Zeytintaşı was declared a natural monument on 27 June 2013 and covers 46 hectares in the Akbaş quarter of the Serik district of Antalya. Going from Serik towards Akbaş, the turning is signposted on the right about 500 metres before the village centre. Within the registered bounds and the ground around them, 121 bird species have been recorded. Capacity is given as 200 visitors and 15 vehicles.
The directorate describes Zeytintaşı as a living geological castle: the processes that formed it over millions of years are still at work, and water still drips from the tips of its stalactites, which the local people call the drops of time. What sets the inside apart are needle stalactites as fine as a millimetre. The cave sits in red-pine forest, and 79 plant taxa have been recorded within the registered bounds, three of them endemic, among them the Serik pear (Pyrus serikensis), which belongs to this area alone. Mammals recorded in and around the site include the brown hare, the Anatolian squirrel, the red fox, the weasel, the wild boar and the caracal. When we consulted the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry's page for the site in 2026, it said the cave was temporarily closed, so check before you set out.
- Designated
- 27.06.2013
Entry fee
- Mediterranean group 1 · category 2 · Per person
- 75 ₺
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).
