Syedra, Alanya

Syedra entrance fee and opening hours

Syedra is now an official archaeological site of Turkey’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism, with a ticket office. According to the ministry’s page, foreign visitors aged 8 and over pay €7; children under 8, Turkish citizens and university students of archaeology or art history get in free. The price is set in euros but payment is in Turkish lira only, so bring lira in cash or a card. The page does not mention the Museum Pass, so ask at the desk. Until a few years ago the site was open without a ticket, which is why older guides say entry is free or quote 5 TL — that is out of date.

Winter hours run from 1 November to 1 April, 8:30–17:00; in summer the site opens 9:00–18:00 with last tickets at 17:30. No closing day is listed. Come right at opening, before the rock heats up, or in the last couple of hours before closing, when the light over the coast is softer.

Is Syedra worth visiting?

Yes, if you like ancient ruins without crowds and you have a car or a driver. There are few coach groups and no real queues: you can wander a city where Pompey once held council, and look down on the whole coast from Alanya to Gazipaşa.

Skip it if you want a restored, signposted site like Side or Perge. Syedra is an active dig with little shade and few information boards, and in the midday heat of July without a car the trip is more ordeal than outing.

A tour makes sense if you want Syedra and Sapadere Canyon or a swimming bay in one day without sorting out the road yourself. Check the programme for what is actually included.

A short history of Syedra

Greeks settled the hill in the 7th century BC, and people lived here until the 13th century AD. Ancient geographers could not agree whether it belonged to Cilicia, Pamphylia or Isauria — it sat right on the border.

According to the Roman historians Lucan and Florus, Pompey held his last war council here in 48 BC, after his defeat by Caesar and before the voyage to Egypt that ended in his murder. In AD 194 Emperor Septimius Severus wrote to praise the citizens for resisting pirates; the letter was carved in stone and is now in the Alanya Archaeological Museum.

The city peaked in the 2nd and 3rd centuries, minting its own coins and building baths, temples and a colonnaded street. Churches came later, along with a cave used for baptisms. The Alanya Museum began work on the hill in 1994; excavation and restoration now run all year, so you may well find archaeologists at work.

Recent digs show that Syedra lived on olive oil: more than a hundred oil workshops have turned up beneath its houses and public buildings. A large house has yielded a mosaic inscribed “May the envious burst” (Kıskanan Çatlasın in Turkish), and the remains of a theatre and a stadium have been uncovered.

What to see at Syedra

• The colonnaded street — the upper town’s main avenue, with column bases, fallen drums and shop fronts along the sides.
• The bath house — two storeys with arched windows and fragments of mosaic floor; the classic Syedra photo.
• The baptism cave by the west gate — a font and the remains of Christian frescoes.
• The cisterns — plastered tanks that stored rain and spring water; sources count between three and five.
• The “May the envious burst” mosaic in a large house — a recent find still being worked on; ask at the ticket desk what is open to view.
• Olive oil workshops, traces of a theatre and a stadium, walls, a temple, churches and houses, and a necropolis outside the city.
• The view from the ridge: sandy beaches, banana greenhouses and open sea in both directions.

Syedra vs Alanya Castle vs Side

First time in Alanya? Start with the castle. Syedra is for a second day out, or for anyone who likes their ruins empty.

Alanya’s historic sights compared

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

How to do it right

• The best light is the last couple of hours before sunset, when the coast below turns gold.
• Landing at Gazipaşa? Ask for a transfer with a stop and see Syedra on the way to your hotel.
• The Severus inscription and a mosaic from Syedra are in the Alanya Archaeological Museum — worth a look after the site.
• Cool off afterwards on a beach in Kargıcak or Mahmutlar — they are on the way back.
• Stay on the paths: wall edges crumble, and snakes and scorpions shelter under the stones.

Questions