Darıca (Greek: Δάριτζα, from the Byzantine τὰ Ῥίτζιον) is a municipality and district of Kocaeli Province, Turkey.

Though Greek settlement around the Sea of Marmara dates to the first millennium BCE, the earliest reference to the Byzantine fortress of Ritzion (τὰ Ῥίτζιον) is in the works of the12th-century historian John Kinnamos.

The ruins of the fortress, which gives the town its modern name, are still located in present-day Darıca.

Darıca is in close proximity to large-scale transit infrastructure including the D-100 highway and the Turkish State Railway station for Kocaeli.

The name was criticized by Russian-backed Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov and the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who called Dudayev a terrorist.