Halicarnassus · 4th century BC
Bodrum
Ancient
Theatre
A stage cut open
to the Aegean
Often searched for as the Bodrum amphitheatre, this is a Hellenistic theatre carved into the north slope above the town. Entry is free, open 08.30 to 17.30, closed on Mondays. Sit on the tiers and behind the stage you get the harbour, the castle and the sea. This is a visitor guide, not an official site.
What else is in Bodrum
Photo: Carole Raddato, CC BY-SA 2.0 · light and tone processing BLN Global
History
A hillside above Bodrum,
2,400 years old
From the 4th century BC to today
The theatre was cut into the north slope of ancient Halicarnassus in the Hellenistic period. Part of the seating was carved straight out of the bedrock. The building was not placed on the hill, it was taken out of it.
It was altered under the Romans, then went unused for centuries. Excavation began in 1973, and in 2002 the site was laid out and opened for performances.
Read the historyThe visit
Short walk, steep one
The theatre is not far from the centre, but it sits on the slope. The issue is not distance, it is gradient. From the bus station it is about twenty minutes on foot, uphill the whole way and with almost no shade. In the middle of the day that walk is harder than the map suggests.
A view from
every seat
Stage and Aegean together
The theatre faces south, towards the harbour. The lower rows look at the stage; climb higher and the harbour, then the castle, then the open sea appear behind it. Where you sit changes what you see, not only what you hear.
What is
actually on 2026
Now: waiting for new dates
6 dates were announced for the 2026 season. 4 have already happened, 0 are still to come, 2 were cancelled. We list the cancellations because otherwise they sit in ticket calendars for months. The 2025 season was called off entirely, after a ministry decision on concerts in ancient theatres.
Full events calendar Cancelled dates are listed too. Alessandro Safina Old listings keep circulating online, so the record stays here.
Announced events at this venue can be cancelled by administrative decision. Confirm with the ticket seller before you travel. This site does not sell tickets.
Common
questions
Answered briefly, each with its own page and source
- Is there an entrance fee?
- Free, according to the official DÖSİM list.
- What are the opening hours?
- 08.30 to 17.30, closed on Mondays.
- How do I get there?
- On foot uphill from the centre, short but steep.
- How old is the theatre?
- Hellenistic, 4th century BC.
- What else is there in Bodrum?
- The centre on foot, the peninsula by car.
Who makes this guide
Why this guide exists
The same questions get four different answers online. One page says the entrance costs thirty lira, another says it is free, a third says the site shuts at eight in the evening. None of them names a source.
Here every figure says where it came from and when we last checked. What we have not verified is marked as such. The walk up, for instance: we pass on the minutes from visitor accounts and we say plainly that we did not time it ourselves.
- Every figure names its source
- Every page shows its last check
- Unverified means unwritten
- Cancelled events stay listed
- We do not sell tickets