Dalaman Airport → Marmaris Transfer

Dalaman Airport to Marmaris private transfer

Dalaman is the closest airport to Marmaris, but it is not next door, and that is the first thing this booking has to absorb. Of the roads heading west from the terminal, this one goes furthest: past the Dalyan turn, past the lake, over a ridge of pine forest and down into a different bay altogether. The people in the car are usually bound for one of three kinds of address. A hotel on the seafront or on the slope behind it; a flat in the old town below the castle, where lanes turn into steps; or a berth at the marina, with a yacht that sails tomorrow. İçmeler, round the bay to the south-west, is a fourth, and a separate place on the map.

The leg is 95 km and takes about 80 minutes, nearly all of it on the D400. From the airport the car runs up to Dalaman town, then heads west across level farm country to Ortaca, then passes above the northern end of Köyceğiz lake, with the town itself a short turn off the highway. After that the road crosses a band of low hills and comes down to the Gökova junction, where the Muğla road branches away north. Marmaris lies the other way, to the south, and the final stretch is the one worth seeing: a winding run through pine forest past Çetibeli, before the bay opens up below and the road drops into town. Land on an evening flight and that forest is driven in the dark; the view waits for the morning.

• Put the flight number on the booking rather than a landing hour: late flights into Dalaman move, and the pickup follows the number, not the clock.
• Write down exactly where the car should stop, because Marmaris town, the marina and İçmeler are different drops, and in the old town your host can tell you which street a car can actually reach.
• If you are joining a boat, pass on the marina and berth details from the charter company, so the drop is at the right gate and not somewhere along a long waterfront.
• The ride back to Dalaman for your departure, or a stop on the way, can be arranged at the same time as this one; mention it when booking instead of on the night.