Alanya: Mahmutlar, Oba, Kestel, Kargıcak

2026-10-08 · Author: Grand Emlak

Alanya lies east of Antalya on a small peninsula bounded by the Taurus Mountains to the north and the Mediterranean to the south; with 371,547 inhabitants according to the 2025 ADNKS results it is one of the province's most populous districts. In this article we summarise four of its best-known neighbourhoods, its transport links and daily life using official sources. Source: Wikipedia (TurkStat ADNKS 2025), accessed 08.10.2026

Location and transport

According to the transport page of Alanya Alaaddin Keykubat University, the distance between Antalya and Alanya's centre is 125 km, while Gazipaşa–Alanya Airport is 45 km from Alanya and is served by Havaş shuttles. The coastal highway makes intercity bus travel straightforward, and the district also has a port and a yacht marina. Source: Alanya University – Transport, accessed 08.10.2026

In DHMİ's nationwide statistical series, Gazipaşa–Alanya Airport is recorded as having entered service in 2009, and the airport is operated by a private company under DHMİ supervision. Source: DHMİ Statistics, accessed 08.10.2026

History and landmarks

Known in antiquity as Korakesion, the city was taken in 1221 by the Seljuk Sultan Alaaddin Keykubat I and renamed Alaiye; the Seljuks developed it as a second capital and winter residence alongside Konya. Attached to Antalya in 1871, the city received its present name in 1935 during Atatürk's visit. Source: Alanya Municipality – History, accessed 08.10.2026

Alanya Castle occupies a 10-hectare peninsula enclosed by 6 km of walls and bears the traces of the Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine, Seljuk and Ottoman periods; the Shipyard, the Red Tower, the Tophane and the Inner Castle palace complex date from the Seljuk era. Source: Alanya Municipality – Alanya Castle, accessed 08.10.2026

Damlataş Cave, discovered in 1948 during harbour construction, was the first cave in Turkey opened to tourism; with a constant 22 °C and 95 per cent humidity all year, it is a place where asthma patients follow a 21-day course under medical supervision. Kleopatra Beach, directly in front of it, holds the Blue Flag. Source: Alanya Municipality – Damlataş, Kleopatra Beach, accessed 08.10.2026

Neighbourhoods and their character

According to Alanya Municipality's list of neighbourhood heads, the district has 120 neighbourhoods; Mahmutlar, Oba, Kestel and Kargıcak all appear on the list, and each was a town (belde) before the 2013 reorganisation. Source: Alanya Municipality – Neighbourhood Heads, accessed 08.10.2026

Mahmutlar lies 10 km east of the district centre and had 53,034 inhabitants in 2022; it has been transformed by holiday homes built for European visitors, with roads and services upgraded to meet that demand. At the Naula site on the neighbourhood's north-eastern edge are walled Byzantine-period remains that include two churches. Source: Wikipedia, Alanya Municipality – Naula, accessed 08.10.2026

Oba is a neighbourhood that has almost merged with the centre; its 2022 population was 28,864, and its economy rests on citrus farming and on the service sector that proximity to the centre brings. In the Middle Ages it was the seat of the Alaiye Beylik, and it gained town status in 1999. Source: Wikipedia, accessed 08.10.2026

Kestel hosts the campus of Alanya Alaaddin Keykubat University, founded in 2015 under Law No. 6640; the university, located on Üniversite Caddesi in the Kestel neighbourhood, began operating with the education, engineering and medical faculties taken over from Akdeniz University. Source: ALKÜ – Foundation, accessed 08.10.2026

Kargıcak lies on the district's eastern coast and had 5,989 inhabitants in 2022. The ancient city of Syedra, on the Alanya–Mersin highway 23 km from the centre, was inhabited from the 7th century BC to the 13th century AD and is an exemplary Roman settlement with its colonnaded street, bathhouse and cisterns. Source: Wikipedia, Alanya Municipality – Syedra, accessed 08.10.2026

Source: Wikipedia (2022 populations), accessed 08.10.2026

Daily life: health, culture, climate

Alanya Training and Research Hospital traces its roots to a 40-bed health centre opened in 1958; the new building, opened in 2017 in partnership with Alanya Alaaddin Keykubat University, has a capacity of 420 beds. The hospital today serves with 2,617 health staff. Source: Alanya Training and Research Hospital – History, Alanya EAH, accessed 08.10.2026

On the cultural side, the Alanya Archaeological Museum, opened in 1967, is known for its bronze statue of Heracles dated to the 2nd century AD; Dim Cave, 11 km from the centre at an altitude of 232 m and 360 m long, is the second-largest cave in Turkey open to visitors. Source: Alanya Municipality – Museums, Dim Cave, accessed 08.10.2026

The Turkish State Meteorological Service's 1930–2025 records for central Antalya give a January average of 10.1 °C and a July average of 28.6 °C, with rainfall of 225.5 mm in January and 4.7 mm in July. As no separate series is published for Alanya, the figures refer to the provincial centre. Source: Turkish State Meteorological Service, accessed 08.10.2026

Who chooses Alanya

Wikipedia notes that development in Mahmutlar has been shaped by holiday homes built for European visitors; beyond that there is no official data on buyer profiles, so we put it cautiously: the university and the hospital support year-round living along the Kestel–Oba axis, while the coastal neighbourhoods lean towards holiday use. Source: Wikipedia – Mahmutlar, accessed 08.10.2026

In the Grand Emlak portfolio

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