Gazipaşa Airport → Kestel Transfer

Gazipaşa Airport to Kestel transfer

Kestel is where Alanya stops being a resort and starts being a place people live in. It follows the shore east of the centre — schools, supermarkets, a long straight beach used mostly by the households standing above it — and the Dim river comes down out of the mountains just past its western edge. Travellers who land at Gazipaşa Airport for Kestel are rarely here for a week. They are owners opening a flat for the season, families who take the same building every year, and visitors who wanted Alanya close by without living in the middle of it.

Thirty-eight kilometres, about 40 minutes, and what matters is what this route leaves out. The route west is really two stretches — the cliff bends as far as Kargıcak, then the built-up coast through Mahmutlar — and Kestel starts where the blocks thin out again. Central Alanya — the castle rock, the harbour, the part that can cost a quarter of an hour on an August evening — lies beyond you and never enters the journey, which is exactly the opposite of arriving from Antalya. The one stretch that slows in season is Mahmutlar itself; after dark the whole thing runs clear.

• Kestel is split between the shore road and the highway above it, so say which of the two your building faces and roughly how far east of the Dim bridge it stands.
• The D400 above Kestel has no left turn for long stretches, so if your building faces the sea the car may pass it and come back — that is normal and costs a minute.
• If you are opening up a flat for the season, mention it when booking: a stop at one of the big supermarkets on the highway fits easily into a 40-minute run.
• Going back, the Mahmutlar stretch is at its worst in the early evening, so a morning pickup from Kestel holds to the 40 minutes more reliably than an evening one.