Alara Han

Alara Han is a caravanserai from the 13th‑century Anatolian Seljuk period.

It is located on a plain 800 metres from Alara Castle, 37 kilometres west of Alanya, on the bank of the Alara River. Alara Han, the first lodging place on the old Alanya‑Konya caravan route, was built entirely of large cut stones on an area of 2,000 m².

The han, built in 1231, is today used as a renovated restaurant and shopping centre. The guardhouse of the caravanserai still retains its original character. The second gate of the caravanserai opens to the accommodations for travelers. Small rooms are located on both sides of a long corridor. Inside the caravanserai there is a fountain, a prayer room and a bathhouse. The signatures of the stone craftsmen that appeared during the building’s restoration are also noteworthy. While I. Alaeddin Keykubad describes himself in inscriptions in Alanya as “the sultan of the black and two seas, the lord of the Arab and Persian lands,” the inscription in Alara Han gives him the title “conqueror of the lands of Rum, Sham, Armenia and the Franks.”