I arrived in Alanya in 2019, and every January still surprises me with the same thing: just how capable this city is of slowing down. The tourist crowds switch off the lights in the shop windows, the restaurants along the promenade work from two until nine, and in Mahmutlar the only people running along the sea in the mornings are locals and a couple of desperate guests from the north. We decided to devote this issue precisely to winter Alanya — a city that exists in parallel with the resort one. Here people talk about the price per square metre without emotion, real-estate agents meet clients calmly and without queues, and in new projects the developer is willing to discuss individual terms. We have gathered material to help you make sense of the updated 2026 residence-permit rules, get to know the Oba district more deeply, and understand why January is precisely the best month to buy an apartment on the secondary market. A separate thank-you to our readers who sent us dozens of letters in December sharing their impressions of last season. We included several of your stories in our special features, and we will certainly carry on this tradition. Enjoy your January reading, and may winter in Alanya become for you that very quiet time when you manage to understand what truly matters.