Just behind Cleopatra Beach hides one of Alanya's quirkiest attractions, a small stalactite cave discovered by accident in 1948 when workers were quarrying stone for the harbour breakwater. A short passage opens into a chamber dense with dramatically lit stalactites and stalagmites that have taken an estimated fifteen thousand years to form. Its real fame, though, is the air: warm, extremely humid and unusually high in carbon dioxide, holding a temperature that stays around a steady twenty-two degrees all year. For decades asthma and respiratory patients have come to sit inside for morning sessions, believing the atmosphere eases their breathing, and you will often see them on the benches deep in the cave. For most visitors it is a quick, cool ten-minute wonder rather than a long excursion. Pair it with the beach and the adjacent Alanya Museum, go in the morning when the air is stillest, and note that the heavy, damp warmth can feel intense.
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