Alanya

Alanya is a city in southern Turkey, on the Mediterranean coast. It’s a famous resort town and thus everything is a little bit too expensive.

West towards Antalya
From city centre (around the yacht marina the ’Red Tower’ where bars are gathered), walk towards the direction of Antalya or Istanbul as shown by the not-very-common signs, and after about a walk of 30 minutes mostly through the neighbourhoods full of concrete hotels, you will arrive to the edge of town. Consider quitting the town completely, as many cars will still turn to side alleys after where you think is far enough from the city centre. Don’t walk too away though, as there is a tunnel (which you can’t walk through) very near where the town really ends, and it’s not a good idea to thumb right immediately at its entrance as the shoulder gets really narrow to pull over there. Expect to wait two hours for a lift, as local people here are mean -though not disrespectful- or timid. Don’t refuse lift offers for Avsallar, a town about 20-25 km west, where you can get quicker lifts.

If you don't want to walk it's possible to take bus number 2 to the fınal stop (1.25 TL) and then walk about 100 meters to a good spot or 200 meters to a spot under a brıdge (sweet shadow)

East towards Anamur, Taşucu, Silifke, Mersin
The junction with traffic lights above a beach at the town (or, more like suburb) of Mahmutlar some distance east of downtown Alanya seems to be best place to hitch east but still, expect to wait for hours before being picked up. Remember to bring lots of water if it's summer (as it seems there is no grocery/convenience store nearby despite the huge number of residential buildings lining the highway).

Sleeping
If coming from the east (Mersin), at the beginning of town you'll recognize a big hotel called Utopia. and it looks like a castle on a rock including a big elevator down to the beach, you can't miss it. It even has a fake medıeval wall around it. Some 500-1000m further, along the road next to the sea, on the left side there's a camping site called Camping Perle, located at the beginning of town. On the other side of the camping there are some banana plantations, and further on you can find a service station. It's possible to sleep on the beach for free. You can even use the deckchairs of the camping, the owner seemed to be quite relaxed with it. It's also quite a safe place.

Vidimian slept on a bench in the waterfront park in the city centre in an April night. Although nothing bad had happened, it was really cold, probably because of the humid breeze from the sea.

There also seems to be secluded spots to sleep rough inside the city walls (when entered from the gate next to the Red Tower, Kızıl Kule). Just walk uphill for a few minutes to be far enough from any house.