The Taurus Mountains are a two thousand kilometer mountain chain that draws the periphery of Antalya Bay like an arc and looks at the city from a bird's eye view. The Taurus Mountains, which form one of the most important forest areas of our country, also contain many mountain ranges parallel to the Mediterranean coast of Turkey, extending from the Teke Peninsula to Syria and even reaching the Iraqi border by extending inland.
On the other hand, the Western Taurus Mountains draw an arc around the Antalya Gulf, starting from the Teke Peninsula. It is separated from the Central Taurus Mountains by the Taşeli Plateau and the Göksu River in the east.
The highest peak of the Western Taurus Mountains, the 3086-meter-high Kizlar Sivrisi, is in the Elmalı district. The most well-known mountains of the Western Taurus Mountains are Akdağlar, Bey Mountains, Katrancık Mountain, Dedegöl Mountain, Sultan Mountains and Geyik Mountains. Karst forms are prevalent in the mountains covered with limestone layers. There are many valleys, lakes, underground water resources, plateaus, plains, and plateaus between the mountain ranges.
In the Taurus Mountains, which offer an extensive range of plant species, trees such as oak, sandalwood, blackberry, plane tree, wild olive, red pine, larch, dogwood, laurel, juniper, beech, cedar, fir, snowdrop, poppy, narcissus, lavender, wild cyclamen, flowers such as daisy are encountered.
The Taurus Mountains have great wealth with the diversity of animal species, besides animals such as wild goat, roe deer, fallow deer, deer, lynx, wild boar, fox, wolf, jackal, rabbit, marten, eagle, falcon, starling, partridge, dove, nests of bird species such as snipe.
The Taurus Mountains, which contain many historical values and their natural and geographical beauties, become one of the indispensable elements of the urban identity with their visuals that add a completely different quality to the panorama of Antalya.
