About Demre

Demre is a district of Antalya Province on Turkey's Teke Peninsula, built on a coastal plain backed by the Taurus Mountains, roughly 140 kilometres from Antalya city along the D400 coast road. It sits on the site of ancient Myra, a city whose exact founding date is lost but which was already established enough to appear as a member of the Lycian League by the 2nd century BC.

Ancient Myra

Myra grew into one of the most important cities of Lycia, reaching metropolitan status when it became the region's chief bishopric in 325 AD. An earthquake struck the city in 141 AD, damaging its Roman theatre, which was rebuilt afterward and still stands today. Behind the theatre, the hillside is cut with rock-carved tombs — 104 of them have been formally documented across two necropolises, some painted in red and blue and dated to the 4th century BC, including the so-called Painted Tomb that the British traveller Charles Fellows visited and recorded in 1840. Myra's harbour, Andriake, dates back to at least the 4th century BC and once handled tahin, wine and salted-fish trade; under the emperor Hadrian, between 117 and 138 AD, a large granary was built there to store state grain, and the building survives today as the Museum of Lycian Civilisations.

Saint Nicholas

Myra's best-known resident was Saint Nicholas, who served as its bishop in the 4th century and, according to tradition, was born in nearby Patara. His church was first built around 520 AD and largely rebuilt in its present form by the 8th century, with a monastery added by the late 11th century. In 1087, sailors from Bari, Italy, removed his relics from the church and carried them back to Italy, a story still commemorated in Bari today. The church itself remained in use until 1923, when the population exchange between Greece and Turkey emptied it of its congregation; it has been on UNESCO's Tentative World Heritage List since 2000, and excavation work has continued at the site, including a discovery in December 2024 of a stone sarcophagus in one of its side chambers, still under study.

Modern Demre

The modern town traces its administrative roots to a village called Eynihal, first recorded in 1904; four surrounding villages merged into a single municipality in 1968, the district was formally established under the name "Kale" in 1987, and it was renamed Demre in 2005. Today the district's population runs to roughly 27,000, according to recent Turkish census figures. Its coastal plain has become one of Turkey's principal centres of greenhouse vegetable farming, particularly tomatoes, a shift that reshaped the local economy through the second half of the 20th century.

Demre also serves as a gateway to Kekova, the partly submerged ancient settlement and protected bay a short distance along the coast, and its own harbour recently expanded: a new marina with capacity for around 700 yachts was completed in May 2025. Between the rock tombs above the town and the sheltered anchorages along this stretch of coast, it's easy to see which is why so many visitors explore this coast by private gulet charter, pairing a walk through Myra's ruins with a swim in the bays nearby.