Kaleiçi Guide: A Walk Through Antalya's Old Town

Kaleiçi means "inside the castle", and that's what it is: the old town inside the city walls, a horseshoe of lanes wrapped around the Roman harbour. It's small, perhaps a kilometre across, and you could rush it in an hour. Give it a morning instead. Much of it is closed to traffic, which makes it pleasant to wander, and the best parts are the side lanes, not the souvenir streets.

Here's the loop we'd walk. It takes around two hours with stops.

From the gate to the minaret

Start at Hadrian's Gate (Üçkapılar, "the three gates") on Atatürk Caddesi. Walk through and head into the lanes of the eastern quarter, where the restored Ottoman houses have overhanging upper floors with wooden lattice windows. On Kocatepe Sokak, the Suna and İnan Kıraç Kaleiçi Museum fills two old houses and a former Greek Orthodox church with ceramics and scenes of old Antalya life. Check the official site for current opening days.

Keep north-west and you'll come out at Kalekapısı, the old castle gate, with its stone clock tower. Just beside it is the Yivli Minare, the fluted brick minaret raised by the Seljuks in the 13th century, with traces of turquoise tile near the top. The square below is where the city buses, the tram and the old town meet.

Down to the harbour

From Kalekapısı, take İskele Caddesi downhill. It winds past cafés and carpet shops to the old harbour (Yat Limanı), where fishing boats and wooden excursion gulets tie up under the cliffs. This is where the boat trips to the Lower Düden waterfall leave from. Tea on the quayside is a fine way to spend twenty minutes. For a swim, Mermerli beach is tucked under the walls on the east side of the harbour. It's small, reached through a restaurant, and charges an entry fee.

Along the cliff to the tower

Climb back up and follow Hesapçı Sokak south through the quieter part of the old town. Look out for the Kesik Minare, "the broken minaret", the stump of a minaret on a building that has served as a Roman temple, a Byzantine church and a mosque. At the southern end is Hıdırlık Kulesi, a squat round tower from Roman times, and beyond it Karaalioğlu Park along the cliff. Time it for sunset if you can, with the Beydağları range turning purple across the bay.

Eating inside the walls costs more than outside, and quality varies. A long breakfast in a courtyard is where Kaleiçi does best. For dinner, walk ten minutes north into the ordinary streets. Our where to stay guide covers sleeping in the old town, and the three-day plan fits this walk into day one.