Antalya is where Turkey goes on holiday: a working city of two and a half million behind an old harbour, with resort towns, ancient ruins and beaches strung out along the coast on either side of it.
The city itself
- Kaleiçi — the old town, with Hadrian’s Gate, Ottoman houses and a harbour full of boats. Stay here if you want to walk everywhere.
- Konyaaltı and Lara — the two city beaches, pebbly and sandy respectively, both easy to reach.
- Düden and Kurşunlu waterfalls — worth a couple of hours, and the upper Düden falls drop straight into the sea.
- The Antalya Museum — one of the best archaeological museums in the country, and usually half empty.
The ruins everyone comes for
This stretch of coast has an unusual density of classical sites, most of them an easy day trip:
| Site | From Antalya | Why go |
|---|---|---|
| Perge | 20 min | A complete Roman city, with a stadium and colonnaded street |
| Aspendos | 50 min | The best-preserved Roman theatre anywhere — still used for performances |
| Termessos | 1 hr | A mountain city above the treeline, reached by a walk. Spectacular, and hot |
| Side | 1 hr 15 | Temple of Apollo by the sea, plus a theatre and baths |
Where people actually stay
- Belek — golf and large all-inclusive resorts, 40 minutes east.
- Side and Kemer — resort towns with their own character, both popular.
- Kaş and Kalkan — smaller, prettier, further west; a different holiday altogether.
- Olympos and Adrasan — treehouses, Lycian ruins and a pebbly beach, for a younger crowd.
When to come
The season runs from late April to late October. May, June, September and October are the sweet spot: the sea is warm enough to swim, the ruins are bearable to walk, and the resorts are not at capacity. July and August are very hot — over 35°C inland — and the coast is at its busiest.
If you are here for treatment
Antalya has its own accredited hospitals and a real dental and hair-transplant sector, so it is not only a holiday stop — some people do the whole journey here and never see Istanbul. And recovering somewhere with sea air and a balcony is a better plan than recovering in a city hotel, provided you are honest about how much time you will want to spend in the sun afterwards.
Plan this with us
Tell us what you are planning and we will come back with options and an itemised price. info@gen.gen.tr