Things to do in Antalya
And where to stay, the best time to visit, what a day costs, and the traps to skip.
Best time to visit Antalya
• a note or something on ✦ an occasion worth the trip
Spring, best for sightseeing, hiking and golf, sites uncrowded and sea comfortable by late May.
Peak beach and worst sightseeing, 34 to 38 degrees, antiquity before 10am only and shade at midday.
Autumn connoisseurs season, sea warm into November, October and late September are the best months overall.
Winter, mild and wet, empty sites and best golf package rates, not a beach holiday.
What's on
- Runtalya Marathon typically March
Festive road closed marathon weekend in Antalya in spring.
- Aspendos Opera & Ballet Festival late summer / September, dates move yearly
Opera and ballet performed in Aspendos theatre itself, the single best reason to brave the heat.
- Golden Orange Film Festival 24-31 Oct 2026
Turkey oldest and most prestigious film festival, Kaleici fills, book early that week.
Best things to do in Antalya
Kaleiçi
Walled Roman and Ottoman old town of lanes, gates and harbour, best wandered slowly in morning light and again after dark.
Perge Ancient City
A whole walkable Roman city plan with stadium, colonnaded street, agora and baths, often surprisingly empty outside peak hours.
Aspendos Theatre
The best preserved Roman theatre in the world, still in performance use, with acoustics you can test from stage to top row.
Konyaaltı Beach
Long pebble city beach backed by the Beydaglari mountains, with promenade, cafes and the local evening stroll behind it.
Mermerli Beach
Small cliff sheltered pocket beach directly below the old town walls, the only swim a Kaleici base gets without a tram ride.
Lower Düden Waterfall
The river throws itself about 40 metres off the cliff into the sea, best in afternoon light or seen from a harbour boat.
Upper Düden Waterfall
Smaller inland cascade you can walk behind, set in a picnic park, a pleasant contrast to the sea fall at Lower Duden.
Kurşunlu Waterfall Nature Park
Quieter forest alternative with small falls, pools and picnic walks, away from the busy urban cliff park at Duden.
Where to stay in Antalya
Kaleiçi
first trip, couples, culture, eating out
Boutique hotels in Ottoman mansions inside the walls, walking distance to harbour, tram and most restaurants.
Konyaaltı / museum-quarter cliffs
city plus beach mix, longer stays
Real residential coastal district with long pebble beach, promenade and cafes locals use, plus an easy tram into Kaleici.
Lara / Kundu
all inclusive resort as the holiday itself
Sandy strip of huge themed all inclusives with private beach and aquaparks, but nothing to walk to outside the gates.
Belek
golf and top end all inclusive luxury
Purpose built pine forest enclave of the most expensive resorts and golf courses, superb and self contained but a separate town.
Think twice about
- Airport / Aksu and the D-400 highway strip
Transit hotels on a multi lane highway, nothing walkable, no beach or old town and dead evenings.
- Far-east Kundu
Totally resort enclosed and isolated if you want any contact with Antalya itself, despite cheap package prices.
- Far-west Konyaaltı beyond Liman and inland Muratpaşa / Kepez as a holiday base
Ordinary residential neighbourhoods with no beach, sights or holiday infrastructure despite Antalya listing labels.
Best restaurants in Antalya
Seraser Fine Dining
Old town most formal room in a 300 year old Ottoman house, international technique on Turkish ingredients for a special occasion.
7 Mehmet
Antalya institution since 1937 above Konyaalti, refined Turkish canon and famous pumpkin dessert, best at lunch or early weekday.
Arma Restaurant
Seafood with a view from stone arches above the old harbour, book a terrace edge table at sunset and confirm fish prices aloud.
Ayar Meyhanesi
The meyhane to try first, vast meze tray, fresh fish and live music in a proper raki paced night, reserve as it is small and famous.
Balıkçı Meyhanesi Kaleiçi
Stone walled fish meyhane near Hidrlik Tower with blue checked street tables and live music on Friday and Saturday.
Vanilla Restaurant
Old town most reliable modern European kitchen since 2007, grills and seafood with a proper vegetarian selection and no hassle.
Mermerli Restaurant
Panoramic terrace over the harbour above its own beach, kebabs and fish, perfect after a Mermerli swim as the lights come on.
Özcanlar
Local benchmark for sis kofte with Antalya piyaz, the tahini rich bean salad found made this way nowhere else in Turkey.
Outdoor things to do in Antalya
Carya Golf Club
Belek number one in the 2026 ranking and Europe first fully floodlit 18 holes, so you can finish or play entirely under lights.
Montgomerie Maxx Royal Golf Club
Colin Montgomerie championship layout through pine and sandy ridges, former Turkish Airlines Open host with floodlit back nine.
Cornelia Golf Club
Faldo 27 holes across King, Queen and Prince nines, tight and heavily bunkered and often called Belek most interesting test.
Antalya Golf Club PGA Sultan Course
Precision tour layout at Antalya Golf Club, the harder championship sibling to the shorter and more forgiving Pasha course.
Antalya Golf Club Pasha Course
Shorter and forgiving sister course to PGA Sultan, the right Belek round for mid and high handicappers.
National Golf Club Belek
Belek oldest championship course from 1994, mature and tree lined, and often better value than the headline resorts.
Lykia Links Golf Antalya
Perry Dye coastal links with wind and dunes, the outlier in Belek and the Mediterranean only true links round.
Gloria Golf Club
Turkey largest golf complex with 45 holes, best for mixed ability groups who want to play daily without transfers.
Best hotels in Antalya
Maxx Royal Belek Golf Resort
Belek benchmark for service first luxury, with personal assistant service, serious food and the Montgomerie course attached.
Regnum Carya
Maxx closest rival and the Carya night golf resort, with white sand beach, huge pools and a big entertainment programme.
Lara Barut Collection
Lara most consistently praised hotel, where service and food, the usual all inclusive failures, are named as strengths.
Titanic Mardan Palace
Maximalist palatial icon with enormous pools and imported sand beach, booked for spectacle rather than quiet luxury.
Akra Antalya
City luxury pick with clifftop pools, bathing platform and serious spa, and you can still walk out into a real city.
RuinAdalia
Kaleici luxury statement built over excavated ruins under glass, with courtyard pool minutes from Hadrian Gate.
Tuvana Hotel
Kaleici mid range default, family run Ottoman houses around garden and pool, five minutes from the harbour.
White Garden Hotel
Small pretty courtyard centred Kaleici hotel at below big name prices, adults leaning, with rooms that vary so request garden facing.
Is Antalya expensive? What a day costs
| Budget | TRY 2,500 a person |
|---|---|
| Classic | TRY 5,500 a person |
| Splurge | TRY 15,000 a person |
A day of food, drink, sights and getting around, before the room
What to book ahead
- Carya Golf Club: weeks ahead
- Montgomerie Maxx Royal Golf Club: weeks ahead
- Cornelia Golf Club: weeks ahead
- Antalya Golf Club PGA Sultan Course: weeks ahead
- Antalya Golf Club Pasha Course: weeks ahead
- National Golf Club Belek: weeks ahead
- Lykia Links Golf Antalya: weeks ahead
- Gloria Golf Club: weeks ahead
- Book Belek golf tee times, top resorts at peak, and Seraser, Ayar and Arma sunset tables days to weeks ahead.
- Book Aspendos Festival tickets and Golden Orange week Kaleici hotels early, both sell as a season or fill the old town.
- No need to book Duden, Perge or Aspendos entry, shared rafting beyond the day before, or any cheap eating.
Is Antalya safe?
- Antalya reads as a safe, busy, family out late city, normal big city care on trams and at ATMs applies.
- Real risks are financial scams, roads, cliff swimming and heat, never dive and enter the water where locals enter.
- Emergency number is 112, insurance should cover rafting, diving or paragliding if you do them.
- Check your government's current travel advice before you go.
Antalya travel tips: tourist traps to skip
- Friendly stranger near Hadrian Gate leading to a carpet, leather or jewellery shop, tea obliges nothing, walk on.
- Fish by weight bill shock, confirm per kilo price, weight on the scale and service before cooking.
- Cheap tours with long jewellery centre shopping stops, pay for small group no shopping or hire a driver.
Getting around Antalya: public transport and more
- Kaleici is walked. Use AntRay tram from the airport, heritage and modern trams in the city, and dolmus on coast roads.
- Hire a car for one to two days for Perge, Aspendos, Termessos and waterfalls, it beats tours on cost and time.
- Taxis on the meter or via BiTaksi, never accept a negotiated tourist price for Kaleici, Lara or Belek.
Who Antalya suits
| Solo travellers | Good |
|---|---|
| Groups of friends | Good |
| Couples | Great |
| Bachelor parties | OK |
| Families | Good |
| Bachelorette parties | OK |
Make Antalya your trip
Swearby drafts the days from places people swear by. Swap any stop, then invite the crew by text, even friends without the app. Vote on dates, track costs as you go, and everyone gets one number at the end.
Get Swearby on the App Store