Gündoğdu → Side Transfer

Gündoğdu to Side private transfer

Gündoğdu is the far western edge of the Side strip, the last of its hotel villages on the Antalya side and the longest village run into Side from that direction. Guests choose it for exactly that: hotels spread out along an open shore, no centre to walk into, nights that stay quiet. The catch is that Side feels further away than the map suggests. On screen the sand looks like one unbroken line from here to the ancient city, and it is tempting to picture the old town as just down the beach. In practice other resorts line the shore all the way, and the car has to work its way past them, so an evening at the harbour or a walk among the ruins is a proper drive, not a stroll.

The leg is 17 km and about 25 minutes, and there are two ways to drive it. One keeps near the coast on the road behind the hotel strip, east through Çolaklı and past the Evrenseki hotels into Kumköy, which runs straight into Side. The other goes inland to the D400, follows the divided highway east and leaves it at the Side turn-off, where a surviving stretch of the Roman aqueduct stands beside the road. Which is quicker depends on the traffic at that hour. Either way the slow minutes come at the end, when a summer evening fills Side's entrance road, and the car stops at the car park by the bus station, because the old town is closed to vehicles.

• Book the late ride back to Gündoğdu together with the ride into Side; a return pickup or waiting time can be arranged at that point, instead of looking for a car at the harbour after midnight.
• Side's old town is closed to vehicles, so name the car park by the bus station at its entrance as the meeting point, not the restaurant where you will be eating.
• Put the full hotel name on the booking along with Gündoğdu, Manavgat: the hotels are strung out along the shore, and the driver needs the right gate rather than just the village.
• If the plan is the sunset at the Temple of Apollo, leave margin for the crawl into Side on a summer evening rather than timing it by the distance alone.