Altınbeşik cave is on the western slope of the deep, steep Manavgat valley in the İbradı district of Antalya, and the area was declared the Altınbeşik Cave National Park in 1994. The cave is 2,500 metres long in total, its highest point 101 metres above the entrance, horizontal and partly active. Because the lower and middle levels are active at times, large pools form in the cave during the dry season, while the upper level is permanently dry. The air is very humid and the temperature stays around 16 to 18 degrees.
What makes the cave significant is the system behind it. It sits at the outlet of a very long and large underground network that draws the water of Kizilova, Kambos and Sobuce, passes beneath the Oruc sinkhole and ends here; measured in a straight line the system runs more than 100 kilometres, which the Ministry describes as among the longest and largest karst systems in the world, and the water emerging from the cave is connected with Lake Beyşehir. Because the cave is under water, visits are made by boat. Access is from İbradı by private vehicle, at Ürünlü.
- Designated
- 31.08.1994
Entry fee
- Mediterranean group 1 · category 2 · Per person
- 75 ₺
Getting there
- Access
- Reached from İbradı by private car.
When to go
- Climate
- Across Antalya as a whole, monthly mean temperatures run from 10.1 °C in January to 28.6 °C in July; the mean stays between 15 and 25 °C in April, May, October and November; rainfall is heaviest in December (251 mm) and lightest in August (4 mm). Long-term means for 1930-2025 from the Turkish State Meteorological Service (MGM).
