The vaulted necropolis
Some 350 Roman tombs, several still roofed, that you wander through like an abandoned neighbourhood.
Островский Александр, Киев — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Korkut Tas — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Dosseman — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Dosseman — CC BY-SA 4.0
A near-complete Roman town that its people walked away from in the mid-seventh century and nobody ever came back to claim. That is why it survives the way it does: some 350 vaulted tombs, several still under their own roofs, three large bath complexes, one keeping its geometric mosaic floors, a theatre, a small covered odeon in unusually good condition, and an aqueduct stepping up the hillside. All of it sits on the slope of Cape Anamur, the southernmost tip of Anatolia, with Cyprus showing on the horizon some sixty-five kilometres out on a clear day and an empty pebble beach directly below the walls. The only problem is distance. Anemurium is roughly 130 km east of Alanya along the coastal D-400, and they are mountain kilometres that take two and a half to three hours each way, so ignore anyone who calls it a half-day outing. The realistic plan is a hire car on the road before eight in the morning, paired with Mamure Castle on the shore about 7 km east of Anamur: the two together justify the drive, either one alone does not. A few Alanya agencies run a full-day Anamur excursion combining the castle, the ruins and the banana plantations, which is the answer for anyone who would rather not drive. Public buses reach Anamur in about three hours, then it is a taxi for the last six or seven kilometres out to the site. There is almost no shade and next to no signage, so water, a hat and closed shoes are requirements rather than suggestions, and in July and August you should be at the gate when it opens at nine. Paths are dirt and rock, hopeless for pushchairs, but school-age children love threading between the tombs and climbing the theatre seating. The great bath standing to roof height is the showpiece; look for the mosaics in the second bath and in the basilica remains. Leave time for the beach afterwards, because a swim in the cold water below the walls is the reward for the long road. Spring and autumn are its real season: April and May when the slope turns green, September and October when the air cools and the sea stays warm. In winter it opens but shuts early, around five, and the coast road gets slower in the rain.
Some 350 Roman tombs, several still roofed, that you wander through like an abandoned neighbourhood.
The grandest building on site still stands to roof height, with geometric mosaic floors in the bath next door.
A near-empty pebble beach at Anatolia's southern tip, with Cyprus on the horizon on clear days.
Ören Mahallesi, Anamur, Mersin
On its own, no. Six hours of winding driving for a shadeless site wears small children out before you reach the theatre. It becomes worthwhile paired with Mamure Castle and a swim off its beach, or with a night in Anamur. With under-fives, choose Alanya Castle or the nearer Syedra instead.
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