Damlataş Cave

The cave is located west of Alanya Castle on the coast of Mediterranean Sea in the urban fabric of Alanya. Its distance to Alanya city center is 3 km (1.9 mi),^[1] and to Antalya is 124 km (77 mi). The cave's entrance faces the beach.^[2]

The cave was discovered accidentally during mining operations at a quarry used for the construction of Alanya Harbor in 1948.^[1][3] After preliminary research by two geologists, it was opened to the public.^[4]

A 45–50 m (148–164 ft)-long and 15 m (49 ft)-high cylindrical cavity leads to the basement of the cave. The cave is full of stalactites and stalagmites that are formed in fifteen thousand years.^[3][5] The cave has an area of 180–200 m² (1,900–2,200 sq ft) and a total volume about 2,500 m³ (88,000 cu ft) in two levels.^[1][3][4]

The air in the cave contains relatively high percentage of carbondioxide, around 10 to 12 times more than in normal air, and has 95% humidity. The air temperature is 22–23 °C (72–73 °F) regardless of the season.^[1][6]

The cave is popularly known as an "asthma-cure cave" due to the widespread belief in its capability of curing respiratory complaints,^[7] and asthma. In fact, most of the early visitors were people, who suffered from asthma.^[6] In 2010, the municipality of Alanya reported that the cave was visited within seven months by 114,000 tourists of which 2,100 suffered from asthma.^[3] In 2014, the number of visitors suffering from asthma reached 4,000.^[2]

Visitors, who come for asthma cure, stay 21 days long four hours a day in the cave. Between 6:00 and 10:00 hours local time in the early morning, the cave is open only for asthma-sick visitors.^[5] While the entrance fee for tourists cost ₺ 4.50, the visitors for cure pay only ₺ 0.30.^[2]