Liwan Hotel Antakya

Liwan Hotel Antakya occupies a restored Ottoman-era stone mansion in Antakya's historic old town quarter, where narrow cobblestone streets, traditional courtyard houses, and the layered cultural heritage of Arab, Turkish, Armenian, and Christian communities converge. The word liwan refers to the open-sided reception room or loggia common in Levantine architecture, and the hotel's design concept centres on this idea: a shaded central courtyard with a stone fountain provides the social heart of the property, visible from the restaurant and several of the guest rooms.

The room types — heritage rooms, deluxe courtyard-view rooms, and suites — are furnished with Anatolian kilims, hand-painted ceramic details, and dark wood joinery that references regional craft traditions. The on-site restaurant focuses on authentic Hatay cuisine, a cooking tradition more closely related to Syrian and Lebanese flavours than to mainstream Turkish gastronomy: dishes include hummus with clarified butter, tray-baked şiş tavuk, regional meat stews, and the city's signature dessert künefe — a baked shredded-wheat pastry filled with fresh white cheese and soaked in syrup. Breakfast draws on the same regional tradition with olive oil, aged local cheeses, and fresh-baked bread. A library corner stocked with titles on Levantine history and archaeology adds to the property's cultural focus. The hotel does not have a pool or spa but is ideally positioned for walking access to the old bazaar, the Hatay Archaeology Museum, and St. Peter's Cave Church — considered one of the world's oldest Christian places of worship.