Defne
Defne is a municipality and district of Hatay Province, Turkey.
Defne is a municipality and district of Hatay Province, Turkey. Its area is 155 km2, and its population is 139,605 (2026). The district Defne was created in 2013 from parts of the former central district of Hatay and the district of Samandağ. It covers the southwestern part of the agglomeration of Antakya and the adjacent countryside.
Adapted from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Worth seeing in and around Defne
8 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.
- 01Church of Saint Peter
The Church of Saint Peter (also known as St. Peter's Cave Church and Cave-Church of St.
3.6 km · church near Antakya (Antioch), Turkey · Wikipedia - 02Hatay 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.
1.9 km · Archaeology museum in Antakya, Turkey · Wikipedia - 03Habib'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.
2.2 km · historical mosque in Antakya, Hatay Province, Turkey · Wikipedia - 04Antakya 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.
2 km · synagogue in Antakya, Turkey · Wikipedia - 05Silpium
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.
2.8 km · ancient mountain above Syrian Antioch (Antakya, Turkey) · Wikipedia - 06Hatay 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.
2 km · destroyed building in Antakya, Turkey · Wikipedia - 07St. Paul Orthodox Church
St. Paul's Church is a historic Greek Orthodox church in Antakya, Turkey.
1.7 km · destroyed church in Antakya, Turkey · Wikipedia - 08Iron 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.
3.9 km · dam in Antakya, Turkey · 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.
What Wikivoyage says to see
- 01Cumhuriyet Meydanı
Republic Square, is the roundabout at the centre of town.
- 02Habib-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.
- 03Necmi 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.
- 04Church of Saint Peter
One of the oldest churches of Christianity, where St Peter preached, though its earliest structures are from 4th or 5th century.
- 05Demir 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: Defne, CC BY-SA 4.0. Not yet checked by us.
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: Defne, CC BY-SA 4.0. Not yet checked by us.
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: Defne, CC BY-SA 4.0. Not yet checked by us.
Getting to Defne
- Airports
- Aleppo (ALP), 97 km · Çukurova (COV), 124 km · Gaziantep Oğuzeli (GZT), 146 km
- Aleppo → Defne91 km · quickest by road, 2h 23m · $9–12
- Damascus → Defne299 km · quickest by road, 6h 6m · $32–45
- Tarsus → Defne138 km · quickest by road, 3h 19m · ₺430–570
- Plan a tripFrom anywhereThe planner compares every way there from wherever you are.
Road and air are today’s quick answer; timetabled trains, buses and ferries load on the results page from the operators’ feeds.
No local-transport research exists yet for Defne
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 Defne. What is above is what we hold from open sources; nothing here pretends to be more.
- 01589 km
- 02655 km
- 03739 km
- 04843 km
- 05846 km
If you know how people move in Defne – the stand, the rule, the fare – tell us, and the note gets an entry.
Next door to Defne
Defne is 2 km from Antakya, the nearest large city, whose note carries the wider picture.