Altınbeşik Mağarası

Altınbeşik Düdeni - Altın Beşik Mağarası

Useful Information

Location:	Altinbesik Cave National Park, near Ürünlü. 12 km southeast of Aydinkent (Ibradi), 55 km north of Manavgat. From Antalya through İbradi to Ürünlü village, then 1 hour hike to the cave. (37° 2'17.65"N, 31°37'55.46"E)
Open:
Fee:
Classification:	Karst Cave
Light:	Incandescent
Dimension:	L=2,500 m, VR=101 m, T=16-18 °C.
Guided tours:
Photography:
Accessibility:
Bibliography:
Address:	Altınbeşik Cave National Park, Ürünlü, Antalya,İbradi ilçesi, 07680 İbradı/Antalya, Tel: +90-242-691-20-04.
As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then. Please check rates and details directly with the companies in question if you need more recent info.

History

31-AUG-1994

Altınbeşik Cave National Park established.

Description

This is definitely a mysterious cave. Probably one should speak Turkish to find it, we did not, so we had no chance to see the cave, although we tried hard, but if you know more, please tell us. Drive north from Manavgat, you will see hundreds of signs pointing to this cave. Once you reach the small village Ürünlü, there is a last sign at the beginning of the village in multiple languages. It tells to contact the guide in order to see the cave, unfortunately it does not tell who the guide is and how to find him. The cave is about 4 km from the village, and the road to the cave is really poor. The guide brings visitors to the cave entrance with his old 4WD. Do not try to drive this road in your own car, although this road was built only a few years ago, it is extremely poor. Before it was built, visitors had to hike to the cave for about an hour.

Altınbeşik Mağarası (Altinbesik cave, Golden Cradle Cave) is said to be one of the most interesting and well known caves in Turkey. It is located on the western slopes of the Manavgat River Valley. The area around the cave is famous for beautiful lakes, interesting rock formations, travertine, and streams. The cave is named after Altınbeşik Hill where it is located inside. It was discovered by the geologist Dr. Temucin Aygen.

Altınbeşik Cave has three levels, the lowest is still active with an underground river, rimstone pools and waterfalls. That is the reason why it is sometimes called Altınbeşik Düdeni (Altinbesik waterfalls). During the wet season in spring, even the middle level is reactivated sometimes. The cave is visited from the resurgence by boat, until a travertine barrier, a rimstone 44 m high, is reached. The first cave lake is 125 m long and up to 9 m deep, and it is followed by a part with many formations. The entrance portal is 40 m wide and 40 m high.

There are dozens of descriptions of this cave on the web. All of them are translated very poorly and do not contain much information. The above is a compilation of those texts, as we could not see the cave ourselves. We categorized it as a wild cave, as we could not find any info about regular tours, developed paths, or even an address of a guide. However, we recommend the walk to the cave just to see the entrance portal with its dark green lake.

UPDATE 2024: the cave has a new road to the entrance which is much better. There are official tours which are sold on the internet. The tours are full-day tours which include hotel pick-up, drive, meals, and cave tour. They are offered during summer and autumn, the rest of the year the cave is closed because the water level is too high for tours.