Alanya beaches in the world has seen is difficult to duplicate. It’s an ideal place for hot summer days. Alanya, formerly Alaiye, is a beach resort city and a component district of Antalya Province in the Mediterranean Region of Turkey, 166 kilometres from the city of Antalya. The population is almost entirely of Turkish origin, but is home to around 10.000 European residents. Because of its natural strategic position on a small peninsula into the Mediterranean Sea below the Taurus Mountains, Alanya has been a local stronghold for many Mediterranean-based empires, including the Ptolemaic,...

Bodrum is an exquisitely beautiful resort in the southwest corner of  Turkey, which has become the haunt of the rich and famous. Its waterfront is domitaned by the magnificent The Castle of St. Peter , which houses a unique Museum of Underwater Archeology. There are regular ferries from Bodrum to the island of Kos in Greece. Years ago, one of Turkey’s most famous pop-rock groups, MFÖ released a song entitled, “Bodrum, Bodrum”; “How do I describe it, where do I begin, Bodrum, Bodruuuum,” was how it started. Since then, it has become the unofficial anthem of this popular summer resort. Most...

One of the best things about Side is the way that the ancient ruins overlap and intertwine with the modern city. The theater, the museum, and the Temples of Apollo and Athena are all within easy walking distance of each other. The bazaar is extremely busy; as a melting pot for many different nationalities and languages, it generates an atmosphere that some find endearing and others find offputting. The site of a famous love affair… Some sources say that Side originally meant “pomegranate”, and the pomegranate is the symbol of abundance and wealth. The city experianced its period of greatest...

ISTANBUL — The sea of Marmara shimmered to my right, a pod of dolphins played improbably in the ferry-and tankers-choked Bosporus strait, and minarets pierced my jet-lag fog on my first Istanbul evening. Walking down the main road in Istanbul’s old city the next morning, I was pulled out of my reverie when an older, heavily mustachioed man leaned out the window of his rickety car and boomed, “American?” Suddenly aware of my short sleeves and skirt on a trip last summer to a city where many women wear long coats even in hot weather, I smiled sheepishly. “Ah, have a...

Under the radar for years, the windswept, idyllic coastline of Turkey’s Çeşme Peninsula proves an unexpected delight By Jennifer Chen Photographs by Tara Sharma Above: Beach-bound near the low-key resort town of Alaçatı We were tired of being cold. The March weather had made our two-week trip to Turkey a parody of a vacation gone awry. Heavy rain dogged us in Istanbul, Bursa was frozen with sleet, and the North Aegean coast greeted us with doleful, gray skies. “The good thing is there are no other tourists around … for a reason,” my husband joked as gale-force winds lashed the windshield...