Belek → Antalya Transfer

Belek to Antalya private transfer

Belek has fairways, beach and buffets, and nothing that resembles a city. Antalya has the rest: the walled old town of Kaleiçi and the marina below the cliffs, the archaeological museum, the department stores and shopping centres, the specialist clinics and dental surgeries that people plan a holiday around, and the intercity bus station for anyone going on to Konya or Cappadocia. So this leg carries an unusually mixed load — a couple going in for the old town and a long lunch, a family after a mall and the waterfall at Düden, someone with an appointment and a folder of notes.

Out of the resort gate the car works its way north through the pine belt to the D400 and turns west. The transfer from Belek to Antalya is 40 km and about 40 minutes, but the two halves are nothing alike. The first thirty are open country: cotton, greenhouses, the Serik plain, the signs for Perge, and then the long perimeter of Antalya Airport. After that the road becomes a city boulevard through Kundu and Lara, with traffic lights, the tram line and buses pulling in and out, and the last stretch can take as long as everything before it. Mornings and the end of the working day are the slow times.

• Give an appointment time when you book rather than just an hour of departure, so the driver can allow for the city half of the route.
• Kaleiçi is largely pedestrian inside the walls, so the usual drop-off is at Hadrian's Gate or the clock tower and you walk down to the marina.
• Say if you are heading for the intercity bus station rather than the centre: it sits on the far side of the city and the approach is different.
• For a hospital or clinic, give the name of the building as well as the district — the larger campuses have several entrances a long way apart.