Kaunos is an ancient city in the Caria region of ancient Anatolia. It is located within Çandır district in the area of Köyceğiz in Muğla. According to legend, the city was founded by Kaunos, son of King Miletos, who, after being banished for his forbidden love to his twin sister Byblis, settled on the western banks of the Dalyan River and built a city named after himself.

Present-day Kaunos, which was purely a port city in ancient times, is now about 8 kilometers inland from the coast due to natural coastal shift and is connected to Lake Köyceğiz by waterways and marsh waters. The town’s famous rock-cut tombs on the mountainside, which you can get the best view of from the Dalyan district across the river, date back to the Urartians and are the heart of the historical sites. Furthermore, kilometers of fortress walls and the ruins of stoa, agora, baths, fountains and theaters, which can be reached from Dalyan by canoes or excursion boats, testify to a highly developed city life in antiquity. Roman baths, Lycian tombs, Greek inscriptions: Kaunos demonstrates the development of a city over the centuries with its influences under the rule of the Persians, the Hittites, the Greeks and the Romans. This versatility has already inspired historians in ancient times to create fairytale legends and fantastic myths. From the 4th century BC to the 6th century AD, conquests and the status as a trading city brought indisputably the most diverse civilizations to Kaunos, which still can be found today in the individual buildings and ruins.