Things to Do in Hatay and Antakya: An Honest Guide After the Earthquake

--- title: "Hatay (Antakya) travel guide: what the earthquake left, what reopened, and what is worth the trip" description: "An honest guide to Hatay, Turkey after the 6 February 2023 earthquakes: which monuments are open, which were destroyed, which are being rebuilt. The Archaeology Museum mosaics, St Pierre, the Titus Tunnel, the Samandağ coast, İskenderun and Payas, and why the food alone justifies going." city: "Hatay" lang: "en" ---

Hatay: the part that has to come first

Hatay was one of the epicentre provinces of the earthquakes of 6 February 2023. Antakya's old city was largely destroyed. Some of the monuments in this guide were damaged, some collapsed completely, and some are inside a construction fence right now. The rebuilding has been going on for three years and the picture changes month by month. A 2026 guide that files all of this under a footnote would be sending you to a pile of rubble with a smile, so it goes at the top instead: every entry below states what we could establish about that site's condition today, and says so plainly when we could not establish anything.

The second sentence is just as true as the first. There are still real reasons to come. The Hatay Archaeology Museum holds one of the most important collections of Roman mosaics anywhere in the world, and it reopened after repairs. St Pierre, the church cut into the rock face, has finished its restoration. Antakya was ancient Antioch, one of the great cities of the Roman east, and the place where the followers of Jesus were first called Christians. Habib-i Neccar Mosque returned to worship in December 2025. And the food, the least breakable thing the province owns, never stopped: Antakya is a UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy, and the künefe ovens, the hummus counters and the oruk kitchens are working.

Some background that explains the city you will walk through. Hatay was under French mandate and joined Turkey in 1939, and it has long been home to Arab, Turkish, Armenian, Greek and Alawite communities living in the same streets. The stone half of that inheritance took a terrible hit. The human half, the food, the languages you overhear, is still here. Set your expectations accordingly: this is not a tour of an open-air museum, it is a few days in a city putting itself back together. The money visitors spend goes into that effort, which is a plain fact rather than a slogan.

Quick answer

Hatay is visitable in 2026, but it is not a province where everything is in its place. The museums and the kitchens work; parts of the old city are still a building site.

• Confirmed open: Hatay Archaeology Museum, Necmi Asfuroğlu Archaeology Museum, St Pierre Church, Habib-i Neccar Mosque. Verify officially before you go anyway.
• Confirmed closed: Antakya Ulu Mosque (being rebuilt), the Greek Orthodox church (destroyed), St Simeon Monastery (undamaged but shut on safety grounds).
• Base: central Antakya or İskenderun. Bed capacity is around half of what it was, so book early.
• Time needed: three days for the centre and the coast. Four if you add Payas and Yayladağı.
• What to expect: construction everywhere, dust, rerouted streets. That is normal here.

1. Hatay Archaeology Museum

If you could give only one reason to travel to this province, it would be this building. The museum holds one of the largest mosaic display areas in the world: roughly 120 panels of flooring lifted from the villas of Antioch and Daphne. Calling them decoration undersells them badly. Second and third century craftsmen built shadow, the fall of cloth and human expression out of cut stone cubes, and the results read as painting. The Suppiluliuma statue, the Antakya sarcophagus and close to fourteen thousand coins share the same roof.

The building took partial damage in the earthquakes, and around four hundred movable pieces were sealed into crates and moved to Kırşehir for safekeeping. Reports indicate the museum reopened in the second half of 2025 after repairs. We cannot promise from here that every individual object is back in its case, so check the day and the hours through official channels. But on a day when it is open, this is the richest two hours the province has to offer.

2. Necmi Asfuroğlu Archaeology Museum

People confuse this with the Hatay Archaeology Museum. It is a separate institution about two kilometres away, in the Haraparası quarter, and the story of how it exists is worth knowing. A hotel was going up here. The foundation dig hit a city instead: stacked layers of settlement, bath complexes, and a mosaic floor considered the largest single-piece example in the world. Rather than abandon either, the design was rewritten and the hotel was lifted onto columns above the excavation. What you get is a museum you walk over, looking down into the dig from above.

It is the best available explanation of why digging anything in Antakya is such a problem. The city has been flattened repeatedly since Roman times and each time it rebuilt directly on its own wreckage, which is why the layers run so deep. The hotel above reopened in September 2023 and the museum is reported to be operating, with an exhibition devoted to objects recovered from the ground after the earthquake. Confirm current hours before you go.

3. St Pierre Church

A cave driven thirteen metres into the rock at the foot of Mount Habib-i Neccar. Inside there is a stone altar, traces of fourth and fifth century mosaic and wall painting, and a marble figure of Peter installed in 1932. The stone facade was added much later; the original thing here is the void behind it. The importance of the place has nothing to do with architecture. According to the Acts of the Apostles, it was at Antioch that the followers of Jesus were first called Christians. This is the city where a religion acquired its name, and this cave is held to be one of the places its first congregations gathered.

The church was damaged in the earthquakes. Restoration has been completed and it is reported to have reopened to visitors, with the Museum Card accepted. It was added to the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List in 2011. It sits about two kilometres from the centre, uphill. Verify the opening status officially, because in this province no opening should be treated as permanent.

4. Habib-i Neccar Mosque

Often described as the first mosque in Anatolia, with origins in the seventh century. It takes its name from a carpenter who appears in both the Christian and Islamic traditions, which makes it one of the few buildings in the city that carries meaning for both. It sits on Kurtuluş Caddesi, in the middle of the old city.

A large part of it came down on 6 February 2023. After a restoration carried out by Konya Metropolitan Municipality, it reopened for worship on 27 December 2025, which makes it the most recent reopening in this guide. What you will see is partly new stone, and there is no point framing that as a disappointment: almost every old building still standing in Antakya has been through the same process at some point in its life. Remember that it is a working mosque rather than an exhibit. Avoid prayer times, dress accordingly and keep quiet inside. Check visiting hours before you arrive.

5. Antakya Ulu Mosque

This one needs saying without softening: there is no mosque to go and see. Built by the Mamluks between 1268 and 1271, heavily restored in the eighteenth century, it was considered the oldest and largest mosque in Hatay. On 6 February 2023 it was destroyed. Not damaged. Destroyed.

It is currently being rebuilt to the original design by Bursa Metropolitan Municipality. Officials have been explicit that this is reconstruction rather than restoration, because nothing survived to restore. Reports mention a target of 26 June 2026 for the prayer hall and minaret to open for worship. Treat that as a target and not a promise; construction schedules move. We kept the pin because knowing where the Ulu Mosque stood is part of reading the old city, but if you walk there today you are looking at a building site through a fence. Do not set out on the assumption that it has opened without verifying officially.

6. Greek Orthodox Church of Saints Peter and Paul

One of the most visible symbols of Antakya's mixed identity. Built in the late nineteenth century and opened in 1900, it was the principal place of worship for the city's Greek Orthodox community. It collapsed on 6 February 2023.

Where things stand now: reconstruction has not begun. The church foundation has reported that the work has stalled over budget shortfalls and regulatory problems in the tender process. The foundation opened a donation account, and the World Monuments Fund has partnered on planning the rebuild. Early assessments suggested three to four years. In 2025 a Greek Orthodox metropolitan see covering Tarsus, Adana and Hatay was re-established after a gap of a hundred years, which allows services to be held at churches in the region while reconstruction is pending. There is no building to visit. The pin is here because the absence is an honest part of what the province is right now.

7. Harbiye waterfalls

Eight kilometres south of Antakya, in Defne district. Its ancient name was Daphne and in the classical world it was Antioch's garden, the place wealthy Roman families kept their summer houses. This matters more than it sounds: a good number of the mosaics you saw in the museum were lifted from the floors of those villas. This is where they lived. Springs emerge from under the plateau and drop in a series of steps before the water joins the Orontes. Laurel and plane shade, the noise of falling water, cool air.

After the 20 February 2023 earthquake centred on Defne, the flow reportedly dropped and the water discoloured; later reporting indicated it returned to its previous level. Which businesses in the recreation area are trading varies from season to season. Come for lunch and a couple of cool hours, not for a half-day programme.

8. St Simeon Monastery

On a 479 metre peak on the boundary between Defne and Samandağ. Built in the sixth century and named for Simeon, one of the founders of the tradition of stylite saints. The story is exactly what it sounds like: the man spent forty-five years living on top of a ten metre stone column, and the column is still there. Around it are a church, a baptistry and a cistern cut from dressed stone and bedrock, with crosses carved into the rock face. It was one of the early Christian pilgrimage sites.

Here is the situation. The structure came through the earthquakes without damage; fifteen hundred year old stone held. But according to reports it has been closed to visitors on safety grounds. Sound, but shut. We kept it in the guide for its setting and its position, but confirm officially before you set out. Driving the mountain road and finding a locked gate is a poor use of a morning.

9. Titus Tunnel and Vespasian

At Çevlik, north of Samandağ. Rome had a port city here, Seleucia Pieria, and the mountain was steadily burying it under floodwater and silt. The answer was to cut a water tunnel through solid rock and divert the stream clear of the harbour altogether. The enclosed section runs 130 metres, and with the open channels the whole works reach about 1,380 metres, in places seven metres high and six wide. All of it was taken out of the rock by hand. You walk through it, and the scale of the engineering only registers once you are inside.

The project began under Vespasian and continued under his son Titus, which is where the name comes from. It joined the UNESCO Tentative List in 2014. About a hundred metres towards the sea from the tunnel exit is Beşikli Cave, a set of rock-cut tombs, and the two are visited together. Wear proper shoes; it is wet inside and the stone can be slippery. Verify current visiting conditions.

10. Çevlik beach

Immediately beside the Titus Tunnel, on the shoreline of ancient Seleucia Pieria. A small harbour cove. In the Roman period this inlet was Antioch's door to the sea and the whole trade of the city passed through it. Today there are fishing boats and a modest stretch of shore. Expect shingle and rock rather than sand.

There is no case for making a separate trip here to swim. The sensible move is to finish the tunnel, walk down, get in the water, and look at how the stone remains of the harbour works continue out under the sea. Standing there for a minute with the fact that this was once a world port is what completes the tunnel walk rather than the swim itself. The state of businesses on the shore varies, so get current information locally.

11. Samandağ beach

A long, open, dune-backed shore. It has some of the widest coastal dunes in Turkey and it is a nesting ground for loggerhead and green sea turtles. Nest protection work runs through the summer months: stay outside marked areas, do not shine lights at night, and keep vehicles off the dunes.

There is something here we should not skate over. There has been press reporting that earthquake rubble was dumped on part of this shoreline, and that environmental groups have held vigils against it. That means no single sentence covers the whole beach; conditions vary by section and we cannot verify from a distance which stretch is in what state. Ask locally about the specific spot you plan to visit. The sea and the sunset angle are genuinely good, but do not arrive expecting a resort.

12. Arsuz shore

A small coastal town on the western side of the Gulf of İskenderun, where the mountain runs down to the sea. It is the most normally functioning seaside settlement in the province, and daily life here has been less interrupted than in most of Hatay. A long shore walk, a palm-lined front, locals getting in the water in the late afternoon.

Arsuz is the realistic option for anyone who wants to swim in this province. Around an hour and a half from Antakya, half an hour from İskenderun. Tourism investment is ongoing and press reports mention new properties targeting 2026 openings, but bed capacity is limited for now and weekends need booking well ahead. If the centre has worn you down, a night here works as a decent reset. Verify opening dates for accommodation.

13. İskenderun seafront and Atatürk Monument

The İskenderun waterfront carries one of the most physically legible marks the earthquake left. On 6 February the coastline subsided by roughly eighty centimetres and the sea walked inland. The Monument Square, the symbol of the district, sat underwater for a long stretch, and those images were broadcast across the country in the first days.

The situation now is better. Under a coastal rearrangement and renewal project run by the Ministry of Environment, Urbanisation and Climate Change, the area was raised and rebuilt. The monument area is back in use and hosted its first official ceremony in October 2025, roughly two years after the earthquake. The new front has social amenities and works for an evening walk. If you have come as far as the city, walking this stretch is the most efficient way to see what the province lost and what it has clawed back, in the same twenty minutes.

14. Bakras Castle

A castle looking down on the Belen pass, the historic gap through the Amanos mountains that ties Antakya to İskenderun. Its position explains it entirely: hold this pass and you hold the road between Cilicia and Syria. Founded in the Hellenistic period, then used in turn by Romans, Byzantines, Armenians and Crusaders. It is also called the Templars' Castle, because the Templar knights held it for a period.

Calibrate your expectations. This is not a managed archaeological site with a ticket booth and interpretation boards. It is a ruined castle and getting up to it means a scramble. We could not find any official information on earthquake damage here, which on an already unmaintained structure is not a very meaningful statement on its own. Watch your footing, mind the loose stone and the unguarded edges, do not bring young children, and do not go the day after heavy rain. You come for the view, and the view delivers.

15. Payas Castle and the Sokullu Mehmet Paşa complex

At the northern tip of the province, past İskenderun. The castle is not really the point here; the complex next to it is. Commissioned by Sokullu Mehmet Paşa and built by the architect Sinan between 1568 and 1574, it is a staging complex: caravanserai, bath, medrese, mosque and covered market in a single programme. This is the physical expression of how the Ottomans ran the road linking Anatolia to Damascus and Mecca. Pilgrims and caravans slept, washed and traded here.

The neighbouring Payas Castle was founded by Crusaders and repaired by the Ottomans, with eight towers and a defensive water moat. The complex and the castle together take somewhere between half an hour and an hour. It is about ninety minutes from Antakya, so do not build a day around Payas alone; chain it with İskenderun and Arsuz. Verify that it is open.

16. Alalakh (Tell Atchana)

Near Reyhanlı, about twenty kilometres north-east of Antakya. This is a far older story than Antioch: in the Bronze Age, roughly 2000 to 1200 BC, it was the capital of the kingdom of Mukiš, with palaces, temples and fortifications. Seventeen archaeological levels have been excavated. The Idrimi statue and the cuneiform tablets that came out of here are now in the British Museum.

Be clear about what you are going to see: an earth mound of about twenty-two hectares, not a standing building. No columns, no arches. Excavation trenches, sections and traces of mudbrick. To anyone without an interest in archaeology this can look like a field, so we do not recommend it universally. But if you want concrete evidence that this region was a seat of power two thousand years before Rome arrived, it is a short detour on the way back from Antakya. Verify visiting conditions and the excavation season.

17. Barlaam Monastery

In Yayladağı, on the flank of Keldağ, about four hundred metres below the summit. This is the hardest pin in the guide and we will not pretend otherwise: the only known way up is a walk of roughly two and a half hours from Yeditepe. You cannot drive it. Locally it is called Harabe Kilise, the ruined church, and ruined is accurate.

The site has been treated as sacred since Hittite times. The tradition holds that Saint Barlaam arrived in the fourth century, destroyed a statue of Zeus on the peak and founded a monastic community. Excavations turned up coins from Ionian, Roman and Abbasid periods, and the place stayed in use until it was abandoned around 1268. The reason to go today is not the architecture. It is the view from the top of Keldağ over the Amik plain and out to the Mediterranean, and the climb itself. This is close to the Syrian border, so confirm the route and the permission situation with local authorities before you set out, and do not climb alone.

Hatay after the earthquake

A few concrete things, so you know what you are walking into.

The city is a building site. Construction is running across central Antakya and the surrounding districts. Dust, heavy machinery, closed streets and rerouted roads are the normal state of things. Navigation apps get it wrong here more often than you would like, because the street pattern itself changed. Work on Kurtuluş Caddesi is reported to be largely complete. Part of the Uzun Çarşı traders are still operating out of temporary prefabricated units, and a target of 6 February 2026 was discussed for the move into the permanent bazaar. Treat those dates as targets that may not have been met.

Accommodation is tight. Before the earthquake the province had 224 facilities and roughly 14,500 beds. Ninety-nine facilities were destroyed and capacity dropped to about 7,500 beds. As of the end of 2025, 45 new facilities were under construction. In practice: weekends and public holidays are hard, prices can run higher than you would expect because of the squeeze, and you need to book ahead. If Antakya is full, İskenderun and Arsuz are the fallbacks.

On how to behave as a visitor, the answer is simple. Demolition sites, rubble heaps and container settlements are not photographic subjects; they are where people live. Do not photograph the wreckage of homes, the doors of containers, or daily life in those places without permission. If a conversation about that day starts, let it start on their side. Nobody owes you their account of it. And the usefulness of coming is not an abstract gesture of solidarity: what you pay the künefe maker, the hotel, the taxi driver and the museum ticket office stays in the province. Its economy does not fully return until its tourism capacity does. That is why visiting, done properly, actually helps.

Getting there

By air. Hatay Airport was damaged and closed, then repaired and returned to service. The Ministry of Transport announced completion of the first phase of works, and weekly scheduled departures rose from 21 to 52. Reported connections include Istanbul (via Sabiha Gökçen and Esenboğa), İzmir and Ercan. The airport is around 25 kilometres from central Antakya, with Havaş shuttles, public transport, taxis and transfers available. Verify the schedule before you buy a ticket, as it keeps changing.

Alternative airports. Adana Şakirpaşa and Gaziantep are the two options people use when Hatay flights do not work out. Antakya is roughly three hours by road from Adana, and similar from Gaziantep. Flight choice is wider, so this routing is sometimes the more practical one.

By road. Intercity coaches run to Antakya. Your own car is the most comfortable option in this province, because the pins are scattered in every direction: Samandağ west, Payas north, Yayladağı south. Public transport handles central Antakya and Harbiye comfortably, Samandağ and İskenderun are workable, and Bakras and Barlaam are effectively out of reach. If you plan to rent, book early; the local fleet is thin.

When to go

Spring is the best window. From late March to late May the weather is mild, the plain and the mountains are green, and Harbiye is running full. It is also the only sensible period for walking in the Amanos range or on Keldağ.

Summer is hot and humid. In July and August the middle of the day in Antakya is heavy going, and the humidity is worse on the gulf side. If you come in these months, push your programme into the morning and the late afternoon, spend midday in a museum or at a table, and swim at Arsuz or Samandağ. The sea season is long on this coast and can run into mid-October.

Autumn is the second-best choice. From late September into early November temperatures are reasonable, the sea is still warm and the crowds are gone. Winter is mild but wet. Snow is not a factor in Antakya, but rain makes unmaintained castles and mountain routes risky, and construction mud becomes its own problem.

What to eat

Hatay's food is the most intact piece of inheritance the province has, and that is not a consolation line. Antakya joined the UNESCO Creative Cities Network for gastronomy in 2019. After the earthquake, the Antakya Gastronomy Bazaar was set up in the Odabaşı district for some of the displaced traders and opened in September 2023. The food culture kept going even when it lost its buildings.

Künefe. The province's signature. Shredded kadayıf pastry packed around fresh unsalted cheese, fried on both sides on a hot plate, drenched in syrup and eaten immediately. It is right when the cheese pulls and the pastry still crunches. Do not eat it cold; künefe is not a dessert that waits.

Hummus. In Antakya hummus is not a cold meze. It is served warm, with butter or fried minced meat on top. If your reference point is the version sold everywhere else, the first spoonful may not convince you it is the same dish.

Oruk. The Hatay reading of içli köfte: a bulgur shell around minced meat, walnut and spice. Put sürk (a spiced, dried curd cheese), tepsi kebabı (baked in a tray, with aubergine or tomato), kaytaz böreği, biberli ekmek, aşur, kabak tatlısı and müceddere on the list too. At breakfast, look for sürk and zahter. We are not naming restaurants: businesses in this province are still relocating, so get current recommendations on the ground.

FAQ

**Is it appropriate to travel to Hatay right now?** Yes, provided you frame it correctly. The province is receiving visitors, museums and restaurants are working, the airport is open, and tourist spending is part of the recovery. If you come expecting an intact old city you will be disappointed. If you come for the mosaics, the food and the coast, you will get what you came for. Do not engage in disaster tourism and do not turn places where people live into photographs.

**What is actually open today?** Open, as far as we could establish: the Hatay Archaeology Museum, the Necmi Asfuroğlu Archaeology Museum, St Pierre Church, and Habib-i Neccar Mosque, which returned to worship on 27 December 2025. Closed: Antakya Ulu Mosque (under reconstruction), the Greek Orthodox church (destroyed, rebuild not yet started), and St Simeon Monastery (undamaged but closed on safety grounds). This picture keeps moving, so verify each one officially before you travel.

**How many days should I give it?** Three days gives a balanced trip: one for central Antakya (both museums, St Pierre, Habib-i Neccar), one for Harbiye plus Samandağ and the Titus Tunnel, one for İskenderun, Bakras and Arsuz. Adding Payas and Reyhanlı needs a fourth. If you intend to climb to Barlaam, give that its own full day.

**Can I do it without a car?** Partly. Everything in central Antakya is walkable or a short taxi ride, Harbiye and İskenderun are reachable by public transport, and Samandağ is workable. But Bakras Castle, Payas, Alalakh and Barlaam need a vehicle. Without a car, build the trip around the centre, Harbiye and Samandağ.

**Is there accommodation in the earthquake zone?** There is, but it is tight. Bed capacity is around half of what it was before, and new facilities are still under construction. Do not turn up at a weekend or over a public holiday without a reservation. If Antakya is full, İskenderun and Arsuz are realistic alternatives.

**Is it suitable for children?** The central programme is fine with children; the museums and Harbiye present no problem. The Titus Tunnel has wet and slippery footing and needs care. We would not recommend Bakras Castle or the Barlaam climb with children. Given how much active construction there is in the city, keep children close.