The Upper Roman Baths at Arykanda are part of the extraordinary ancient Lycian city dramatically terraced on a series of rock platforms in the Akçay valley in Finike District of Antalya Province, at an altitude that makes it one of the most spectacularly situated ancient cities in Asia Minor. Arykanda was a distinctive Lycian community known in antiquity for its citizens' reportedly hedonistic lifestyle — described by ancient sources as particularly devoted to festivity and pleasure — and its multiple bath complexes, both upper and lower, reflect an unusually strong investment in bathing culture for a mountain city. These upper baths, set against a backdrop of pine forests and soaring limestone peaks, represent one of Turkey's most atmospherically beautiful ancient bathing sites in a city that is among the least visited and most romantically preserved ancient sites on the Lycian coast.
Insider tip — Arykanda is one of Lycia's most beautifully sited ancient cities — built on dramatic mountain terraces above the Arykandos river gorge, its theatre, stadium, and baths cascading down a steep slope with views over the Taurus mountains. The Upper Roman Baths at Arykanda exemplify the Lycian genius for building monumental architecture into impossible mountain terrain, in a federation of cities whose democratic league inspired the framers of modern constitutional government, including the United States.
