Phaselis ancient city, Kemer

Phaselis entrance fee and opening hours

Foreign visitors pay €10 from age 8; younger children are free. You pay at the booth on the access road, in euros or lira. One ticket covers the ruins and all three bays — there is no separate beach charge.

The site is open every day: 8:00–19:00 in summer, 8:00–17:00 in winter (from 1 November). The ticket booth shuts 30 minutes before closing.

Planning Olympos, the Antalya Museum, Perge or Aspendos too? The Museum Pass The Mediterranean — €90 for 7 days, over 40 museums and sites — is accepted here. For Phaselis alone it doesn't pay off.

Is Phaselis worth visiting?

Yes, if you want ruins and the sea in one half-day. You swim a few steps from Roman masonry, under pines, in clear shallow water — that combination is rare even on this coast. The site is compact: it can't match Perge or Ephesus for scale, but it wins on setting.

If you only care about ruins and have already seen the big ancient cities, 1.5 hours is plenty. Avoid the middle of a July day, when it is hot and busy; mornings, spring and autumn are the best times to come.

What to see at Phaselis

• The main street — a paved avenue between the Protected and South harbours, lined with baths, an agora and shops.
• The theatre on the acropolis slope: pale stone tiers with Mount Tahtalı rising behind the stage. Climb to the top row for the classic shot.
• Hadrian's Gate by the South Harbour, raised for the emperor's visit — today mostly its foundations remain.
• The aqueduct along the path in — stone piers that once carried water into the city.
• Three bays: the North Bay is the quietest, the South Bay the largest with sand and pebbles, and the Protected Harbour is shallow and calm.
• Roman baths and a public latrine with a mosaic floor, just off the main street.

A short history

Colonists from Rhodes founded Phaselis in the 7th century BC. Its three natural harbours sat on the sea route from Egypt and Phoenicia to the Aegean, and the city lived on trade — timber, rose oil, wine. Mount Tahtalı made the overland approach hard, so most people arrived by sea.

In 333 BC the city greeted Alexander the Great with a golden crown, as Arrian records. Pirates later seized it, Rome drove them out, and under the emperors Phaselis was largely rebuilt — almost everything you see is Roman, from the 2nd century AD.

It isn't a castle or a covered museum but open ruins in a pine forest by the water, which is exactly why it is the classic history trip from Kemer.

Phaselis vs Olympos

Phaselis is the easy half-day from Kemer. Olympos is wilder and moodier — pair it with the evening Chimaera flames.

Kemer's historic sites compared

Every historic site around Kemer rated by YesGo. Tap a column heading to sort.

Nearby — add to your day

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Paradise Bay (Cennet Koyu)

Kemer, Turkey

1 h · Free; boat trip from Kemer from ≈ €20 · 24 min walk

Yes — add to my route: Paradise Bay (Cennet Koyu)

How to do it right

• Walk the main street and the theatre while it's cool, then head to a bay for a swim.
• The North Bay is usually calmer than the South Bay, where most boats drop anchor.
• Combine it with Mount Tahtalı — the cable car's lower station is next door in Tekirova.
• On a boat trip, check whether you go ashore at the ruins or only swim in the bay.
• Shoulder season — April to June and September to October — is the sweet spot for ruins and swimming.

Questions