Kumköy → Side Transfer

Kumköy to Side private transfer

Kumköy's hotels sit right against Side's northern edge, so close that the old town looks like an easy stroll from the pool bar. On a map it is. On foot it means a road lined with hotel gates, delivery vans and scooters, little shade in the late-afternoon heat and darkness on the way back. Most people who book this leg are going in for the evening: a table at the harbour, the sunset between the columns of the Temple of Apollo, an hour in the shops before dinner. The car takes them as far as the car park by the bus station at the entrance to the ancient city, because the old town itself is closed to vehicles.

It is 4 km and about 15 minutes, and most of that time goes on getting out of the hotel driveway and through the approach to Side rather than on distance. The car leaves the Kumköy beach road, joins the road leading into Side from the north and pulls in at that car park, where the car-free zone begins and the rest is on foot. In July and August that last part is the slow one, because everyone arrives for dinner at the same hour. Then there is the leg nobody thinks about at six o'clock: getting back near midnight, tired, with a child asleep on a shoulder, when the walk is darker and longer than it looked in daylight.

• Book the ride back when you book the ride in, with a time and a meeting point at the edge of the old town, because no car can come down the lanes to the restaurant door.
• Give the name of your hotel rather than just Kumköy: the hotels are spread over several look-alike streets behind the beach, and the driver needs the right entrance.
• For the sunset at the Temple of Apollo, leave earlier than the short distance suggests, since on summer evenings the approach to the old town backs up.
• If you cannot tell how long dinner will run, say so when booking, and a later pickup or some waiting time can be arranged then instead of worked out at the table.