Side → Antalya Transfer

Side to Antalya private transfer

This is the leg people book when the resort has run out of city. Antalya has the archaeological museum, where much of what was dug out of Side, Perge and Aspendos actually ended up; the walled old town of Kaleiçi with Hadrian's Gate and the marina below the cliffs; Konyaaltı's long pebble beach; department stores and shopping centres instead of souvenir stalls; and the clinics and dental surgeries that people schedule their holiday around. It is also where the long-distance buses leave from, so a side trip to Cappadocia, Pamukkale or İstanbul starts with this hour on the road.

The Side to Antalya transfer heads west on the D400 for 75 km, about 65 minutes. From the Side junctions it crosses the Manavgat plain and runs through farming country — greenhouses, orange groves, cotton — with the wall of the Taurus standing to the north the whole way. It passes the turning for Belek, then the Aksu junction, where the airport roads join and the traffic thickens for good. The last quarter of the drive is city driving: boulevards, traffic lights and the approach to wherever you are going. Mornings inbound are the slow direction in summer; by night the same road is quick and empty.

• Kaleiçi is closed to through traffic, so the usual set-down is by Hadrian's Gate, and the harbour below is reached on foot down a steep ramp.
• The museum and the old town sit a couple of kilometres apart at either end of the seafront, linked by the old tram — worth planning as one route rather than two separate stops.
• For the return, agree a pickup point with a name — a museum gate or a shopping centre entrance — rather than 'the old town', which has several.
• Going in between eight and nine in the morning, or coming back out between five and seven, both run against the city's own rush at the Aksu junction.