Alanya Shipyard (Tersane)

Alanya Shipyard entrance fee and opening hours

We can’t quote a price: as of 30.10.2026 neither the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism nor Alanya Municipality publishes one. The Ministry describes the shipyard together with the Red Tower on its Alanya Castle page, as a Ship and Maritime Museum open to visitors. Turkish Wikipedia and the Turkey Tour Organizer guide say entry is free. Other guides, on the other hand, describe a paid entrance — a ticket of its own, or a combined ticket with the Red Tower, sometimes with Damlataş Cave too. The amounts they give for different years vary widely, so we don’t repeat them.

The castle complex, according to the Ministry, is open every day 8:00–18:30, with the ticket desk closing at 18:00. We found nothing confirming the shipyard keeps exactly the same hours — older guides give a shorter day — so they are marked “verifying”. Come in the morning or early afternoon rather than near closing.

The MüzeKart pass is valid here for Turkish citizens only. Bring both a bank card and some lira in cash, so whatever the desk accepts, you are covered.

Is Alanya Shipyard worth visiting?

Yes, if you are already at the Red Tower. A few more minutes along the wall and you are standing inside one of the few medieval shipyards left anywhere on the Mediterranean. Half an hour is plenty, and with the tower it makes an easy morning walk by the sea. A wooden walkway inside the bays makes the visit easy.

It is not worth a special trip on its own: inside are the vaults and a small maritime display, not a large museum — it makes sense mainly if you are doing the Red Tower anyway. If a stepped path in the midday heat doesn’t appeal, see it from a harbour boat instead — the five arches at the waterline look even better from the sea.

What is the Tersane?

The Tersane is a Seljuk dry dock from the 13th century — five tall pointed arches that open directly onto the water. Under these vaults warships were built and repaired, then launched straight into the sea. According to the Ministry of Culture and Alanya Municipality, large boats were built here in winter, idle ships were laid up, and the yard made sails, rigging and ironwork.

It was built by Sultan Alaeddin Keykubad I, who also put up the Red Tower and rebuilt the castle. The Turkish and Polish Wikipedia articles call it the first Seljuk shipyard on the Mediterranean; the Ministry puts it more cautiously, as one of the few surviving examples of such yards.

You enter through a narrow arched door on the old-harbour side. Above it is a five-line inscription with the sultan’s emblem between two rosettes, praising Alaeddin as “sultan of the land and the two seas”. To the right is a small mosque, where restorers found frescoes of the Zulfiqar sword; to the left a room the municipality calls the yard officials’ office and Wikipedia a guardroom.

On the rock above stands the Tophane, a tower that covered the yard from above. The sea front is 56.5–57 m long and the building 40–44 m deep, depending on the source. Per the municipality, each of the five bays is 7.7 m wide and 32 to 43 m deep: the yard was built on several levels to cut less rock.

What to see at the shipyard

• The five pointed docks — stand at the back of one and look out to sea through the arch, the way the shipwrights saw every launch.
• The vaults — cut-stone walls with brick arches and vaults; openings in the vaults let in light and let out forge smoke, per the municipality.
• The sultan’s emblem above the entrance, with its rosettes — easy to miss.
• The little mosque right of the entrance, with frescoes found during restoration, and the officials’ room on the left.
• The maritime display, bay by bay: an old crane, the hull of an Ottoman çekevele sailing boat, a mast and yard, shipbuilding tools, a freshwater well, ancient anchors and navigation instruments — as described by Alanya Municipality and the Turkey Tour Organizer guide.
• The Tophane tower on the rock above the docks.
• The shipyard from the water — a harbour boat trip shows all five arches at once, the best photo of the place.

A short history of the Alanya Shipyard

In 1221 Alaeddin Keykubad I took the coastal fortress, renamed the town Alaiye after himself and made it the Seljuk naval base on the Mediterranean. A fleet needed a yard. Work began six years after the conquest — 1228 according to Turkish Wikipedia, 1227 according to the Polish article — and took about a year.

The sultan had already built a shipyard at Sinop on the Black Sea; yards on two seas earned him the title Sultan of Two Seas. The Red Tower, finished in 1226, sealed the harbour and the docks from the sea, while the Tophane guarded them from above.

Alanya Municipality notes that the yard was run by a naval commander, the emir of the coast; work went on under the Karamanids and the Ottomans, and Piri Reis described the town, shipyard and harbour in his Book of the Sea in the early 16th century. Boats were built and repaired here until the 1960s — both the Ministry and the municipality say so. Today the bays hold a maritime museum within the Alanya Castle complex.

Shipyard vs Red Tower vs Alanya Castle

The shipyard and the tower are one walk down by the sea — do them together. The castle is a separate half-day up top. Very short on time? See the shipyard and tower from a boat and give the day to the castle.

Alanya’s historic sights compared

Every historic sight in Alanya rated by YesGo. Tap a column heading to sort.

Nearby — add to your day

43

Alanya Old Town (Tophane)

Alanya, Turkey

1 h · Free · 3 min walk

Yes — add to my route: Alanya Old Town (Tophane)

38

Red Tower

Alanya, Turkey

45 min · Paid, price being verified · 4 min walk

Yes — add to my route: Red Tower

35

Alanya Castle

Alanya, Turkey

2 h 30 min · Walls free, İç Kale ≈ €12 · 9 min walk

Yes — add to my route: Alanya Castle

38

Damlataş Cave

Alanya, Turkey

30 min · ≈ 225 TL, children less · 23 min walk

Yes — add to my route: Damlataş Cave

How to do it right

• Do the shipyard with the Red Tower — it is a few minutes along the sea wall.
• For the classic view of all five arches, take a boat trip from the harbour.
• Morning is best: cool under the vaults, soft light, nobody in your photos.
• The path is uneven stone — flip-flops are a bad idea.
• Head up to Alanya Castle afterwards, before the heat — from the top you see the harbour and the docks below.

Questions