The southern coast of Turkey is one of the world's most beautiful regions: sandy beaches offering eight months of swimming, magnificent landscapes and a multitude of historic sites.
The region, which unfolds along a belt 100-200 kilometers wide between the Taurus mountains and the sea, has been a focal point of interaction, commercial relations and political confrontations throughout history. Since early times, this region has seen the founding of heavily populated cities and the area as a whole became rich and prosperous. A period of decline set in due to the decreasing importance of the Mediterranean in world trade, the devastation caused by earthquakes, the deterioration of waterways and the spreading of malaria. The fertile plains were abandoned and became little more than winter quarters for nomads. In recent decades, this region has regained its former importance with the development of commercial agriculture and tourism.

Adana, the metropolis of the eastern Mediterranean coast of Turkey, Mersin, Tarsus, Iskenderun and Antalya have all developed and expanded rapidly. The peaks of the magnificent Taurus mountain range, covered with snow in summer as well as in winter, form the southern border of Central Anatolia and extend towards the east, hugging the shores of the Mediterranean itself. To the south of these mountains, the long white sandy beaches, the bays and coves surrounded by pine forests and the turquoise colored sea make this one of the most prominent tourism resorts of Turkey. But tourism is not its sole economic activity. Thanks to its temperate Mediterranean climate, the region has a rich and abundant agriculture and produces citrus fruits, bananas, avocados, cotton, vegetables and flowers.