Xanthos and Letoon

Xanthos was the chief city of Lycia, and its ruins still say so: tall pillar tombs stand above a Roman theatre and agora, one of them carved with the reliefs known as the Harpy Tomb, another inscribed with the longest surviving text in the Lycian language, which is still only partly understood. Mosaic floors and a basilica mark the later town on the slope above. Four kilometres away, Letoon was the federal sanctuary where the Lycian cities held their common rites - three temple platforms to Leto, Apollo and Artemis lie side by side, usually half flooded by groundwater, with a nymphaeum, a theatre and a great deal of frog noise. UNESCO listed the pair in 1988.

The main sights

• The pillar tombs - Lycian monuments raised on stone shafts above the theatre.
• The inscribed pillar - the long Lycian text that still resists full translation.
• The three temples at Letoon - platforms and column drums standing in water.
• The Letoon theatre - a compact Hellenistic theatre with carved mask reliefs.

When to go

Spring is the best of it, when the ground is green and the sanctuary pools reflect the temple platforms; by August both sites are hard, bright and empty of atmosphere. Winter rain leaves Letoon deeply waterlogged. Mornings are cooler. Two hours covers both if you drive between them.

What to expect

Signage is patchy and neither site has much interpretation, so they reward reading beforehand. Letoon is genuinely swampy, with mosquitoes in the warm months and walkways that stop short of the temples. Some of the best carving here was removed to London in the 19th century, and what you see are casts.

Nearby

Patara ruins and beach, and the Saklikent gorge inland.

Key facts