Lara → Kaleiçi Transfer

Lara to Kaleiçi private transfer

The hotels of Lara and Kundu stand along the sandy shore east of Antalya, large resorts where it is easy to spend a whole holiday without once going into the city. Yet the old town is near enough for an evening that begins when the beach day ends. Kaleiçi is the walled quarter around Antalya's old harbour, its lanes of restored Ottoman houses running down to a marina beneath the cliff. Hadrian's Gate went up in 130 AD, when the emperor visited the city, and the paving beneath its arches is still grooved by cart wheels. At the south-west corner of the walls, where Karaalioğlu Park begins, the Roman tower of Hıdırlık is where people gather for the sunset over the gulf.

It is 15 km to the old town, about 20 minutes, slightly longer if your hotel lies out towards Kundu. Heading west on the coast road, you leave the sand behind where the shore rises into cliffs, and Lara Caddesi passes Düden Park, where the river pours off the rim of the cliff into the sea. From there the road keeps to the cliff top, with a ribbon of parks between the carriageway and the drop, until the city's avenues take over. You are set down near Hadrian's Gate on Atatürk Caddesi or by the clock tower at Kalekapısı, and from there the lanes are explored on foot. What you book is this one-way ride; a late collection for the way home can be added at the same time.

• The cliff road is not the only way in, since avenues further inland reach the centre too, so if the drive along the cliffs is part of the evening, ask the driver for it when you set off.
• Choose your drop-off when you book: Hadrian's Gate opens straight into the lanes, while the clock tower is the closer start for Cumhuriyet Square and the marina below it.
• With a pushchair, or for anyone who struggles with steps, the glass lift near Cumhuriyet Square goes down beside the cliff to the marina and spares you the stepped lanes.
• The tour boats in the marina run east along the cliffs to the Lower Düden Waterfall, so to see that coast from the water as well, come in the daytime instead and have the car collect you once the boat has docked.