Dinner Outside the Hotel: Where to Eat on the Antalya Coast and Where the Car Stops

02

Side: The Harbour at the Far End of the Peninsula

For anyone staying along the Side coast this is the obvious night out, and it earns that. The restaurants crowd round the small harbour where the peninsula ends, with the Temple of Apollo's columns a few steps away against the sunset, and the lanes between fill with people as the heat goes out of the day. It is busy, a little theatrical, and a short ride from most hotels on this stretch of coast.

Getting there by car has one rule. Ordinary traffic does not go into the old town. Your car stops at the bus station car park, at the landward end of the peninsula, while the harbour lies at the far tip, the whole length of the old main street away. Our guide to Side old town drop-offs explains the barrier, the shuttle and that walk properly; for a dinner the only new element is that you make the walk twice, and the second time it is dark, you are full and somebody small wants carrying.

If the sunset is part of the plan, leave earlier than 4 or 10 km seems to deserve, because the entrance road queues on summer evenings as everyone arrives for the same hour. For the way home, arrange to meet the car back at that same car park. Once the shutters come down, the lanes look alike, and a place you can name to a driver beats a pin dropped somewhere a car is not allowed to go.

03

Manavgat: Tables Beside the River

Manavgat is the working town behind the Side coast, 8 km inland and around 15 minutes by car, and the river runs straight through its middle. In the centre there are restaurants along the banks, several with terraces looking straight onto the water under the trees. The evening here is less of a performance than Side's harbour. It is a working town having its dinner, and that is precisely its appeal for a guest who has spent a week among other holidaymakers.

Access is the easy part. These are ordinary streets in a town people live in, so a car can usually set you down close to the water rather than at a barrier. The slow points are the bridge over the river and the central streets around it when the town is busy. Give the driver the street the restaurant is on and which side of the bridge it is on, because 'by the river' covers both banks and a fair stretch of each.

Two things to know before choosing it. The waterfall upstream has terraces of its own, but it is a park with set opening hours and belongs to a daytime outing rather than a dinner. And a table right at the edge of moving water is lovely with adults and needs a moment's thought with a toddler, so ask for one set back from it if that applies to you.

04

Antalya: Kaleiçi, the Old Harbour and Two Seafronts

Kaleiçi is the walled old quarter of Antalya, and its dinners come in two kinds: courtyards tucked inside restored houses up in the lanes, and terraces around the old harbour at the foot of the cliff. Either way the car normally stops at a gate on the edge of the quarter. Cars usually drop people either by the Kalekapısı clock tower or at Hadrian's Gate on Atatürk Caddesi; everything past that is on foot. The harbour is downhill, steeply, which is pleasant on the way to dinner and less so afterwards. To spare yourself the climb back, a glass lift runs down the cliff from the western end of Cumhuriyet Square to the marina, though summer brings queues for it.

The old town is about 20 minutes and 15 km from Lara. Budget around 40 minutes for the 40 km from Belek, around 45 for the 45 km from Kemer, and a little over an hour for the 75 km from Side. Antalya is a working city as well as a resort, so the last stretch through its streets is the part of the journey that varies; leave some margin before a sunset table.

Konyaaltı, the long pebble beach west of the centre, was rebuilt as a seafront park, and the old road along the shore was taken out of through traffic, with roughly half of it turned into parking. A car meets the promenade at access points rather than following it. Because the seafront runs for kilometres, tell the driver which stretch you want rather than just the name. For Kemer guests it lies on the way into the city.

Lara is the opposite end. Between the city and the sandy beach the coast rises into cliffs, and along the top, around Düden Park, terraces look out across the gulf to the mountains on the far side. For anyone staying in Lara this is the shortest of all the city evenings. The cliff-top places sit on a main road, so being set down is simple; the busy carriageway and the drop are what to watch with children.

05

Alanya: The Harbour Streets and the Castle Road

Alanya's evenings gather in the streets that run parallel to the harbour, where the restaurants, cafés and excursion boats are, with the octagonal Red Tower standing at the lower end of İskele Caddesi. It feels like a town rather than a resort, because it is one. Its centre mixes pedestrian streets with one-way loops round the harbour road. Expect to step out a street back from the restaurant; it saves several minutes of the car circling for a door it may not be able to reach. The Red Tower makes an easy meeting point for the return.

From Mahmutlar the harbour is 12 km and about 20 minutes away. From Avsallar it is 25 km and about 30 minutes, from Okurcalar 37 km and about 40 minutes, and from Side 65 km and around an hour. Whatever the distance, the time is lost in the last couple of kilometres into the centre, which is where the whole hotel strip arrives at once.

The castle road is the other Alanya dinner. A zigzag of roughly 3 km climbs from the town up the rock towards the castle, and the terraces along it are chosen for the view down over the town and the bay. Cars and taxis use this road, so you can be driven up to the terrace itself, which matters, because the road is steep and winding and nobody enjoys walking down it after dark. The cable car from beside Cleopatra Beach stops for the night at a set hour, so for a late descent book the car rather than relying on it.

06

Kemer: A Small Town Around Its Marina

Kemer's evening is compact. The marina lies within the town itself, and the waterfront is a chain of short paths rather than a single promenade: along the beach, through a park, around the yachts and on to the beach park beyond. The mountains rise almost straight from the back of the town, so the view runs one way to the water and the other way to rock.

The marina has parking of its own, so a car can bring you close to the water. The real variable is your hotel. A resort sold as Kemer may be in Beldibi, Göynük, Çamyuva or Tekirova, and from the furthest of them the marina is a proper drive along the D400 rather than a hop, so give the hotel's own name when you book. If the evening calls for something older than a marina, Kaleiçi is 45 km and about 45 minutes away, with Konyaaltı on the road in.

07

Book the Ride Back Before You Leave the Hotel

Each leg is a private car with a driver, one way, at a fixed price for the vehicle agreed in advance. For a dinner the outward leg is the easy part; the return is what to settle before you go. It can take either of two shapes, both arranged at the booking: a second leg collecting you at a named hour, or waiting time while you eat. On a short hop such as Side or Manavgat a set return hour usually makes most sense, while on a long evening into Antalya from Side or Kemer it is worth comparing the two before you decide.

Plan on the assumption that there will be no car to find at the edge of a pedestrian zone at closing time, because everyone else is leaving at the same moment. Fix a meeting point you can recognise in the dark and that sits outside the car-free area, such as the Side entrance car park, Hadrian's Gate, the clock tower, the Red Tower or the Kemer marina car park. Set the hour a little later than feels necessary, since dinners on this coast rarely end when they were meant to. If you will be late anyway, message the driver while there is still time in hand, not at the agreed minute.

Coming back late is usually the smoothest drive of the day, because the coast road carries far less traffic than it did in the early evening. The one snag can be the hotel itself, since large resorts often have more than one gate. Tell the driver which entrance you want, normally the one by reception, so the evening does not end with a lap of the perimeter fence.

08

Children, Groups, Dress and the Time of Year

With children, ask for a child seat by height and weight when you book, and say that it is needed on the way home as well, because the return is a separate leg and may be a different car. A pushchair counts as luggage and goes in the boot. Look at the ground before choosing where to eat. Many of Side's lanes are laid in stone and Kaleiçi's are cobbled and stepped in places, while the paths of the Konyaaltı seafront park are far kinder to small wheels and tired legs.

For groups, one vehicle keeps everyone together and costs one price for the vehicle rather than a fare each. The classes are Economy for 4 passengers, First Class for 6, Standard for 7 and minibuses for 12 or 16. A minibus needs more room to pull in than a car, so its stopping point near a pedestrian zone may be a little further from the lanes. A large party is also worth a call to the restaurant before the car is booked.

Dress is relaxed almost everywhere, but choose flat shoes with some grip, since worn stone turns slick underfoot. Outside high summer bring a light layer, as evenings by the water cool quickly. If you step into a mosque along the way, cover shoulders and knees, women cover their hair, and shoes come off at the door. Out of season the resort strips grow quiet and some seasonal places close or shorten their hours, while towns where people live all year, such as Antalya, Alanya and Manavgat, keep eating out. Check that your chosen place is open before you book the car.