Things to do in Antalya: Kaleiçi, waterfalls, beaches and the ancient cities nearby

If you have one day, give it to the old town of Kaleiçi: it is small, and on foot you can cover it from the Roman gate to the harbour in a few hours. The second day works well for water, meaning the Düden Waterfalls and one of the two big city beaches. The third day goes to the ancient cities east of Antalya: Perge and Aspendos lie in the same direction and are often combined into one trip. What follows, in order: what to see in each place, how to get there by tram or bus, and which 2026 changes to allow for when planning.

Day one: Kaleiçi from Hadrian's Gate to the old harbour

Kaleiçi is the historic centre inside the old city walls, and the natural way in is through Hadrian's Gate. The marble arch with three openings was built around 130 for the visit of the Roman emperor Hadrian. GoTürkiye, the portal of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, calls it one of the best-preserved structures in the city. Beyond the gate begins a web of narrow streets that are easy to walk without a map, using the minaret as your landmark.

That landmark is the Yivli Minaret, Turkish for "fluted". It was most likely built under the Seljuk sultan Alaeddin Keykubad I, who ruled in 1220–1237. The minaret is 38 metres tall, and fragments of turquoise and dark-blue tilework can still be seen on its shaft. The mosque beside it was rebuilt in 1373 and is in use today.

At the south-western corner of the walls, in Karaalioğlu Park, stands the round Hıdırlık Tower, 2nd century and 14 metres high. From the tower and the nearby streets, stairs lead down to the old harbour at the foot of the cliffs. Every day, pleasure boats leave its piers to cruise along the cliffs to the waterfalls. There is no official fare for these trips: the boat owners set the route and the price themselves.

In 2026 one stop on the usual itineraries has to be crossed out. The Antalya Museum, home to the sculptures from Perge, the "Weary Herakles" and the sarcophagi, closed to visitors on 16 July 2025. The Ministry of Culture and Tourism judged the 1972 building unsafe in an earthquake, about 100 thousand objects were packed into containers, and the old building was demolished by September. According to the DHA news agency, the new building was due to be finished in November 2026, but on 7 November 2026 the museum's page on muze.gov.tr still lists it as closed. Check that page before you go.

Day two: the Düden and Kurşunlu waterfalls

The Düden River forms two waterfalls, and they are two separate trips. Lower Düden drops from a cliff about 40 metres high straight into the Mediterranean on the eastern edge of the city, with a park laid out above the cliff. Upper Düden is in the north of the city: here the river emerges from a karst spring after sinking underground at the Bıyıklı sinkhole 18 km upstream. It is a fenced site with paid entry. Since 17 August 2026, according to the city transport operator Antalya Ulaşım, entry can be paid with an Antalyakart card.

No tourist route links the two waterfalls. The numbers of the city buses to each of them, and the changes, are shown in the "Nasıl Giderim" ("How do I get there") section of the Antalyakart app and website: Antalya Airport also sends passengers to this app for timetables.

Kurşunlu Waterfall is already a trip out of town. It is a nature park of 586.5 hectares, protected since 1991 and run by the Directorate-General of Nature Conservation and National Parks. The park is 19 km away: about 12 km east of Antalya, a 7 km road branches north off the highway to Serik and Alanya and ends at the waterfall. We could not find official information on public transport or the current entry price, and press figures differ and carry no dates, so we do not give them. Without a car, the easiest way here is by taxi or on an excursion.

Konyaaltı or Lara: which beach to choose

The two big city beaches lie on opposite sides of the centre and differ above all in their surface. Konyaaltı stretches along the west, backed by the Beydağları range, and is mostly fine pebbles. Lara is in the east: it is one of the longest sandy beaches in the area, lined by a zone of large hotels. Sand is more comfortable if you travel with small children and spend the whole day by the sea. Pebbles are hard to walk on barefoot, so beach shoes come in handy at Konyaaltı.

In Turkey, water quality and beach facilities are assessed by the international Blue Flag programme. In 2026, as the newspaper Dünya reported citing the TÜRÇEV foundation, Antalya province had 232 such beaches, more than any other province in the country. The flag is awarded to a specific stretch of beach and for one season, so to see whether your chosen part of Konyaaltı or Lara has one, look at the official list on mavibayrak.org.tr. Sea temperatures by month are covered in the gezdir.me article on the best time to visit Turkey.

Ancient cities nearby: Perge, Aspendos, Termessos

Perge lies 18 km east of the centre, in the Aksu district. The city flourished in the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD under Roman rule, and most of the surviving buildings date from that time, while the way into the city passes two towers from the 3rd century BC. The most striking sights are the colonnaded street, with a water channel running down its middle, and the stadium for 12 thousand spectators, the second largest in Anatolia. Perge is also linked with the Apostle Paul, who came here several times. The city is on the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List. Note that its ancient theatre, according to muze.gov.tr on 7 November 2026, is temporarily closed until restoration is complete.

People go to Aspendos above all for the theatre. It was built by the architect Zeno between 138 and 164, and it survives so well largely because it served as a palace under the Seljuks. The Ministry calls it one of the best-preserved Roman theatres not only in Anatolia but in the whole Mediterranean.

Termessos lies 30 km north-west of the city, in the mountains, inside a national park, and is considered one of the best-preserved ancient cities in Turkey; it deserves a day of its own. To the south, on the road to Kemer, there is one more destination: the cable car up Mount Tahtalı. Its lower station stands between Çamyuva and Tekirova, about 57 km from Antalya, the cable car is 4,359 metres long, and the upper station is at an altitude of 2,365 metres. Some 16 km south of the summit, in a river valley by the sea, lie the scattered ruins of Olympos. Side is also often named among the ancient cities near Antalya, but it is a separate resort and a trip of its own.

How to get to Perge and Aspendos, and opening hours

According to muze.gov.tr on 7 November 2026, both sites are open daily from 08:00 to 17:00, and the ticket office closes at 16:30. These Ministry pages give no entry price, so we do not quote one. The MüzeKart, the same pages say, is valid for Turkish citizens.

Aspendos is in the Belkıs neighbourhood of the Serik district, and by public transport you get there via the intercity bus station (Otogar). As Antalya Airport writes, minibuses towards Aspendos, Side, Manavgat and Alanya leave from there, and the fastest and cheapest way from the centre to the bus station is the tram. Official sources do not say where to get off the minibus or how far it is to walk to the theatre, so ask the driver when you board. The route to Perge in Aksu is shown by the same Antalyakart planner. By car or on an excursion, the two cities are easy to combine in one day.

Airport, tram and taxi

Antalya does have a tram, and it is the main way to get from the airport into the city without a taxi. The AntRay network currently has two modern lines. Line T1 runs from Fatih to the Expo exhibition centre via the bus station and the İsmetpaşa stop, and it has a 2.4 km branch to the airport, so check the train's destination board for Havalimanı. Line T3 connects Varsak with the Müze stop and also passes through the bus station.

The heritage line T2 (Müze – Zerdalilik), on which old cars had run since 1999, is out of service. After a fire in a car on 23 June 2026 and technical faults, the municipality stopped it for passenger safety and put buses on the same route. In July 2026 the authorities gave no date for the tram's return, and we found no new announcement as of 7 November 2026.

You pay at the turnstile on the way onto the platform: with an Antalyakart card or a contactless bank card. The card that suits visitors is called the Tam Kart. It is not personalised, costs 100 TL on its own without any rides (Antalyakart data as of 7 November 2026) and is sold at top-up machines, card centres and dealers; there is also a mobile version for NFC phones. Children under seven ride free when travelling with a parent. We did not find the price of a single ride on the operator's websites, so we do not give it.

Besides the tram, city buses run from the airport to the bus station and the centre; the airport advises checking line numbers and timetables in the Antalyakart app or on the operator's information line, 0242 606 07 07. Taxis wait at the exits of the arrivals area of every terminal, the drivers carry airport ID, and a fare board hangs beside the rank. We found no officially published fare for a ride from the airport to the centre, and the amounts online vary, so check the board and agree the price before you get in.

All-inclusive hotels and excursions

We did not find the term "ultra all inclusive" in the Turkish rules for hotels: it is the name of a concept that each hotel fills in its own way. So compare not the labels but the list in the concept description of the specific hotel. It should show which restaurants and drinks are included in the price, when the bars are open and what is charged extra.

Whether to book excursions at the hotel depends on the route, not on a general rule: we found no fair, dated price comparison. Kaleiçi, the Düden Waterfalls and Perge are easy to see on your own in the ways described above, while Termessos, Kurşunlu and the more distant cities are easier with a tour if you have no car. Whoever sells the excursion, a tour operator's representative at the hotel or an agency in town, its organiser must be a travel agency that is a member of the TÜRSAB association of agencies and holds a document from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. Membership of the association is mandatory under the Regulation on the Association of Travel Agencies, and TÜRSAB publishes a register of its members on its website.

From Antalya to Istanbul

The fastest way to Istanbul is by plane. Pegasus lists Istanbul among its direct destinations from Antalya and gives a flight time of 1 hour 20 minutes from Istanbul to Antalya; Turkish Airlines and AJet also have their own Antalya – Istanbul route pages. We do not quote fares: no published, dated price could be read on these pages, and ticket prices change from day to day. When choosing a flight, check which of the two airports it lands at: Istanbul Airport (IST) on the European side or Sabiha Gökçen (SAW) on the Asian side, because the journey into the city depends on it.

Photo: Bernard Gagnon · CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Yivli_Minare_Mosque_01.jpg)