Termessos

Termessos sits in a saddle at around a thousand metres on Güllük Dağı, defended by cliffs on most sides, and it was never taken - Alexander looked at the approaches in 333 BCE and went elsewhere, which is the fact every account leads with. The Pisidians who built it left a city that is now scattered down the mountainside in pine forest, largely unexcavated and barely consolidated, and the effect is unlike the tidy coastal sites: you climb a rough path past cisterns and a gymnasium into a theatre built on the lip of a precipice with the mountains falling away beyond it, then pick your way among a bouleuterion, temples, colonnaded streets and, on the slopes above, a necropolis where hundreds of sarcophagi lie broken and tipped over by earthquake and tomb robbers, half-buried in undergrowth. Wild goats and tortoises are common. The climb from the car park is steep and takes half an hour or more.

Highlights

• The cliff-edge theatre - seating above a sheer drop into the range.
• The tumbled necropolis - sarcophagi scattered on the upper slopes.
• The cisterns and gymnasium - the climb up through the city.
• The mountain setting - pine forest and Güllük Dağı around.

When to go

April to June and September to October. Mornings; the climb is hard in heat, and afternoon cloud can close the view. Spring brings wildflowers.

Good to know

The climb is genuinely steep on rough stone, and the site is spread over difficult terrain with almost no barriers near drops - proper footwear is essential. No facilities beyond the car park. Not suitable for limited mobility.

Nearby

Karain Cave is on the same side of the plain; Antalya and Kaleiçi are 35 km east.

Key facts