Most people come Alanya and never get out of the hotel; just live in the hotel until the end of their holiday. They use the beach and pool of the hotel, restaurants of the hotel, shopping centers of the hotel, disco and animation shows of the hotel. In my opinion they are limited with the hotel because they don't know Alanya. However Alanya is a gold mine. Historical places, natural beauties, social entertaintment places. People who comes Alanya should consider to get out of hotel and take a look around. In my article as a native of Alanya i will write you alternative beauties of Alanya.
Go to centrum of Alanya. Ask for harbor, its so close to centrum. When you go to harbor you will see red tower. You can visit Red Tower and look at Alanya from the top of Red Tower. After take some photos you can goto Fishermans Caffe near Red Tower and taste some tea. Its cheap 50 Cent in 2009. After you taste tea and breathe some sea air walk to the center of discos. They are so popular in Alanya. James Dean, Bistro Bellman, Janus, Robin Hood, Zaph Han …
When you come to Alanya its a big mistake if you leave without visiting Castle Of Alanya. You can use Bus, Taxi, Rent Scooter or Car, if you are youth or feel youth you can also walk to go to castle. There are places to eat on castle. You can try turkish pancakes called "Gozleme". Dont forget your camera, i am sure that you will use it!
Lets goto Dim River and Dim cave. If i were you first i go to dim river, i order fish for lunch than i swim on cold waters of dim river. After eating fishes over river for lunch you can go to dim cave and see that natural beauty. While going to dim cave you will see many orange and lemon gardens. Its also worth to see.
One of the natural beauty of the Alanya is Sapadere Canyon. Huge water resource, its opened 3 years ago. There are also places to eat of drink.
You should also see cleopatra beach. Its good place to swim. Little crowded but its nice to be with people isn't it? In cleoparta beach you will see sport centers. Basketball, football, tennis … You can use these places … Basketball is free but you should pay for football and tennis. Volleyball is also free. Damlatas Cave is alternative places to go over there.
Its time to go to yacht tour at Alanya because there are many thing to see. i will tell you where they stops. First you will see historic boathouse (tershane). Then you will see pirate cave, after that you will see lovers cave enterance. You can climb there and goto exit of lovers cave. But you should jump from 7 meters to the sea. There is no exit except this way. After that you will see phosporus cave, you will learn why its called phosphorus when you see it. You will also eat pasta and chicken grill with salad for lunch.
Another alternative activity in Alanya is Scuba Diving. There are several companies serve for this activity. Its not important if you never dive with tubes. They will teach you how to do. After some education you will be ready to discovery diving. Potential things to see under water: Mediterranean seal, Turtle, Fish, Cave, Sunk Ship. They will take photos of you under sea. Lunch menu will be probably same as yacht tour. We like chickens.
Sealanya, its opened 3 years ago, located at Turkler county. Dolphin shows, Seal shows, You can also swim with dolphins, swim with tropical fishes. I know you will like it, also your children (if you have any) like to see there. If i were child i prefer to see dolphin show rather than to see caves.
Water Planet Aqupark, located in Okurcalar, its really funny place to go, remember me when you trying white kamikaze. If you are adrenalin sport lover there is a place for you. You can do Bungee Jumping! 70 meter. You have 2 alternative "Free Fall" and "Flying".
You can do Rafting at "5 mansion" (5 konak). You should goto some tour company to arrange this activity, when you goto centrum of Alanya you will see many of them trying to sell you that kind of activities.
You can also go fishing, most people dont know it but if you like fishing there are fishermans serves for fishing. They have boat and they know the place where you can catch fish. If you like this idea you can ask some local stores probably they know their cell phone numbers. i can give you their numbers here.
Paragliding and parasailing alternatives, you can do paragliding from hidirelles, start from the top of the hill and you see Alanya from the bird's eye view, it finishes on the beach. You can also try parasailing, water sport company serve for this activity, many of them have parsailing option. they connect you to jet boat with rope, then you start fying with parachute.
There are places for Motocross activity on plateau of Alanya, called red area (kizil alan). There is a company rent cross motors and helps you to do that kind of motorcross activity.
You see that you can do many thing in Alanya, limited with your imagination, I call it living in Alanya! So you do not need to pay a lot of money for 5 star all inclusive all in one hotels, get a room from apart hotel which located at the centrum of Alanya. Just use your hotel to sleep. Not to live. If you want to learn these hotels in Alanya, try this site http://www.hotelsalanya.net