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The Muratpaşa Shore from the Cliffs to Hıdırlık
Routes4 Stop

The Muratpaşa Shore from the Cliffs to Hıdırlık

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The centre of Antalya does not look at the sea directly but from the top of cliffs that in places reach 40 metres. This route follows that line of cliffs from east to west: it starts in Lara at the point where the Düden Stream pours off the rock into the sea, moves on to the early Republican park laid out on top of the cliff, climbs to the Roman tower at the corner where the walls meet the sea, and descends through the lanes of Kaleiçi to the toy museum in the yacht harbour. The everyday face of Antalya, a city usually spoken of for its ancient sites and Alanya, lies along this line; all four stops are in the Muratpaşa district, and all are places the city's own residents go at the weekend.

The order comes from the geography. Because the Lower Düden is 8 kilometres from the city centre, starting the day there makes it possible to link the remaining three stops on foot. Hıdırlık Tower stands at the south-western corner of Karaalioğlu Park, so the move from the second stop to the third is a walk of a few minutes. From the tower you descend to the yacht harbour through the narrow streets of Kaleiçi; that descent is the last piece, bringing the route down from above the sea to the water's edge. Leaving the waterfall for the end would both lengthen the way back and push the grandest view of the day into its most tired hour.

The Kültür Portalı also calls the point where the Düden meets the sea Karpuzkaldıran; the water drops roughly 40 metres and a cloud of spray hangs above the point where it lands. In 2020 the area of the waterfall and the stream was declared a strictly protected sensitive area by presidential decree. Karaalioğlu Park is a Republican park begun in 1935 and completed in the mid-1940s, drawn up by the architect Necmettin Ateş under the lead of Governor Haşim İşcan; three parallel avenues run towards the sea and end at three viewing terraces. Hıdırlık Tower is a Roman structure dated to the 2nd century, 14 metres high, with a cylindrical body on a square base; whether it was a monumental tomb, a lighthouse or a watchtower is still debated today, and the excavation area around it was opened to visitors in the summer of 2026 together with a viewing terrace. The Toy Museum in the yacht harbour was opened by the Metropolitan Municipality on 23 April 2011 in an old harbour building.

The total walk from Karaalioğlu to the yacht harbour is about two kilometres, but the descent from Hıdırlık to the harbour is paved with cobbles and sloping; wear non-slip shoes. Do not step outside the railings on the cliff edges, and note that wet ground in Düden Park is especially slippery. The city centre has three rail lines: AntRay T1 runs between Fatih and the Airport and Expo, T3 between Varsak and Müze; the nostalgic tram between Müze and Zerdalilik was halted in the summer of 2026 for work on the vehicles and buses run on the same route, so check the current situation on the Antalya Ulaşım website. For museum admission fees and hours, consult the municipality's official announcements; the Toy Museum is closed on Mondays.

Sources

Muratpaşa, Antalya
Routes
4 Stop
~3 h 25 min at places
Travel ~8.3 km · 22 min
Total ~3 h 47 min
October 15, 2026

Route Stops

1
Aşağı Düden Şelalesi

Lower Düden Waterfall.

~45 min here
Çağlayan Mahallesi, Lara Caddesi No:457, Muratpaşa / Antalya

Begin the day at the entrance of Düden Park on Lara Caddesi. The municipal buses heading from the city centre towards Lara pass along the avenue; the stop where you get off is a few steps from the park gate. Clear up a confusion before you arrive: Antalya has two Düden Waterfalls, and the Upper Düden in Kepez lies inside a wood and falls into a spring basin. The Lower Düden you are about to see is the last point of the stream's journey, the place where the water leaps off the cliff straight into the Mediterranean. The Kültür Portalı also records this waterfall under the name Karpuzkaldıran and gives the height of the drop as roughly 40 metres.

Inside the park follow the path towards the sea and go first to the railed viewing terrace on the edge of the cliff. From here you see the waterfall not head-on but from the side and from above; the way the water leaves the rock and falls into the void, and the cloud of spray that forms at its foot, are best watched from this angle. If the wind is blowing from the sea the spray rises as far as the terrace and you will need to wipe your camera lens often. In the morning hours the sun stays behind you and your chances of catching a rainbow inside the spray increase; in the afternoon the light flattens, and towards evening the sea side glares while the waterfall stays in shadow. This is why the best time for photographs is the morning, and it is one of the reasons the route begins here.

After the terrace, walk through the rest of the park. Düden Park is a tree-lined walking area on top of the cliff; there are benches and paths parallel to the shore, the ground near the edge can be wet from water and spray, and you must never step outside the railings. A little to the east of the waterfall lies Gençlik Park, which the Kültür Portalı recommends as a viewpoint; this park, with its picnic area and car park, offers a second angle for looking at the waterfall from across. If you have time, go there too, because only from the opposite shore can you see the full height at which the water meets the sea.

For those who want to see the waterfall from below, the third way is the sea. Boat trips leaving from the Kaleiçi yacht harbour run along the cliffs and come right up to the front of the waterfall, and the Düden is the only waterfall in Antalya that can be watched from a boat. You can also consider this option at the end of the day, when you reach the yacht harbour; check the operators' current information for timetables and fares. The area of the Düden Stream and its waterfall received the status of strictly protected sensitive area in 2020; do not damage the vegetation or the rock surfaces in the park, and take your litter with you.

Forty-five minutes is enough here. On leaving, take the bus back to the city centre from the same avenue; Düden Park and Karaalioğlu Park are about 8 kilometres apart, and the road descends to the centre from Lara Caddesi through the neighbourhoods on top of the cliff. There are parks along the shore for those who want to walk, but that distance eats up the remaining hours of the route; prefer the bus journey of no more than half an hour and get off at a stop close to the eastern entrance of Karaalioğlu.

Source: Kültür Portalı; Çevre ve Şehircilik Bakanlığı; Wikipedia.

When people in Antalya say "Düden", they may mean two different places, and it is worth keeping them apart. Upper Düden, in Kepez, is the waterfall where the stream resurfaces at Düdenbaşı and falls inside a recreation area, surrounded by a park run by the Metropolitan Municipality's companies. Lower Düden is the point where the same stream, after crossing the city, drops straight into the Mediterranean on the Lara road. Known locally as Karpuzkaldıran Waterfall, it lies about eight kilometres from the city centre, in Çağlayan neighbourhood, right beside Lara Avenue. The Düden stream is a karstic river that disappears underground at the Bıyıklı sinkhole and resurfaces eighteen kilometres later at Düdenbaşı in Kepez. After Upper Düden it crosses the city and reaches Lara, where it pours forty metres off the edge of the cliff into the sea. Antalya's cliffs are tufa rock averaging forty metres in height, and Düden is, in the words of the Metropolitan Municipality, the most important waterfall dropping from these cliffs into the sea. The water hitting the sea raises a permanent cloud of mist; on windy days the spray reaches the viewing terrace. To understand the high shore the water falls from, it is enough to look at the word cliff. A cliff here means a steep, high coast shaped by wave erosion; in Antalya it runs south of the city for about twenty kilometres, from Konyaaltı to Lara Beach. The travertine layer that forms the cliffs stretches thirty kilometres north to the Beydağları mountains and covers an area of 620 square kilometres. At Lower Düden you can follow a section through this layer on both sides of the cleft the water has carved over the years. The waterfall's ancient name is also known. In antiquity the Düden stream was called "Kataraktes" and was depicted as a river god on the city's coins. According to the Metropolitan Municipality's guide to the waterfalls, the ancient city of Magydos stood in the Karpuzkaldıran area where the falls are, and the city's fresh water came from Düden through aqueducts. Part of the ancient city's remains now lie inside the military recreation facility next door, so they cannot be visited freely. The same guide notes that remains of Lyrboton Kome, a 2,200-year-old settlement known for olive oil production in the Hellenistic period, have also been found around Upper Düden. Upper Düden is also called Alexander's Waterfall; it is said that Alexander the Great watered his horses here while passing through the region. The recreation area there was laid out by the State Hydraulic Works between 1970 and 1972, and today the falls are fed by water arriving by canal from the Kepez 1 Hydroelectric Power Plant. The heart of the visit is Düden Park on top of the cliff. The park is free and open all day; the Culture Portal refers to the same viewpoint as Gençlik Park. The waterfall is watched from the terrace with wooden railings on the shore and from the promontory at the western end of the park. The best angle is from the right of the cleft where the water falls, that is, looking from the Lara side; in the morning the sun is behind you and a rainbow over the water is likely. The park has a picnic area, a car park and a cafeteria. The biggest difference between Lower and Upper Düden is that the lower falls can be watched from the sea. Tour boats leaving the shore run along the cliffs and come right in front of the waterfall; the forty-metre drop into the sea can only be seen in full from this angle. Boat tour times and prices change with the season, so check current details with the tour operators or with the municipality. Düden Waterfall and Stream, within the boundaries of Kepez and Muratpaşa, was registered in 2020 by a decision published in the Official Gazette as a "Strictly Protected Sensitive Area". The area's earlier natural site status was thus converted into a stricter protection category. Because the stream passes through the city, its water may be muddy in the rainy months and reduced at the end of summer; the strongest flow is usually in late winter and spring. Getting there is easy. The waterfall on Lara Avenue is reached from the city centre by public transport and by buses heading towards Lara; the stop is right in front of the park. Drivers can use the park's own car park. Those who want to walk along the coast can start at Karaalioğlu Park and follow the clifftop road east; it is a long walk, so take water and a hat. After seeing the waterfall, continuing east along the same avenue brings you to Lara beach, and turning west leads back to Kaleiçi.
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2
Karaalioğlu Parkı

Karaalioğlu Park.

~1 h here
Kaleiçi'nin güneyi, falezlerin üstü, Muratpaşa, Antalya

Enter the park from the east, where Atatürk Caddesi ends. Notice what you see first at the entrance: straight lines, symmetrical flower beds and wide walking avenues drawn as paired outward and return paths. This order is no accident. Construction of the park began in 1935, and the plan that survives today was drawn up between 1940 and 1945 by the architect Necmettin Ateş under the lead of Governor Haşim İşcan; the 2020 article by Engin and Erdoğan describes the geometric approach of the design, inspired by Baroque and Renaissance gardens. The Metropolitan Municipality records that the park's first name was İnönü Park. Laid out on top of the cliff 35 to 40 metres above sea level, the park is considered the oldest in the city.

The backbone of the plan is three parallel avenues. All three run east to west towards the sea, and each ends at a viewing terrace on the edge of the cliff. The best way to explore is to walk one avenue down to the sea, link the terraces to one another along the shore, and then return along another avenue. The terraces are called miradors, the term the article also uses; pools with fountains, pergolas and stairways are built in the shared language of early Republican parks. From the terraces you see the Gulf of Antalya, the Konyaaltı shore to the west and the Beydağları behind it; on a clear day in the months when the mountains hold snow, you will capture one of those rare views in which sea and snow stand in the same frame.

Use the terraces to find the sculptures. According to the Metropolitan Municipality's list, Mehmet Aksoy's Worker and Child from the late 1970s stands on the second terrace, Kuzgun Acar's sculpture The Hand on the third, and Cahvar Göktaş's Don Quixote between the second and third terraces. To the north of the park, the site of Atatürk Stadium, opened in 1965, was replaced by an open space laid out after the demolition of 2016; today the Metropolitan Municipality's building and the city theatre also lie within the park's boundaries. Republican-era buildings such as the old sericulture house and the agriculture house are mentioned in the article among the elements proposed for protection; when you see them, remember that the park is not merely a green space but a planning document of an era.

The light favours the terraces in the afternoon. As the sun turns west the face of the cliff lights up and the sea darkens in the frame looking towards Konyaaltı; at sunset the south-western corner of the park is the busiest spot. For sitting and resting, the benches under the trees and the lawns are enough; the park also has tea gardens, but do not spend too much time here for the sake of the rest of the route. If you are walking with children, the playgrounds are in the sections between the avenues.

At the end of the hour, walk towards the south-western corner of the park. The path along the cliff edge takes you straight to the next stop, Hıdırlık Tower, rising at the corner where the walls meet the sea. Because the tower adjoins the park, the move takes a few minutes; on the way do not forget to take the frame from the cliff edge looking towards the tower and the roofs of Kaleiçi, since this is the side from which you see the tower best as a whole.

Source: Engin ve Erdoğan 2020, Bartın Orman Fakültesi Dergisi; Antalya Büyükşehir Belediyesi; Wikipedia.

Karaalioğlu Park, laid out on the cliffs 35 to 40 metres above the sea directly south of Kaleiçi, is the oldest urban park in Antalya. It is one of the first parks of the early Republican period and remains the only park in the city of historic value. The area was used as a picnic ground at the beginning of the 20th century; according to the study by Esat Furkan Engin and Reyhan Erdoğan of Akdeniz University, published in the Journal of Bartın Faculty of Forestry, construction of the park began in 1935. The project that gave it its present appearance was commissioned from the architect Necmettin Ateş between 1940 and 1945, under the leadership of Governor Haşim İşcan and with the support of the Society for the Beautification of Antalya. The park originally bore the name İnönü Park; İsmet İnönü visited it in 1943. Construction took three years, and when it was finished the park became famous throughout Turkey. The park is a textbook example of the national park design of the period. The characteristic elements of early Republican parks, geometric pools with a fountain in the middle, neat flower beds, regularly planted trees and benches, are all seen here together. The design began with the opening of water channels and walking paths; pools, promenades, planting parterres, open lawns, a grove and miradors were added later. The paths draw sharp, straight lines; the main axes were designed as paired ways for walking out and back. Starting from the northwest entrance, water channels run down the middle of the walking axes, and at the point where the axes divide stands the large fountain pool. Seven pools were built in the park in the past, and tens of thousands of cubic metres of soil were brought in for lawns and flower beds. According to the inventory of the Metropolitan Municipality the park contains three parallel avenues running east to west towards the sea, ending at the shore in three viewing terraces. The viewing terraces, the miradors, are the real reward of the park. From these terraces strung along the shore you see the whole Gulf of Antalya, Konyaaltı to the west with the Bey Mountains behind it, and below, the sea at the foot of the cliffs. To walk along the cliff tops follow the promenade between the terraces; the railings and steps were renewed in keeping with the historic fabric after the national competition of 2002. On the corner of the park towards Kaleiçi rises the Roman Hıdırlık Tower; one of the park's paths leads straight to its foot. The sculptures of the park also carry the marks of Republican era art. On the second viewing terrace stands the Worker and His Child by Mehmet Aksoy, made in the late 1970s; on the third terrace the Hand by Kuzgun Acar; and between the two terraces the Don Quixote by Cahvar Göktaş. According to the English Wikipedia article the park also has a Nazım Hikmet monument erected in 2010, on the 47th anniversary of the poet's death, and frog sculptures. Seeing the sculptures in turn makes up the natural route of a visitor walking from terrace to terrace. The planting turns the park into a small botanical collection in the city centre. The study by Engin and Erdoğan lists the monumental trees living since the park's foundation: monkey puzzle, Turkish pine, stone pine, oriental plane, terebinth, Judas tree, date palm, magnolia, Washingtonia palm, Taurus cedar, Mediterranean cypress and olive. The park is at its finest in April when the Judas trees bloom and in the summer months when the magnolias give off their scent. The Metropolitan Municipality has prepared separate publications on the birds and the trees of the park; anyone arriving early in the morning can listen alone to birdsong among the cypresses. The park has never been a frozen monument. In the 1950s Atatürk Stadium was built inside the area, and the stadium was demolished in 2016. In 2002 the Metropolitan Municipality opened a national architecture competition for the redesign of the park; the project by Hüseyin Kahvecioğlu and Nurbin Paker Kahvecioğlu won first prize, and the first phase was carried out in 2003-2004. When the municipality moved to its new building in 2017, a new arrangement for the old municipal building and the stadium site, including a city museum, came onto the agenda. The area of the park is given differently by the sources; Engin and Erdoğan speak of 48 thousand square metres and the Metropolitan Municipality of 140 thousand; the difference must come from whether the stadium and municipal grounds are counted. The park is open at all hours and free; there are no conditions for entry. You enter from Kaleiçi past Hıdırlık Tower or through the gates on the Atatürk Caddesi side. It is easily reached from the city centre on foot or by tram. The shade of the trees in the midday heat of summer and the sunset from the miradors on winter evenings are the park's two different faces. The children's playgrounds are in the northwestern part of the park; keep small children by the hand at the railings of the terraces.
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3
Hıdırlık Kulesi

Hıdırlık Tower.

~40 min here
Karaalioğlu Parkı'nın Kaleiçi'ne bakan köşesi, Muratpaşa, Antalya

As you approach the tower from the corner of the park, look at it first from a distance. A cylindrical body on a square base; a total height of 14 metres. This two-part form sums up the whole debate about the building. The Metropolitan Municipality presents the tower as a monumental tomb dated to the 1st or 2nd century and, starting from the relief of twelve fasces on it, links it to the family of Marcus Calpurnius Rufus, who served as consul in Attaleia. Yiğit's 2022 article, on the other hand, writes that the tower was used as a lighthouse and lookout for watching ships entering the gulf, and that some sources count it as a hero's tomb because of the remains of frescoes in the lower room. As you walk around the base, look at the courses of cut stone; the view that the cylindrical body was raised in a different period from the base appears in the sources.

The main entrance is on the east face. According to the Metropolitan Municipality's description, a long corridor leads from the door to a small cross-shaped space with niches; on the walls of this lower room are traces of frescoes that have almost faded away under centuries of seeping water. A staircase inside a passage climbs to the upper floor, where there is a walkway around the thick mass of wall. Whether the interior is open to visitors changes from time to time; ask the attendant at the entrance, and if it is closed, the surroundings and the excavation area tell at least as much as the inside of the tower. The Governorship of Antalya writes that the walls can be traced in the city today through fragments such as Hıdırlık Tower, Hadrian's Gate and the Clock Tower; that is why the tower stands at the corner where the land walls meet the sea walls.

The tower's later life is written into its stones. In the Byzantine period its solid body brought it into the city's defences and it was joined to the walls; according to a DHA report of August 2026, it served as a kasr in the Seljuk period and as a military depot in the Ottoman period. Its name adds one more layer: Hıdırlık means a place where the spring festival of Hıdırellez is celebrated, and hills bearing the same name exist in many Anatolian towns.

The real novelty is around the tower. The excavation and viewing terrace project carried out by the Metropolitan Municipality under the supervision of the Museum Directorate has been completed, and the area opened to visitors in July 2026. The excavation revealed a monumental tomb dated to the 2nd century BC and thought to have been built for a regional governor, structures believed to have served as a chapel in the early Byzantine period, two baths, a Roman colonnaded street thought to run as far as Hadrian's Gate, and an inscribed mosaic with dolphin figures. The most surprising find is the machine room and storage foundations of an ice factory set up beside the tower in 1927; in the same excavation area the Roman mosaic and the Republic's ice factory stand side by side. The remains have been arranged to be viewed from above; do not leave the marked paths and do not step on the mosaics.

The viewing terrace built on top of the cliff is the city's new address for sunset. The sun sets to the west, in the direction of Konyaaltı and the Beydağları; if you come towards evening the body of the tower turns a warm colour and the frame on the sea side becomes backlit, so photograph the tower from the park side and the view from the terrace. Forty minutes is enough to walk around the tower, read the excavation area and sit on the terrace. To descend from here to the yacht harbour, take Hesapçı Sokak, which runs north from in front of the tower; this street goes all the way to Hadrian's Gate, but after a few streets turn left, to the west, and go down to the harbour through the sloping stone lanes of Kaleiçi. The walk takes no more than fifteen minutes; since the ground is slippery stone, do not hurry.

Source: Antalya Büyükşehir Belediyesi; Yiğit 2022, Bilim Armonisi; DHA 28.08.2026; Antalya Valiliği.

Hıdırlık Tower stands at the southern tip of Kaleiçi, where the land walls meet the sea walls, on the corner of Karaalioğlu Park. Standing on the Antalya cliffs for two thousand years, it is the city's best preserved Roman monument. It consists of a square base and a round body resting on it; the two storey structure is about 14 metres high. Anyone looking for mortar on the facades of dressed stone blocks immediately notices the neat joints of Roman masonry. Why the building was erected has long been debated. According to the Kaleiçi inventory of the Antalya Metropolitan Municipality, the tower is a monumental tomb built in the 1st or 2nd century AD. The twelve fasces motifs, bundles of rods with an axe, on either side of the main door support this reading; in Rome the fasces symbolised high public office. The accepted view reported by the municipality is that the building was raised for Marcus Calpurnius Rufus, who served as consul in Attaleia in the 1st century AD, and his family. Other sources tie the tower to the 2nd century and the reign of Emperor Hadrian, describing it as a lighthouse or a lookout watching ships entering the gulf. Kerem Yiğit's article in the journal Bilim Armonisi places these two interpretations side by side; there is no definite answer, and that uncertainty is part of the building's appeal. You enter through the main door on the eastern facade. A long corridor leads to a small cross shaped chamber surrounded by niches. The walls of the lower room once carried frescoes; centuries of water seepage have largely erased them, yet traces of colour can still be made out if you look closely. The upper floor is a walkway running around a thick central wall mass, reached by a narrow stair from the corridor. The upper section shows signs of repairs carried out in the Seljuk and Ottoman periods. In the Byzantine period the tower was absorbed into the city's defences; it was joined to the walls and used as a bastion. The Kaleiçi page of the Antalya Governorship notes that the outer walls of the city end precisely at this tower. Hesapçı Street, running from Kalekapısı to Hıdırlık, follows the main street of ancient Attaleia; remains of the Roman road have been found beneath it. So walking to the tower from Hadrian's Gate along Hesapçı Street means crossing the spine of the ancient city from end to end. The name itself carries a local trace; according to the English Wikipedia article, Hıdırlık means the place where the spring festival of Hıdırellez is celebrated. The surroundings of the tower were reread through archaeological excavations that began in 2020. The digs, run by the Antalya Metropolitan Municipality under the supervision of the Antalya Museum Directorate and KUDEB, revealed a monumental tomb, structures used as a chapel in the early Byzantine period, an inscribed mosaic with a dolphin figure, two baths, a columned building and a Roman colonnaded street thought to extend as far as Hadrian's Gate. Above these layers the foundations and walls of an ice factory from the Republican era were also uncovered. News reports date the monumental tomb differently from the municipal inventory, so it is right to leave the question of date open. The excavation area and the viewing terrace built on the cliff top opened to visitors in July 2026. The best time to visit is early morning or the hour before sunset, when the stone of the tower turns golden in the low sun. Approaching from Karaalioğlu Park you first see the square base, then the round body; this is the best angle for photographs. Do not miss the fasces reliefs flanking the door; they are the only tangible evidence for the tomb theory. From the viewing terrace you see the cliffs dropping some 40 metres to the sea, the coast stretching west to Konyaaltı and, on a clear day, the Bey Mountains. The parts of the excavation open to visitors, with the bath and mosaic remains, lie right beside the terrace. The tower is within walking distance of Kaleiçi; a fifteen minute walk from Hadrian's Gate along Hesapçı Street brings you there. If you come through Karaalioğlu Park, use the entrance on the Atatürk Caddesi side. The entry arrangements, opening hours and whether the tower interior can be entered may change; check the current information on the page of the operating body, the Antalya Metropolitan Municipality. Combining the tower with Karaalioğlu Park and the Antalya Toy Museum at the marina on the same route makes an easy half day programme.
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4
Antalya Oyuncak Müzesi

Antalya Toy Museum.

~1 h here
Kaleiçi Yat Limanı, Muratpaşa, Antalya

When you come down through the streets of Kaleiçi and reach the yacht harbour, look first at the harbour itself. The Metropolitan Municipality writes that this semicircular natural harbour was built in the Hellenistic period, that its entrance is 110 metres wide, and that the present breakwaters most probably sit on the remains of Hellenistic walls. Towers once rose on either side of the entrance with a chain stretched between them; in 1472 a papal fleet carried that chain off to Rome as spoils. According to the Governorship of Antalya, even before ancient Attaleia was founded there was a pirate harbour here under the name Korykos. The Toy Museum is in an old harbour building on the shore of this very harbour.

The museum was opened on 23 April 2011 by the Metropolitan Municipality with the advice of Sunay Akın, founder of the Istanbul Toy Museum; it is the third toy museum in Turkey. The building of about 650 square metres is divided into ten sections, and the toys are arranged in display cases by period and theme. Sources give the size of the collection differently: the Governorship speaks of 1,500 pieces, the Metropolitan Municipality of 3,000 toys; for the years of production, a range from the mid-1800s to the 1980s is cited. Walk through knowing that the toys come from countries such as Germany, the United States, Russia, Japan and Turkey; seeing how the same toy changes from country to country is the real pleasure of the collection.

For the order of the visit it is best to start at the entrance and follow the cases in numerical order, because the sections move roughly chronologically. The first factory-made toys of the industrial revolution and the dolls' houses are in the oldest part; tin cars, wind-up animals and model trains in the middle sections. The corner devoted to toys made in Turkey and to familiar heroes such as Nasreddin Hoca, Keloğlan and Temel Reis is where the adult visitor finds his own childhood; you will linger longer here. The glass of the cases reflects, so switch off the flash for photographs and shoot at a slight angle without leaning on the glass.

In the two-storey workshop building next to the museum, workshops for children over three are held in wooden toy painting, mask making, origami, clay and drama; since the programme changes, check the municipality's announcements before your visit. There is also a 500-seat theatre on the site. In 2021 the museum won an award in the living culture museums category of the Association of Historic Towns' museum competition. It is closed on Mondays; check the current hours and admission conditions on the Metropolitan Municipality's website.

An hour is enough for the museum and the harbour. On leaving, sit for a while in the harbour; if you saw the waterfall from above in the morning, seeing it from below on the boats that leave from here is an option that rounds off the route. For the return, climb the slope from the harbour up to Kale Kapısı; the stops of AntRay and the nostalgic tram are there, and for the current state of the nostalgic line consult Antalya Ulaşım. When the lights of the harbour come on in the evening you see once more how this basin beneath the cliffs is tucked away from the city; let that be the last photograph of the day.

Source: Antalya Büyükşehir Belediyesi; Antalya Valiliği; Wikipedia.

The Antalya Toy Museum is a municipal museum set up inside an old han building at the marina of Kaleiçi. It was prepared as a project of the Antalya Metropolitan Municipality, with the researcher and writer Sunay Akın, founder of Turkey's first toy museum, as consultant, and it opened on 23 April 2011, the National Sovereignty and Children's Day. The preparatory work had been started in September 2010 by the municipality's Department of Culture and Social Affairs. According to the Turkish Wikipedia article the museum is the third toy museum in Turkey and a member of the Association of Toy and Children's Museums. In 2021 it received an award in the living culture museums category of the Museum Encouragement Competition of the Union of Historical Towns. Choosing Children's Day for the opening was no coincidence; the founding idea of the museum is to preserve the toy as part of a child's cultural heritage. The page of the Antalya Governorship counts the museum, with its collection, design, building and educational work, among the distinguished toy museums of Europe and notes that visitors of every age group enjoy it. The building is one of the old warehouse and han structures on the harbour front; the cases set between stone walls create a quiet interior cut off from the noise of the harbour. According to the inventory of the Metropolitan Municipality the museum covers about 650 square metres and the toys are shown in ten separate sections; Wikipedia speaks of 11 halls and 44 cases. The size of the collection varies between sources: the municipality and Wikipedia speak of about three thousand toys, while the page of the Antalya Governorship mentions about 1500 pieces; the number of pieces on display at any one time is smaller. The date range of the toys is likewise given as somewhere between the 1860s and the 1990s; the core collection consists of pieces made between 1870 and 1980. The cases hold toys from many countries, above all Germany, the United States, Russia, Japan and Turkey. German tin toys, clockwork carousels and trains, Japanese plastic robots and dolls, and examples of Turkey's domestic toy production stand side by side. Figures of cartoon and folk tale heroes, from Nasreddin Hoca and Keloğlan to Popeye and Lucky Luke, form a section of their own. Dolls wearing the traditional costumes of various regions of Anatolia are also displayed. Each case tells of a period and a tradition of manufacture; adults find the toys of their own childhood, and children discover mechanical toys they have never seen. Look closely at the painted wooden carriages of the clockwork carousels and the little figures inside them; the toy craftsmanship of a century ago shows best in such details. The museum is not only a place to look at but a place to make things. It has a separate two storey building for workshops and a theatre seating 500. Children over three can join the workshops individually, with their families or with their classes; wooden toy painting, mask making, origami, jigsaw puzzles, clay figurines, sand painting, drawing and drama sessions are organised. On weekday mornings, when school groups are many, the cases can be crowded; prefer the afternoon for a calm visit. According to the Governorship page the museum is closed on Mondays; check the current information on opening hours, entry conditions and the workshop calendar on the page of the Antalya Metropolitan Municipality. The harbour where the museum stands is the oldest part of Kaleiçi. Close by is the Antalya Marine Biology Museum, where about 500 species of marine life from the seas of Turkey are displayed; the two museums fit comfortably into the same half day. The Forty Steps, descending through the wall on the eastern side of the harbour, are thought to have been built by the Venetians, and this part of the harbour was known in the Ottoman period as the Stepped Quay. The hexagonal İskele Mosque on the shore was built in 1903. Sitting for a while at the harbour and watching the boats and the Kaleiçi houses above the walls is the calmest moment of a day with children. Access is on foot or by public transport; there is no car park inside the harbour. Walking down from Kalekapısı through the streets of Kaleiçi takes fifteen minutes, allowing for the slope. The nostalgic tram line and the buses passing through the city centre stop above the harbour. For those with a pushchair the cobbled streets of Kaleiçi are hard going; the road descending to the harbour is more comfortable. Putting the museum on the same route as Hıdırlık Tower and Karaalioğlu Park lets you see the whole Muratpaşa shore in a single day.
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Route Info
CityMuratpaşa, Antalya
TypeRoutes
Stop4
DateOctober 15, 2026
Radar TürkiyeAuthorRadar TürkiyeStart Route