Belek → Aspendos Transfer

Belek to Aspendos private transfer

Belek is built for staying put: hotels set back in the pine woods behind the beach, golf courses laid out between them, and nearly everything a holiday needs inside the resort gates. The nearest antiquity lies inland, and it is a big one. The Roman theatre at Aspendos dates from the reign of Marcus Aurelius and still has its stage building and the full curve of its seating, partly because the Seljuks used it as a caravanserai and kept it in repair. For a golfer with a free afternoon, or a family wanting one cultural outing without giving a whole day to a coach tour, it fits into half a day. When the annual opera and ballet festival is on, the theatre becomes a stage again, and then the trip moves to after dark.

The drive is 18 km, about 25 minutes. From the hotel strip the car runs inland through the pines to the D400 and turns east, leaving Antalya behind and skirting the town of Serik. A little further on, just before the highway bridges the Köprüçay, the river the Greeks called the Eurymedon, a side road turns off and follows its west bank north to the village of Belkıs, where the theatre is built into the slope of the old acropolis hill. Close to the road, a seven-arched Seljuk bridge on Roman foundations spans the river. Beyond the theatre, out in the fields to the north, the aqueduct strides across the farmland on its arches, broken by two tall towers that belong to a Roman siphon built to force water over the low ground.

• With a morning tee time, a pickup after lunch suits the day well, but pack hats and plenty of water, because there is hardly any shade on the stone seating.
• The aqueduct is a short drive from the theatre rather than a walk; if you want to see it, say so when booking and the extra stop and waiting time can be arranged.
• Performances begin after nightfall and the booking covers the drive out only, so for a show night settle where and roughly when you will be collected; the whole audience heads for the car parks at the same moment.
• Children like climbing to the top rows for the view over the plain, but the steps are tall and uneven in places, so keep the little ones close.