Transfers across the Finike area

The Finike region is the stretch of Lycian coast west of the Beydağları, where the mountains push the road away from Antalya's resort belt and the shore turns to farmland. Kumluca comes first: a working town a few kilometres inland, ringed by greenhouses, with Mavikent and Karaöz on its own coast. Finike follows, down on the water — a citrus town with a marina, a palm-lined promenade and orange groves running inland towards Limyra. Demre closes the region, a small plain of tomato greenhouses holding the rock tombs of Myra and the church of Saint Nicholas, with boats to Kekova from the old harbour. Few large hotels here: mostly pensions, apartments and independent travellers.

Transfers leave Antalya Airport on the ring road, drop past Konyaaltı and join the coastal D400 through Kemer. After Tekirova the road leaves the sea, climbs into pine forest and works over a pass in long curves before falling into the Kumluca greenhouse plain. Across the region the distance band is 110 to 155 km, roughly 95 to 125 minutes: Kumluca nearest at about 95, Finike around 110, Demre farthest at about 125. Between Finike and Demre the highway climbs a headland in tight bends with the water far below. Rain and loaded lorries slow both climbs; at night the road runs almost empty, and in winter the whole coast is quiet.

The three towns are not versions of each other. Kumluca is agricultural and set back from the sea — it makes sense if you are heading for Mavikent, Karaöz or the Lycian Way rather than the town itself. Finike is where people settle in: the marina, the promenade, shops open through the winter, a shingle beach that rarely fills. Demre is a sightseeing base — Myra, the church, the Kekova boats — and often a stop on a longer run west towards Kaş. None of them is a nightlife resort. Book the return with the outbound: three hours at the airport in summer plus 95 to 125 minutes of road puts a Demre departure around five and a half hours before take-off.