About Kemer

Kemer is a coastal district in Antalya Province on Turkey's Mediterranean coast, about 43 kilometres southwest of Antalya city, where the western Taurus Mountains meet the sea. Its 53 kilometres of shoreline run from Beldibi in the north to Tekirova in the south, backed by pine-covered slopes that today shelter one of Turkey's busiest resort towns, home to around 49,000 residents. Long before the sunbeds arrived, though, this coast had already been settled, fought over and rebuilt more than once, a history that still surfaces in the ruins scattered along its bays.

From Idyros to Eski Köy

The district's story begins with Idyros, an ancient Greek city and member of the Lycian League, whose Roman-period remains, including a basilica, survive near Moonlight Bay. Idyros is less documented than its more famous neighbours, but its presence confirms that this coastline was inhabited and organised well before Roman rule reached its height between the 1st century BC and the 4th century AD.

By the Ottoman period the settlement was known simply as Eski Köy ("Old Village"), a name that reflects how modest the place had become. Hemmed in by the Taurus Mountains, with no road connecting it to Antalya until the 1960s, Eski Köy stayed a small, largely self-contained community reachable mainly by boat.

The Wall That Gave Kemer Its Name

Eski Köy's rebranding came from an engineering project rather than a tourism plan. Flash floods repeatedly threatened the village, and between 1916 and 1917 residents built a long stone retaining wall, or "kemer" (Turkish for "arch" or "buckle"), to channel mountain stream water safely away from the settlement. That wall gave the town its modern name, making Kemer one of the rare Turkish resorts named after a piece of flood-control infrastructure rather than a natural feature or founder.

From Rural Backwater to Resort Town

Kemer's rapid growth began in earnest in the 1980s, when it became a pilot site for the World Bank-funded South Antalya Tourism Infrastructure Project. Rather than leaving development to chance, the scheme zoned hotel construction, protected the surrounding pine forest, and laid sewage and water infrastructure ahead of the building boom, an approach that still shapes how the town looks today. At the centre of it all sits Kemer's 320-berth marina, ringed by restaurants and shops, which serves as the town's departure point for boats heading further down the coast.

Ancient Neighbours in a National Park

Kemer's marina exists largely to reach what lies beyond it. Down the coast is Phaselis, founded by Rhodian colonists in the 7th century BC around three natural harbours that made it a major Mediterranean trading post; Alexander the Great wintered his fleet there in 334 BC after the city surrendered to him peacefully. Further south is Olympos, a Lycian League city that once held three votes in the league's assembly, later infamous as a base for the Cilician pirate Zenicetes before being rebuilt under Roman rule. Nearby, the permanent gas flames of Yanartaş are still linked to the ancient Chimaera myth.

All three sites, Idyros, Phaselis and Olympos, lie inside the Beydağları Coastal National Park, established in 1972 along the Kemer-Kumluca shoreline. With pebble beaches, pine forest running down to the waterline, and a coast road that stops well short of covering the whole shoreline, it's clear which is why so many visitors explore this coast by private gulet charter, tracing the same bays that once sheltered traders, pirates and Alexander's fleet.