Antalya is a city where three out of four seasons are spring and the other is summer, where you can ski on a magnificent mountain in the morning and swim in the deep blue waters of the Mediterranean in the afternoon.

When King Attalos first set eyes on Antalya he called it “Paradise on Earth”. Its fertile soil and natural harbour made it favourable for settlers throughout the ages. Therefore Antalya has a rich cultural heritage with many remains of an outstanding history. The Persians, Alexander the Great, the Romans, the Arabs and many more have left their mark on the area over the centuries but no one more than King Attalos of Pergamon who in 159 B.C. gave the region its name Attaleia, which leaded to the modern name Antalya.

In the western part of Antalya one of history's first major confederations, the Lycian Union, was formed. This league, once the most powerful in the region, had its member states represented by a system of one, two or three votes, depending on the size and importance of the states. Starting from the west end of present day Antalya and stretching to Fethiye in the province of Muğla, Lycia - the land of light - covered a very large area for those days. To the east stretched the state of Pamphylia, the land of all tribes.