Lara → MarkAntalya Transfer

Lara to MarkAntalya private transfer

From the Lara hotels, TerraCity is the nearer mall, so the reason to cross town to MarkAntalya is what lies around it. The centre stands on Kazım Özalp Caddesi, the street the city still calls Şarampol, in the old commercial heart of Antalya, and puts its shops, a cinema and places to eat under one roof. Just south of the building the same street turns pedestrian. Locals call this stretch Kapalı Yol, 'the closed road', and it runs for well under a kilometre to Kalekapısı, where the Clock Tower marks the way into Kaleiçi. That short walk is the whole idea: one afternoon can take in the shops, the walled lanes and the old harbour without getting back into a car.

The ride is 16 km, about 20 minutes when the traffic is moving, but the minutes are not spread evenly. Out of the hotel strip the car heads west along the wide boulevards of the eastern districts, which generally flow; the pace drops near the old centre, where junctions come close together and traffic lights, city buses and pedestrian crossings all take their share. At rush hour this last stretch is where the delay builds. The car sets you down at the shopping centre itself, and from there the closed road is yours on foot. The booking covers the one-way ride in; a collection for the way back, or waiting time, can be arranged when you book, and the pickup need not be where you were dropped.

• When the car is coming back to MarkAntalya for you, see the old town first and shop last, so the bags only travel from the till to the boot.
• For a pickup at the Kaleiçi end instead, name a place a car can actually reach, such as the road outside Hadrian's Gate, rather than a spot on the closed road or deep in the lanes.
• The run back east to Lara is at its slowest as the working day ends, so a pickup before the rush or after dinner in town usually gets you to the hotel sooner.
• MarkAntalya's information point lends pushchairs, and wheelchairs for disabled visitors, which makes the shopping half of the day far easier with small children or a relative who struggles to walk far.