Antalya

Inside the walls the lanes are narrow and bent, and cars cannot get down many of them. Ottoman timber houses have been turned into guesthouses, though the walls between rooms are thin. The way down to the harbour is steep and hard work with a suitcase.

A triple arch raised for the emperor Hadrian's visit, with old cart ruts worn into the road that runs under it.

Roman theatres rarely keep their stage wall, and this one still stands. A voice from the stage carries to the top row because of it. Performances take it over in summer, and on those days the hours for looking round are cut short.

The lower fall drops straight off the cliff into the sea. You cannot face it from land, and only from a boat does it show square on. The upper fall is a separate place north of the centre. There you walk right into the cave behind the water.

Roman statues lifted out of Perge stand in a row down one hall. The tram reaches it from the centre, and since most of the finds came from sites along this coast, seeing a site first makes more sense of them.

The beach is coarse shingle rather than sand, so bare feet suffer going in. The bottom falls away within a few steps. The Beydaglar wall stands right behind it, and shade arrives late in the afternoon.

Gas seeping from cracks in the rock burns by itself and the flames never go out. They look faint by day, so you need to be there after dark to see them properly. The path up is loose stone and calls for a torch and shoes that hold the ankle.

The cable car that climbed from the cliff base to a terrace on the mountain. Service stopped after an April 2024 accident in which a pylon failed and struck a cabin, killing one; find out if it runs again before you go.

A Seljuk minaret of red brick raised with eight flutes running up it. The mosque beside it is still in use for prayer, so you cannot go inside at those hours.

Stone Age dwellers left their traces in this cave, a half-hour drive from the centre. It is wide inside with uneven ground, and the lighting misses many corners.

A Roman city some 30km east of town, at its peak in the 2nd and 3rd centuries. Its colonnaded high street keeps the stone channel that once carried water along it. The stadium seating is nearly whole, and since the ruins offer no shade, mornings suit best.

An ancient city perched high in the forested Taurus range; Alexander the Great is said to have laid siege and then given up. Reaching the theatre means a long, stony uphill slog after you park. That theatre hangs on a cliff edge with mountains and cloud below.

Ancient Side lies tangled up with a beach town that buses reach heading east from Antalya. On the headland's point a few columns of the Temple of Apollo have been raised again by the water. Crowds gather toward dusk to see the sun drop between them.

The falls sit in a wooded park northeast of town, a trail circling the pool below. Flow is strong in winter and spring and shrinks to a trickle in summer. Thick shade keeps the park cool even at midday.

Fallen buildings of an ancient city lie scattered through streamside woods, and the path ends on a pebble beach. Reaching the sea that way takes a ruins ticket. The beach runs on to Cirali village, near the Chimaera flames, so the two pair naturally.

A trading town with three harbours survives on a pine-clad headland. Its main street between the harbours and part of an aqueduct still stand, and people swim in the small coves beside the ruins. Driving the coast road southwest takes over an hour.

The Koprucay river carved this gorge, and rafting outfits line its banks. Oluk Bridge, a Roman stone span of the 2nd century, still carries people and cars. The river runs icy right through summer, and a dunking chills you fast.

A round Roman tower of the 2nd century on the sea cliff at the southwest corner of Kaleici. Whether it began as a lighthouse or a tomb is still argued. From the park railing next to it, sunset watchers face the mountains over the bay.