2 Best Sights in Termessos, The Turquoise Coast

Over 1,000 meters (3,500 feet) above sea level, this compelling site is nestled inside the Mount Güllük-Termessos National Park, where golden eagles and fallow deer can sometimes be spotted. The attractions start right by the parking area, with a monumental gate that's part of an ancient temple dedicated to the Emperor Hadrian. The steepness of the path that leads up to the craggy remains of the city walls makes it clear just why Alexander the Great declined to attack. On the way, you'll pass a gymnasium, a colonnaded street, a bath complex built of dark-gray stone, and then, up and around, a 5,000-seat theater with a truly spectacular setting on the edge of a sheer cliff. From this staggering height you can see the sea, the Pamphylian plain, Mt. Solymos (now called Mt. Güllük), and the occasional mountain goat or ibex.

Farther around is the well-preserved bouleuterion (where the city council met), the very overgrown agora (market), and some huge underground cisterns. Termessos has one more wonder: several vast necropolises, with nearly 1,000 tombs scattered willy-nilly on a rocky hill. A signposted alternate route back to the parking lot takes you past several rock-cut tombs; you can access another large collection of them via a path from the ticket office.

Archaeological digs have proven that Karain Cave was inhabited as far back as the Paleolithic Age, making it one of Turkey's oldest settlements. Later, it seems to have become a religious center for a primitive civilization. Many of the Karain finds—stone implements, bones of people and animals, and fossilized remains—are on display in Antalya Museum, but there is also a small museum on the edge of the high meadow where the cave is located. Part of the cave itself is electrically lighted and open to the public; this is a small site, however, and probably only worth visiting if you have time after seeing Termessos.