Kemer is on the Gulf of Antalya, 53 km (33 mi) of sea coast with the skirts of the western Taurus Mountains behind. The coast has the typical Mediterranean hot, dry weather and warm sea.
Until the early 1980s this was a quiet rural district, but today the town of Kemer and coastal villages in the district play a very important part in tourism in Turkey.
History
Kemer was the ancient Greek city of Idyros, member of the Lycian League, which after the Ottoman era was called Eski Köy (Old Village) until a 23 km (14 mi) long stone wall was built in 1916 – 1917 to channel the mountain stream water and protect the town from flooding, which until then had been a persistent problem. The name Kemer refers to those walls.
Before the population exchange between Greece and Turkey, Greek families lived in the area with the Turks of the area peacefully coexisting. A water mill still exists in the village of Aslanbucak that used to belong to the Greeks of the village of Kemer and Aslanbucak, but the mill is currently located in private property.
Until the 1960s there was no road connection and the district was accessible only by boat. Then a road was built and from the 1980s onwards this was followed by a great investment in infrastructure, planned by the state and funded by the World Bank, aimed at developing a large tourist industry.