Kaunos Ancient City

Kaunos is one of Türkiye's most striking ancient sites, best known for the rock-cut tombs carved into the cliffs above the Dalyan river. It began as a busy trading harbour, but silt slowly filled the bay and left the port high and dry, so the city lost its reason for being.

The acropolis stands on a hill 152 metres high. Long defensive walls run from the north side of the harbour to the steep rock beyond Dalyan village. Parts of them date from different eras: the walls toward the harbour go back to the Archaic period, the north-western stretch is Hellenistic, and the northern circuit is medieval. One section was built under Mausolos, the Carian satrap whose famous tomb stood at Halicarnassus, now Bodrum.

At the foot of the acropolis lies the theatre. Nearby you can find the remains of a basilica-type church, a Roman bath and a temple. The rock tombs, cut in the 4th century BC and reused in Roman times, are visible from Dalyan. From the landing stage you can also see hollows in the rock where great fires were lit as beacons for ships heading to the ancient port.