Antalya → Demre Transfer

Antalya to Demre private transfer

Demre is a pilgrimage before it is a day out. The church at its centre is where the fourth-century bishop who became Father Christmas actually served, and coach parties, Orthodox families and priests all arrive for it. The rest of the day fills itself: on the edge of town ancient Myra keeps a cliff of house-shaped tombs above a Roman theatre, and a few kilometres across the plain the boats at the Çayağzı jetty run out to the sunken city at Kekova. Guests staying in Antalya book a car because the town is too far for a taxi to sit and wait, and the three sights stand too far apart to walk between.

Of the 140 km, the first fifty are the cliff road south-west of the city: Konyaaltı, then the tunnels bored through the headlands above Beldibi, Kemer's marina below on the left, and the hotel frontage of Çamyuva and Tekirova. Past the Olympos turning the D400 leaves the sea for Kumluca, and from there to Finike it is one climb and one descent after another — that is where the 1 hour 55 goes, not into the kilometres. Finike hands the coast back for a moment, and then the last stretch is flat and agricultural, running between greenhouses until the plastic gives way to the streets of the town.

• If Kekova is part of the plan, the day needs the jetty at Çayağzı as well as the town centre, and the two sit a plain apart.
• Two hours out and two hours back swallows most of a winter day, so an early start is what lets the church, Myra and the boats fit into one.
• A coach ahead of you on the climbs between Kumluca and Finike costs ten minutes and nothing can be done about it, so leave that slack in the return time.
• The basilica stands in a knot of narrow one-way lanes; a drop-off at the nearest corner and two minutes on foot beats waiting for space at the gate.