Gazipaşa Airport → Sorgun Transfer

Gazipaşa Airport to Sorgun transfer

Sorgun is a pocket of umbrella pine east of Side, a state forest running almost to the water, with hotel gates opening off lanes cut between the trees. The pines hold the heat down and the sea breeze comes through them, and that is the whole appeal: shade, sand and almost no traffic. At weekends local families bring picnics in under the same trees, a reminder that the forest is public and the hotels are guests in it. Side, a few kilometres west, is the only place within reach on foot or by dolmuş.

It is 104 km and around 90 minutes, and the part worth planning for is the last ten of them. The highway is left at the Side junction and the road turns east into the pines, where the lanes are unlit and the hotel gates stand well back among the trees. In daylight that final stretch is the best of the journey — resin, shade and the sea appearing in the gaps. After dark it arrives with very little warning, and the car drops to walking pace to read the sign at each entrance.

• The last kilometres to the hotel gate never take long, so the pick-up time is set by the highway and not by the forest lanes.
• Side is a few kilometres west and the only thing within reach on foot or by dolmuş, so put your errands into one trip rather than several.
• Several hotels share the same turning off the highway, so put the full hotel name on the booking and not just Sorgun.
• Sorgun and Titreyengöl share the same stretch of forest and some of the same access lanes, so say which of the two your hotel is registered under.