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Metropolitan municipality in Turkey · Hatay

Antakya

Antakya, Turkish form of Antioch, is a municipality and the capital district of Hatay Province, Turkey, with an area of 703 km2 (271 sq mi) and a population of around 400,000 people as of 2022.

Antakya
Antakya · Wikimedia Commons (see file page)
The place

Antakya, Turkish form of Antioch, is a municipality and the capital district of Hatay Province, Turkey, with an area of 703 km2 (271 sq mi) and a population of around 400,000 people as of 2022. It is in the Hatay Province, which is the southernmost region of Turkey. The city is located in a well-watered and fertile valley on the Orontes River, about 20 kilometres (12 mi) from the Levantine Sea.

Adapted from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

What is there

Worth seeing in and around Antakya

9 places within 25 km that the world writes about, in the order of how widely: the ones a visitor has heard of first, then the ones only a local would name.

  1. 01
    Church of Saint Peter

    The Church of Saint Peter (also known as St. Peter's Cave Church and Cave-Church of St.

    1.7 km · church near Antakya (Antioch), Turkey · Wikipedia
  2. 02
    Hatay Archaeology Museum

    The Hatay Archaeology Museum is the archaeology museum of Antakya, Turkey. It is known for its extensive collection of Roman and Byzantine Era mosaics.

    100 m · Archaeology museum in Antakya, Turkey · Wikipedia
  3. 03
    Habib'i Neccar Mosque

    Habib-i Nejjar Mosque is a historic mosque in Antakya, Hatay Province, Turkey named after Habib the Carpenter. The mosque is to the east of Orontes River.

    500 m · historical mosque in Antakya, Hatay Province, Turkey · Wikipedia
  4. 04
    Silpium

    Silpium is the ancient mountain above Antioch on the Orontes where Io, the daughter of Inachus, dies of grief in the version of the Greek myth preserved by the Syrian historian Ioannis Malalas. In modern Turkish, it is called Habib-i Neccar Dağı.

    1.6 km · ancient mountain above Syrian Antioch (Antakya, Turkey) · Wikipedia
  5. 05
    Iron Gate

    The Iron Gate is a sixth-century dam which is located in the mountains to the east of Antakya in Turkey. It is one of the earliest known arch dams and is now the oldest to survive.

    2.1 km · dam in Antakya, Turkey · Wikipedia
  6. 06
    Hatay State Assembly Building

    The Hatay State National Assembly Building was a historical building in Turkey designed by the French architect Leon Benju and used by the National Assembly of the State of Hatay in its early years. Located in Cumhuriyet Square in the center of Antakya, the building was destroyed during the 2023 Turkey-Syria earthquake.

    100 m · destroyed building in Antakya, Turkey · Wikipedia
  7. 07
    St. Paul Orthodox Church

    St. Paul's Church is a historic Greek Orthodox church in Antakya, Turkey.

    300 m · destroyed church in Antakya, Turkey · Wikipedia
  8. 08
    Antakya Synagogue

    The Antakya Synagogue is a former Jewish congregation and synagogue, located at 56 Kurtuluş Caddesi, in Antakya, in the Hatay Province of Turkey, near the border with Syria. Built in 1890, the synagogue was used as a place of worship until it was severely damaged in the 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes.

    400 m · synagogue in Antakya, Turkey · Wikipedia
  9. 09
    Rönesans Rezidans

    Rönesans Rezidans was a residential building in Ekinci, Antakya. It was the first luxury apartment in Hatay Province.

    3.2 km · residential building in Antakya, Turkey, destroyed during the 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquake · Wikipedia

Ranked by the number of language editions of Wikipedia with an article on each, from Wikidata; the sentences are the openings of those articles, CC BY-SA 4.0.

See

What Wikivoyage says to see

  1. 01
    Cumhuriyet Meydanı

    Republic Square, is the roundabout at the centre of town.

  2. 02
    Habib-i Nejjar Mosque

    This mosque was rebuilt after it was wrecked by earthquakes in 1853 and again in 2023, so what you see now is a squeaky-clean version of 2026.

  3. 03
    Necmi Asfuroğlu Archaeological Museum

    They were preparing to build a hotel in 2009 when they found remains of ancient Antioch, so they mounted the hotel on steel pillars and created a museum below.

  4. 04
    Church of Saint Peter

    One of the oldest churches of Christianity, where St Peter preached, though its earliest structures are from 4th or 5th century.

  5. 05
    Demir Kapı or Bab-ı Hadid

    Iron Gate, is the ruins of a dam built 555 AD to control flash-flooding from the stream in the ravine.

From Wikivoyage: Antakya, CC BY-SA 4.0. Not yet checked by us.

Do

Things to do

Football: Hatayspor were relegated in 2025 and again in 2026, so they now play soccer in TFF 2. Lig the third tier. Their New Hatay Stadium was badly damaged by the earthquake so for the time being they play at Fuat Tosyalı Stadium in İskenderun. Beach: Samandağ beach (27 km west) is 14 km long. Few facilities are open.

From Wikivoyage: Antakya, CC BY-SA 4.0. Not yet checked by us.

Eat

Where to eat

Hatay has the usual Turkish staple foods but also Arab-influenced cuisine. So you'll find humus and tahini here, and künefe a shredded pastry with cheese melted within. City centre restaurants in business in 2026 include Serenat at Gazipaşa Cd 62, Antik Han Plaza at Uzun Çarşı Cd 182, Gariban Kebap at Küçük Sanayi Cd 14, Ahmet Usta'nin Yeri on Abdurrahman Melek Cd, and Pöç Kasap at İzzet Güçlü Cd 28/4.

From Wikivoyage: Antakya, CC BY-SA 4.0. Not yet checked by us.

Go there

Getting to Antakya

Airports
Aleppo (ALP), 96 km · Çukurova (COV), 124 km · Gaziantep Oğuzeli (GZT), 144 km
  • Tarsus → Antakya
    138 km · quickest by road, 3h 14m · ₺425–570
  • Gaziantep → Antakya
    145 km · quickest by road, 3h 18m · ₺345–465
  • Şanlıurfa → Antakya
    258 km · quickest by road, 5h 15m · ₺560–750
  • From anywhere
    The planner compares every way there from wherever you are.
    Plan a trip

Road and air are today’s quick answer; timetabled trains, buses and ferries load on the results page from the operators’ feeds.

Not yet researched

No local-transport research exists yet for Antakya

Our researched notes are written from a sourced entry: every shared taxi, boat and village bus with its operator, its rule, its fare and the year we saw it, and what could not be confirmed. Nobody has done that work for Antakya. What is above is what we hold from open sources; nothing here pretends to be more.

The nearest places where the work is done
  1. 01
    KastellorizoGR

    8 ways of moving, 27 sources

    590 km
  2. 02
    Petra and Wadi MusaJO

    12 ways of moving, 17 sources

    657 km
  3. 03
    Wadi RumJO

    8 ways of moving, 23 sources

    740 km
  4. 04
    GyumriAM

    12 ways of moving, 47 sources

    841 km
  5. 05
    Vardzia and the Javakheti plateauGE

    12 ways of moving, 57 sources

    844 km

If you know how people move in Antakya – the stand, the rule, the fare – tell us, and the note gets an entry.

Around it

Next door to Antakya

  • Antiochancient Greek city in southern Turkey1.9 km
  • Defnedistrict of Hatay, south-central Turkey700 m
  • Antakya districtdistrict of Hatay, south-central Turkey5.9 km