Heart of banana country Population: 36,000
Anamur is a small Eastern Mediterrean town midway between Alanya and Silifke and just inland from the sea. It has a coastal extension down by the beach which, unsurprisingly. is called İskele (Harbour). This is where most of the hotels can be found although few are especially exciting.
İskele has grown into a popular small Turkish family resort which means lots of tea gardens and rock-bottom prices in the restaurants. There’s a strip of sandy beach which is fairly quiet as there’s no main road tracking it.
Anamur itself has nothing more than a couple of old stone-built houses with tiled roofs to remind it of its past; most visitors will have no need to go near it except to use the bus station.
Heading west a turning leads down to the seaside ruins of Anamurium, a Roman and then Byzantine town that grew up on Phoenician foundations.
This is rich farming country. As you pass along the main road you won’t be able to miss the massed rows of plastic greenhouses with banana plants literally bursting out of them. In between are polytunnels full of strawberries and peppers. In between them are stands of maize. Peanuts also grow in profusion here. 
Sleeping
The best choice of accommodation is in İskele although there are a couple of hotels in Anamur town. Most of the İskele hotels are housed in uninspiring high-rise apartment blocks.
My advice? Stay instead at a pension in Bozdoğan to the east or at a hotel in Bozyazı, a little further to the east.
I stayed at the Grand Hotel Hermes which has a pool and spacious rooms but there was no hot water and the toilet seat in my bathroom was broken. Web access was only available in the uninspiring lobby. A taxi driver said that the Hotel Meltem was better.
Ikonyum Hotel
İskele’s newest and finest right on the beach but 5km west of the centre of things. Has its own pool and restaurant.
Tel: 0324-248 2719
Hotel Rolli
Unusually for Turkey, this hotel has been designed to meet the needs of those in wheelchairs. Its inland location amid high-rise apartment blocks is not the most appealing but the rooms are spacious and spotless, and there’s a van to run guests to and from the beach. Most guests are German.
Tel: 0324-814 4978
Transport info
In summer there are daily buses from Alanya and Silifke to Anamur town; those from Silifke run straight past Mamure Castle.
To get to Anamurium without your own car you must take a dolmuş from Anamur to Ören and walk two and a half km down from the main road; turn off when you see the ugly high-rise TOKİ development and the brown sign. A group of visitors are better off paying for a taxi from Anamur bus station or from İskele.
Day trip destinations
Mamure Kalesi (Bozdoğan)
Meydancık Kalesi
