Anamur (original) (raw)

Anamur is a city in the Cilician Mountains along the Mediterranean coast of Turkey. With a population of 67,000 in 2022, it has a beach strip and a stout castle.

Ruins of Anemurium

Anamur is the most southerly point on the Anatolian or Asia Minor peninsula - the name means "windy cape". (At 36°S it's not the most southerly point in Turkey, which is Kızılçat at 35.86°S on the Syrian border.) In an era when people got around by boat, a stout castle was needed to protect the coast, but it lacks a good natural harbour or easy routes inland. No great palaces were erected nor battles fought, but what Anamur lacks in dramatic history, it makes up in bananas.

The town is on flat fertile land, rare in Cilicia, as a river valley emerges from the mountains. It has a hot sticky climate in summer, around 35°C, and is mild in winter. Every scrap of suitable land is covered in plastic greenhouses to keep the bananas sweltering. The modern coast highway D400 connects a place that had been difficult to reach or to export perishable goods from, and now it brings travellers passing through between Antalya, Alanya and Adana. The original town centre is north of D400 hemmed in by the mountains. On the coast 2-3 southeast is a new beach village, mainly used by families as summer holiday homes. Visitors who don't have the metabolism of a banana will prefer to come in spring or early autumn.

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Map of Anamur

The nearest airport is Gazipaşa (GZP IATA) in Alanya 90 km east. It serves major resorts on that strip of coast so in season it has flights from across Europe, and has car hire.

Others are Antalya (AYT IATA) 250 km west and Çukurova (COV IATA) 220 km east.

The town is on D400, the coast road between Antalya and Adana. It's a major highway but narrow and twisty through the mountains.

Flixbus runs twice day from Antalya, taking five hours via Manavgat (for Side) and Alanya. They continue from Anamur to Silifke (for Cyprus ferries), Mersin and Adana, another five hours.

For Konya on the high speed rail network, change at Alanya.

36.072232.8351 Otobüs Terminali is central, unusually for a Turkish bus station, at the junction of D400 and Atatürk Blv.

Dolmuşes shuttle the 3 km between town and beach strip. You could walk if you were lightly laden and the day not too hot.

Mamure Castle

• Yeşilyurt Mosque is next to the bus station.

• The clocktower on the roundabout 100 m north of the bus station only looks interesting for a moment because the surrounding buildings are so uninspired.

• Anamur Museum by the marina pier has been closed since 2012.

• 36.080832.89441 Mamure Castle (6 km east on coast highway). Tu-Su 08:00-17:00. It's not known when the original castle was built, but the Romans, Byzantines, Crusaders, Karamanids and Ottomans all reckoned it was worth keeping in good repair against seaborne attack. It has stout walls, with a moat on the landward side. You enter from the east into the inner courtyard. A high internal wall separates this from the outer castle, where the only intact building is a mosque from 1300. The inner castle perches on rocks to the south. The towers and walls are unsafe and you're not supposed to climb them but many visitors do. Adult 110 TL. (updated Feb 2025)

• 36.0241732.80252 Anemurium (8 km southwest on coast, 2 km south of Oren). Temporarily closed. The name means “windy cape” and it's the ruins of an ancient city. It was occupied from early Hellenistic times but abandoned in the 7th century AD, probably because of pirate attacks. The main features are the Odeon (a small amphitheatre), the Tethys mosaics next to the Odeon, and the public baths. Adult 60 TL. (updated Feb 2025)

• 36.121132.76623 Çukurpınar. This is a 1420 m cave system, with a short public section. (updated Feb 2025)

• Titiopolis is the scrappy ruin of an ancient city 500 m east of the caves.

• Cyprus is in view from high ground on a clear day, the Trodos mountains 65 km south. On a less clear day you'll see the band of cloud above them.

• Beaches are mostly shingle, such as Pullu Nature Park 2 km east of Mamure Castle. But several are sandy and the problem is that these are nesting sites for loggerhead turtles (Caretta caretta). Visitors are scolded for misdemeanours like barbecues or planting beach umbrellas, while the sand dunes that the turtles depend on are bulldozed for parking lots and cafes.

Bulldozers are wrecking their nesting sites

• Migros is next to the bus station on 23 Nisan Cd, open daily 08:30-22:00.

• Carrefour is 500 m north of the bus station at Fahri Görgülü Cd 29, open daily 08:00-22:00.

• On the beach strip are another Migros and BİM.

• Muz is Turkish for bananas, which go from glut to dearth according to the season. No point buying them to take home unless you can keep them cool and uncrushed on the way.

• Town eating places are along Atatürk Blv. Ciğerci Doğan (24 hours) is opposite the bus station, and further up are Varil Bistro, Kavurmacı Taha, Turtles Pizza, Retro Burger, Park Point, Kebapci Horoz Ali and Bulvar Döner.

• Near the marina jetty are Ögretmen Evi, Albatros and Saklı Bahçe.

• Cafes along the beach strip serve alcohol.

Mosque within Mamure Castle

There's a few places along the highway through town, such as Dedehan, but most are on the beach strip 3 km southeast. A straggle of basic campsites and pansiyons starts several km east where the highway hugs the coast. Anamur has more accommodation than it has staff to it clean, but those described here have at least grasped the concept.

• Dedehan Hotel, 19 Mayıs Cd (100 m west of bus station), ☏ +90 532 267 4172. Clean, friendly and efficient (updated Feb 2025)
• 36.072132.86821 Tayfun Hotel, 1710th Sk, ☏ +90 536 217 9878. Helpful owner, clean, pet-friendly. B&B double 2000 TL. (updated Feb 2025)
• 36.074832.87112 Balşen Hotel, 1725th Sk 11, ☏ +90 324 814 3737. Clean hotel near the beach and Dragon footbridge. B&B double 2000 TL. (updated Feb 2025)
• Rolli Butik Hotel[dead link] is on 1622nd Sk just off Mehmet Akif Ersoy Cd, 100 m east of Rumana Hotel.
• 36.063732.85553 Rumana Hotel, Mehmet Akif Ersoy Sk 51, ☏ +90 532 601 2033. Pleasant spacious place west end of the beach strip. B&B double 2500 TL. (updated Feb 2025)

Sure you don't want a few more?

As of Feb 2025, Anamur has 4G from all Turkish carriers, with a variable signal on the coastal highway and nothing further inland. 5G has not yet rolled out in Turkey.

• West the coast road goes to Alanya, start of the touristy beach strip all the way to Antalya.
• Bozyazı 45 km east is a small beach strip. Softa Castle is on a hilltop 5 km east of it, less accessible and less preserved than Mamure.
• Aydıncık is another small harbour and beach further east, on a bypassed loop of the coast road.
• Silifke is a town near the port of Taşucu, for ferries to Kyrenia in Northern Cyprus.
• Eventually the coast road east reaches Mersin and Adana.
• North a narrow road switchbacks over the Taurus mountains to Ermenek and the highways to Karaman or Konya.