source: Turkish and Russian Wikipedia; Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism (octagonal plan)) - **Ebu Ali of Aleppo** — the architect named in the inscription to the right of the entrance (source: Alanya Municipality; English, Turkish and Russian Wikipedia) - **5 floors** — counting the open roof terrace; the Wikipedias give 85 stone steps to the top (source: Alanya Municipality (floors); Turkish and Russian Wikipedia (floors and steps)) - **Cistern** — for water at the centre of the tower, still in working order (source: Alanya Municipality; Turkish and Russian Wikipedia) - **1979** — opened to visitors, with the Ethnographic Museum on the first floor (source: English, Turkish and Russian Wikipedia; Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism (museum)) - **Stone and brick** — limestone below, red brick above — hence the name (source: Turkish Wikipedia; Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism (named after the colour of its material)) - **Harbour guard** — built to protect the port and the Seljuk shipyard (Tersane) (source: English and Turkish Wikipedia; Alanya Municipality) - **250,000 lira** — the tower was on the back of the Turkish banknote from 1992 to 2005 (source: English and Turkish Wikipedia) ## Red Tower tickets and opening times Entry is **paid**, but we could not confirm the current price from an official source: the Turkish Ministry of Culture’s museum portal has no page of its own for the tower, and the municipality does not publish fees. Figures in travel guides and from visitors differ several times over, so we don’t quote one — check at the ticket desk by the entrance. Travel guides agree that a **combined ticket** exists: the tower with the Tersane shipyard, sometimes with more — some list Damlataş Cave, others part of the castle. Ask at the desk what it covers; if you are seeing the shipyard too, buy it here and skip a second queue. Opening times differ between sources as well. Guides say the tower is open daily, roughly 9:00–19:00 in summer and until 17:00 or 17:30 in winter. An older lunch break and Monday closure listed on Russian Wikipedia are not confirmed anywhere else. The castle above, according to the Ministry, is open daily 8:00–18:30. Bring a bank card: sources disagree, but cash may not be accepted at the desk, and some foreign cards are declined — carry a spare. The MüzeKart pass is for Turkish citizens only. > **Check times before you set off** As of 30.10.2026 neither the Ministry of Culture nor the municipality publishes the tower’s own fee and hours, and travel guides give different times. A morning visit with a bank card is the safe bet. ## How to get to the Red Tower 1. From the town centre, head to the harbour and walk south along **İskele Caddesi** — past the restaurants and the pier for the boat trips. 10–20 minutes on foot, depending on where you start. 2. The street ends at the tower itself; the ticket desk is at the harbour-side entrance. 3. From [Cleopatra Beach](https://yesgo.io/turkey/alanya/alanya-cleopatra-beach) or Damlataş Cave on the west side of the peninsula it is 10–15 minutes on foot through the old town, or about 5 minutes by taxi. 4. From [Alanya Castle](https://yesgo.io/turkey/alanya/alanya-castle), come down Kale Caddesi by city bus or taxi to the harbour — or walk the old lanes downhill. 5. From Mahmutlar, Oba or Konaklı, take a bus or dolmuş along Atatürk Bulvarı to the centre, then walk to the harbour. Check the route number and stop in the operator’s app — we found no reliable official list. ## Is the Red Tower worth visiting? Yes, if you are at the harbour anyway. In 45 minutes you see Alanya’s most famous building from the inside and the port from above. The museum is small — the real draw is the masonry, the stairs and the view. Skip the climb on a hot afternoon if steps are a problem: 85 stone steps through stuffy halls are hard work in summer. The tower looks great from outside and from a boat, and the wider panorama is up at Alanya Castle — take the cable car. ## A short history of the Red Tower In 1221 the Seljuk Sultan **Alaeddin Keykubad I** captured the coastal fortress, renamed the town Alaiye after himself and turned it into a Seljuk naval base on the Mediterranean. He added the shipyard, the Tophane and a palace in the inner citadel; the Red Tower was finished in 1226 to guard the harbour from the sea. He brought in an architect, **Ebu Ali of Aleppo**, to complete it. The lower part is limestone, with reused ancient marble blocks; the upper storeys are red brick because stone was too heavy to haul that high. That colour gave the tower its name — Kızılkule, ‘Red Tower’. It stayed a military building for centuries, was restored in the 1950s and opened to visitors in 1979 with the Ethnographic Museum on its first floor. ## What to see inside - **The Ethnographic Museum** on the lower floors — local life and crafts of Alanya; it is small, 10–15 minutes is plenty. - **The central cistern** — it still holds water, and the halls and stairs wrap around it. - **The building inscription** to the right of the entrance, naming the architect, and a ship scratched into the wall. - **The stone staircase**, 85 steps, and the narrow slit windows in the thick walls. - **The roof terrace** — the port full of tour boats, the seafront and the castle hill rising behind. - **The sea wall** running south from the tower’s base towards the [Tersane shipyard](https://yesgo.io/turkey/alanya/alanya-shipyard). - **The tower from the water** — from a harbour boat trip you see it standing on the rock right at the sea’s edge. ## Where to get the best photos The classic shot is from the harbour promenade: the whole tower with the castle walls on the hill behind. Better still is from a boat, with the rock and water at its base. Early morning is ideal — soft light and an empty harbour. Late afternoon works too; at midday the light is harsh and the seafront is busy. ## Before you go: checklist - [ ] Going in the morning — cooler and quieter - [ ] Bank card for the ticket desk, ideally two — cash may not be accepted - [ ] Comfortable shoes for 85 stone steps - [ ] Water — it gets stuffy inside in summer - [ ] 45 minutes for the tower plus an hour for the shipyard - [ ] Decided whether to take the combined ticket with the shipyard ## Red Tower vs the castle and the shipyard | | Red Tower | Alanya Castle | Tersane shipyard | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | What it is | 1226 tower on the harbour | Walls and inner citadel on the hill | Seljuk shipyard at the water | | Highlight | Museum and port view | Panorama over both beaches | 13th-century arched docks | | Where | End of the harbour promenade | Top of the peninsula | Next to the tower, along the sea wall | | Time needed | ≈ 45 min | 2–3 h | ≈ 30–45 min | | With kids | Yes, but lots of steps | Yes | Yes | The tower and the shipyard are one walk down by the sea; the castle is a separate half-day up top. Short on time? Choose the castle and see the tower from the promenade. ## Alanya’s historic sights compared Every historic sight in Alanya rated by YesGo. - [Alanya Old Town (Tophane)](https://yesgo.io/turkey/alanya/alanya-old-town) — YesGo score 43/100 (Yes, if nearby) · 1 h · Free - [Alanya Shipyard](https://yesgo.io/turkey/alanya/alanya-shipyard) — YesGo score 39/100 (Yes, if nearby) · 30 min · Price being verified - [Red Tower](https://yesgo.io/turkey/alanya/alanya-red-tower) — YesGo score 38/100 (Yes, if nearby) · 45 min · Paid, price being verified - [Alanya Castle](https://yesgo.io/turkey/alanya/alanya-castle) — YesGo score 35/100 (Yes, if nearby) · 2 h 30 min · Walls free, İç Kale ≈ €12 - [Syedra](https://yesgo.io/turkey/alanya/syedra) — YesGo score 22/100 (Yes, if nearby) · 1 h 30 min · €7 for foreigners, under-8s free ## Old Alanya in a day: harbour to beach The tower and shipyard by the sea in the morning, up to the castle, then the cable car down to the cave and the beach. 1. [Red Tower](https://yesgo.io/turkey/alanya/alanya-red-tower) — YesGo score 38/100 (Yes, if nearby) · 45 min · Paid, price being verified 2. [Alanya Shipyard](https://yesgo.io/turkey/alanya/alanya-shipyard) — YesGo score 39/100 (Yes, if nearby) · 30 min · Price being verified 3. [Alanya Castle](https://yesgo.io/turkey/alanya/alanya-castle) — YesGo score 35/100 (Yes, if nearby) · 2 h 30 min · Walls free, İç Kale ≈ €12 4. [Damlataş Cave](https://yesgo.io/turkey/alanya/damlatas-cave) — YesGo score 38/100 (Yes, if nearby) · 30 min · ≈ 225 TL, children less 5. [Cleopatra Beach](https://yesgo.io/turkey/alanya/alanya-cleopatra-beach) — YesGo score 36/100 (Yes, if nearby) · 3 h · Free entry, sunbeds extra > **Start your day at the tower** The harbour is cool and empty in the morning and packed by noon. See the tower, walk along the wall to the shipyard, then head up to the castle before the heat. ## Good to know Kızılkule is the Turkish name; signs also show Kızıl Kule. Not to be confused with the Red Tower in Halle, Germany, or the towers of Gdańsk — this one is on the Turkish Riviera, in Antalya province. ## Tips - Pair the tower with the Tersane shipyard, a few minutes’ walk along the sea wall. - The best view of the tower is from a harbour boat trip — they leave right from the promenade. - Go in the morning: the stone halls are cooler and photos are easier before noon. - No stairs for you? Admire the tower from outside and ride the cable car up to Alanya Castle. - Carry a card — Turkish museum desks may refuse cash. ## Questions ### How much is the Red Tower entrance fee? Entry is paid. We could not confirm today’s price from an official source, and guides quote very different figures — check at the desk and bring a bank card. ### Is there a combined ticket for the Red Tower and the shipyard? Yes, guides agree a combined ticket with the Tersane shipyard is sold at the desk; some versions add Damlataş Cave or part of the castle. Ask what it covers before you pay. ### What are the Red Tower opening hours? There is no official timetable. Guides say it opens daily, roughly 9:00–19:00 in summer and until 17:00–17:30 in winter, so a morning visit is safest. ### Where is the Red Tower in Alanya? On the harbour, at the end of İskele Caddesi, at the eastern foot of the castle peninsula — 10–20 minutes’ walk from the centre. ### How do I get to the Red Tower? Walk south along the harbour promenade from the centre, 10–20 minutes. From Cleopatra Beach it is 10–15 minutes on foot; from Mahmutlar or Oba take a bus along Atatürk Bulvarı. ### Is the Red Tower worth it? Yes, if you are at the harbour: 45 minutes for the museum, the stairs and the port view. On a hot day, seeing it from outside and from a boat is enough. ### How tall is the Red Tower? 33 metres, with eight walls of 12.5 metres each, five floors and 85 steps to the top. ### Who built the Red Tower? The Seljuk Sultan Alaeddin Keykubad I; it was completed in 1226 by the architect Ebu Ali of Aleppo. ### Why is it called the Red Tower? Its upper storeys are red brick. Kızılkule simply means ‘Red Tower’ in Turkish. ### How long do you need at the Red Tower? About 45 minutes with the climb to the roof. Add the Tersane shipyard next door and it is an hour and a half to two hours. ## How we checked The date, height and name are checked against the Ministry of Culture and Tourism’s castle page, Alanya Municipality’s page on the tower and two Wikipedias; the architect, five floors and cistern against the municipality and the Wikipedias, and the 85 steps against the Turkish and Russian Wikipedias only. Widths disagree: English Wikipedia gives both a 29 m diameter and 12.5 m width, while the Turkish and Russian articles give 12.5 m for each of the eight walls — we use the walls. No official source publishes the tower’s own fee or hours on 30.10.2026. Prices in guides and from visitors differ several times over, so we quote none; the hours come from two travel guides, and the lunch break and Monday closure from Russian Wikipedia are dropped because nothing else confirms them. Guides agree on a combined ticket with the shipyard but not on what else it covers; on payment one guide says cash and cards, visitor reports say card only — so we advise a card and keep both marked “verifying”. Bus numbers appear in only one guide, so we left them out. ## Sources - Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism, museums portal: Alanya Kalesi — Red Tower, shipyard and castle hours, 30.10.2026 - Alanya Municipality (Alanya Belediyesi): Red Tower page, 30.10.2026 - Travel guides Sputnik8 and Tourism Attractions: opening times and combined ticket, 30.10.2026 - English Wikipedia: Red Tower (Alanya) - Turkish Wikipedia: Kızılkule - Russian Wikipedia: Kyzyl Kule; Wikidata Q2470666 - Alanya Municipality (Alanya Belediyesi): Tarihi Yerler, Tarihçe --- This is the Markdown version of a YesGo page for AI assistants. Quote the web page link above, not this file.