Antalya is a Roman harbour with a cold mountain river behind it.
Which Köprülü rafting day actually spends time on the water. What the Suluada boat costs. Whether Pamukkale is worth six hours in a minibus. Reviews of every tour you can book from Antalya, Kemer and Belek.
Kaleiçi, the Köprülü river, Suluada, Pamukkale.
The four bookings a first week in Antalya tends to hang off. What each one costs, and what the people who took it say.
01The whole coast in a dayOld City, Waterfalls, Olympos Cable Car, BoatOld town, the waterfalls, the Tahtalı cable car and a boat, in one minibus. The day most people book first and the one that saves a hire car.
02Cold water inlandKöprülü Canyon Antalya: Whitewater Rafting TripNinety minutes up into the Taurus for the Köprülü river. Rafts run right through the summer and the water stays cold when the coast is at forty.
03The island daySuluada Island Boat Trip with Lunch & Hotel PickupSuluada, sold along this coast as the Maldives of Turkey, from the bay at Adrasan. Shallow, clear, and reachable only by boat.
04The long one northPamukkale Hierapolis and Cleopatra’s Pool Tour with lunch from AntalyaThe Pamukkale travertines and Hierapolis above them. Six hours in a minibus each way, and still the best-selling day out of Antalya.
The canyon behind Antalya is where the day gets cold and loud.
Köprülü is ninety minutes inland and about ten degrees cooler than the seafront. Rafts, quads, jeeps and a zipline strung over the gorge, mostly sold as one long day with lunch by the river.
★★★★★★★★★★ 4.9 · Köprülü Canyon Antalya: Whitewater Rafting Trip
Rafting daysTwelve kilometres of grade-two water, helmets and a swim break.
Quad and buggyDust, forest track and a river crossing everyone gets wet in.
Jeep safariOpen-back trucks up to the plateau villages and back down.
CanyoningAbseils and jumps through the Tazı gorge, wetsuit supplied.
All 44 rafting days on the Köprülü →
Antalya city, Kemer under the pines, Belek behind the golf.
Almost everything here departs from one of the three. Which one you sleep in changes the pickup time far more than it changes the day.
The Turquoise Coast earns the name from a boat, not from the beach.
Gulets out of the old harbour, the Suluada run from Adrasan, pirate boats leaving Kemer at nine, and a green reservoir up the Manavgat river. Most of the coastline south of the city is only reachable by hull.
The Antalya days out more people book than any other.
Every review on the site →The tours that carry the most travellers on this coast, and what earns each one the slot.
1
Ziplining, Rafting, Jeep Tour & Quad Safari w/Lunch
Spend 5 to 10 hours in Köprülü Canyon combining white-water rafting, ziplining, Jeep touring, buggy riding, or quad biking. Guides such as Muke, Nabi, Hajjar, and Amro keep the day lively while you tackle 14 km of river, 10 rapid sections, mountain trails, and a riverside lunch.
From · $26
Read our review →
2
Old City, Waterfalls, Olympos Cable Car, Boat
from $29
3
Suluada Boat Tour From Antalya (Maldives of Turkey) with Lunch & Hotel Transfer
from $23
4
Pamukkale Hierapolis and Cleopatra’s Pool Tour with lunch from Antalya
from $84
5
Antalya Luxury Old Town Tour with Cable Car & Boat Trip
from $32
6
Suluada Island Boat Trip with Lunch & Hotel Pickup
from $18
7
Pamukkale and Hierapolis Tour with Lunch
from $41
8
Pamukkale & Hierapolis Day Trip w/Meals
from $41
Antalya: Kaleiçi in the morning, the waterfalls after lunch.
Everything in Antalya →
The old town sits inside Roman walls above a working harbour, and it is small. Half a day covers it on foot. The rest of a city day goes on the waterfalls, the cliff road out to Lara, or an hour somewhere with air conditioning.
Kaleiçi, Hadrian’s Gate and the harbour
A Roman gate at the end of a shopping street, Ottoman lanes running down to the old marina, and usually a hop along the seafront by boat. Most versions bolt on the waterfalls and have you back by mid-afternoon.
Düden, Kurşunlu and the Manavgat falls
Upper Düden runs over a cave you can walk behind. Lower Düden drops straight off the cliff into the sea and is best seen from the water. Manavgat is wide, flat and an hour east.
The tunnel aquarium and the museums
The aquarium on the Konyaaltı side runs one of the longest viewing tunnels anywhere, and between the sand sculptures and the archaeological rooms there is an afternoon here when the seafront is unbearable.
Three day trips that justify the alarm clock.
Antalya sits within an hour of three Roman cities, six hours of a white mountain and a stretch of coast with a town under the water. None of them works as a lie-in.
Pamukkale and Hierapolis
Calcium carbonate has been running out of the hillside at Pamukkale for thousands of years and setting into white terraces you walk up barefoot. The Roman spa city of Hierapolis sits on top, with a theatre still cut into the slope and a pool full of fallen columns you can swim in. It is a long way north from the coast, roughly three hours each way, which is why almost every version leaves before seven.
- 1Pamukkale Hierapolis and Cleopatra’s Pool Tour with lunch from Antalya★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 2,188 reviews
- 2Pamukkale and Hierapolis Tour with Lunch★★★★★★★★★★ 4.6 · 1,853 reviews
- 3Pamukkale & Hierapolis Day Trip w/Meals★★★★★★★★★★ 4.7 · 1,387 reviews
Perge, Aspendos and Side
Three Roman sites sit in a line east of the city. Perge keeps a colonnaded street with the wheel ruts still in the stone. Aspendos has the best-preserved Roman theatre in the Mediterranean, still used for concerts, with the acoustics to justify it. Side adds a temple on a headland at the end. One minibus covers all three and gets back for dinner.
- 1Perge, Aspendos, City of Side, and Waterfalls Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.8 · 691 reviews
- 2Ancient Perge, Aspendos Amphitheater and City of Side Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 644 reviews
- 3Perge Aspendos Side and Manavgat Waterfall Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 470 reviews
Kekova, Myra and Demre
An earthquake dropped part of a Lycian town into the water off Kekova, and the boats drift over the staircases and doorways on the way through. On land, Myra keeps rock tombs cut into a cliff face above a Roman theatre, and Demre holds the church where Saint Nicholas was bishop. It is the longest coastal day out of Antalya and the one people talk about afterwards.
- 1Kekova Sunken City, Demre & Lycia Day Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.6 · 680 reviews
- 2Sunken City Kekova, Demre, and Myra Day Tour from Antalya★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 97 reviews
- 3Sunken City Kekova Demre and Myra Day Tour from Kemer★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 50 reviews
What a day out of Antalya actually costs.
Every tour on the site, grouped by price. A good share of the best days on this coast come in under the price of dinner on the harbour.
City walks, the waterfall run, hammam sessions and the standard Köprülü rafting day with lunch thrown in.
The long ones: Pamukkale, the Kekova boats, scuba days with two dives and a car with a driver for the day.
Private guiding, chartered gulets and the two-day Cappadocia run with a balloon slot at dawn.
The hammam is not a spa afternoon. It is a scrub, and you will need it.
Heated marble, a mitt that takes a layer off you, a mountain of foam, then tea in the cool room. Nearly every hotel on this coast sells a version. The ones worth booking run about ninety minutes and collect you.
Every hammam and spa day →
Four Antalya bookings that will not wait.
Most of this coast can be sorted at a hotel desk the night before. These four run on dawn slots, show nights and boat timetables that take no notice of when your flight lands.
- 012-Day Cappadocia, Cave Hotel, & Balloon TourTwo days, a night in a cave hotel and a balloon slot at the far end of it. Departures run on fixed days from Antalya, so it is the one booking that has to fit your dates rather than the other way round.
- 02Pamukkale Tour with Hot Air Balloon and LunchBaskets lift before sunrise and are grounded outright when the wind gets up. Every flight has a fixed number of seats, so they go days ahead and cancelled mornings push the queue back further.
- 03Antalya Land of Legends Night Show With Boat ParadeThe night show runs on set evenings and entry is timed. Deciding on the day is how people end up with a ticket for the wrong night.
- 04Suluada Boat Tour From Antalya (Maldives of Turkey) with Lunch & Hotel TransferThe island boats run in season only, from one small bay at Adrasan, and they stop the moment the swell gets up. Good weather days fill fast.
Where to be in Antalya when the seafront is too hot to stand on.
July and August sit in the high thirties on the coast and the Roman sites have no shade at all. Two answers work here. Go up, where the Tahtalı cable car finishes at 2,365 metres and the Taurus rivers run cold all summer. Or go under a roof, to marble, glass tanks and air conditioning.
By place, from the city outwards
Kaleiçi, the falls, the canyon, the cable car, the island, then the long one north.
The newest Antalya tour reviews.
Everything added lately →
Fire of Anatolia at Gloria Aspendos Arena from Belek
Read our review →
Köprülü Canyon Adventure, Rafting, Zipline, Canyoning 3 in 1
Read our review →
Super Combo Rafting, Jeep Safari, Quad, Buggy & Zipline f/Antalya
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Full-Day Pamukkale & Hierapolis Guided Tour w/Lunch from Antalya
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From Belek, Antalya Thrilling Buggy Safari Adventure
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