Syedra stands on a hilltop above the Mediterranean about twenty kilometres south-east of Alanya, in Seki village, at the point where ancient Pamphylia met Cilicia. It was a mountain city and a coastal one at once, holding the western edge of Cilicia — a border position the ministry counts among the most strategic in the region, and the reason for both the site and the view from it.
Unlike most ruins of its kind along this coast, Syedra has been arranged for visitors. Entry is through the monumental gate still standing on the west, and a timber walkway runs from the reception area to the colonnaded street, 250 metres long, which was the city's social centre. Niches survive in the wall along the north side of that east-west street, and steps at its western end lead up to a heroon.
East of the city stand the baths, a substantial ruin with patches of mosaic still on the floor, and next to them the gymnasium, where athletes trained and contests were held; these are among the better preserved buildings here. Many inscriptions found in the ruins record those games, and it is from inscriptions that the ministry knows the city was a centre for important competitions and that its most splendid years fell between the second and fourth centuries AD.
Settlement goes back to the ninth century BC and traces of life continue, the ministry says, to the thirteenth century AD. The ancient name Syedreon first appears on coins struck under Tiberius in the first century AD. The living quarters lie in the Upper City on the slope, walled around and cut across by two broad streets with stepped lanes running down at right angles to them.
Digging continues under Assoc. Prof. Ertuğ Ergürer, and there is an excavation house on site. Alongside the colonnaded street and the large bath, the district governorate lists the council house — the bouleuterion — and a cave used for baptism among what has been uncovered.
Getting there
- Access
- Reached by the Alanya–Gazipaşa buses.
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).
Visiting hours
- Hours
- 08:00 - 17:00
