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Day Tripsin Antalya

The best day trips and nearby places from Antalya, including travel times, transport options and how long each trip deserves.

Day trips

Where to go beyond Antalya

Some of the best experiences may sit outside the destination itself. Compare distance, time and whether each trip deserves a few hours or a full day.

01

Perge

A Pamphylian city the Ministry's culture portal calls one of Anatolia's most orderly under Rome. Its theatre held 15,000 spectators, its 2nd-century BC stadium about 12,000, and the two main perpendicular avenues, a rectangular agora, towers, monumental fountains, baths and colonnaded streets remain. The portal notes that Saint Paul visited on his missionary journey, and that Perge has been on Turkey's UNESCO Tentative List since 2009; it is not inscribed. On 21 September 2026 muze.gov.tr showed the site open every day from 08:00 to 20:00 (ticket office to 19:30) and said the ancient theatre was temporarily closed to visitors while restoration work was under way.

Getting there: The culture portal says the site, in Aksu district, is reached by Aksu minibuses. The Ministry's address is Barbaros Mahallesi, Perge Caddesi, Aksu.

Distance

18 km east of Antalya (Antalya Provincial Culture and Tourism Directorate)

02

Aspendos

The Ministry describes the theatre as one of the best-preserved Roman theatres in Turkey and the world: built between AD 138 and 164 by the architect Zenon, seating 15,000, and preserved because the Seljuks used it as a palace. The site also has a Lower and an Upper City and a one-kilometre aqueduct that carried water from mountains 25 km away. The theatre and aqueducts (not the whole city) are on Turkey's UNESCO Tentative List (2015); nothing is inscribed. On 21 September 2026 the Ministry showed daytime hours of 08:00–18:45 and a separate night-museum session from 19:00 to 21:30, cancelled on 18, 19, 21, 24, 25 and 26 September with closing at 19:00. Fire of Anatolia performs in the same theatre on a separate ticket and schedule; the company's 2026 Antalya dates ended on 29 September.

Getting there: Antalya's intercity bus terminal, 4 km north of the centre, has routes to Aspendos, according to Antalya Airport's public-transport page. The site is at Belkıs Mahallesi, Serik; telephone 0242 892 13 25.

Distance

48 km east of Antalya (Antalya Provincial Culture and Tourism Directorate)

03

Side

A port city on a peninsula 350–400 m wide, 7 km south-west of Manavgat, settled from the 7th century BC; the culture portal says its name means pomegranate in the Luwian language. The culture portal singles out the 2nd-century AD theatre, with its rare three-storey stage building and Dionysos frieze, and the temples of Apollo and Athena at the harbour entrance; the Side Museum occupies an ancient bath. On 21 September 2026 the Ministry showed the site open every day from 08:00 to 18:45, with a night session from 19:00 to 22:00.

Getting there: The intercity bus terminal's routes include Side and Manavgat, according to Antalya Airport's public-transport page.

Distance

Manavgat is 65 km from Antalya Airport (DHMİ) and the culture portal places Side 7 km south-west of Manavgat; a distance from the city centre was not published

04

Termessos

A city founded by the Solymi in a valley on Mount Solymos (Güllük Dağı), which the culture portal says withstood Alexander the Great's siege in 333 BC and was never resettled after its abandonment, so its ruins survive largely unchanged. They include a Hadrianic temple, a gymnasium, a colonnaded street, a theatre overlooking the Gulf of Antalya, a council building, five interlinked cisterns and extensive cemeteries. It lies inside Güllük Dağı–Termessos National Park, which the portal says has been on the UNESCO Tentative List since 2000; it is not inscribed. Ministry opening hours were not retrieved.

Getting there: By car, turn left at km 24 of the Antalya–Korkuteli highway onto the special road to the ruins. Without a car, the culture portal describes a minibus from Antalya's bus terminal to Korkuteli and then a taxi.

Distance

Reached from the 24th kilometre of the Antalya–Korkuteli highway (Kültür Portalı)

05

Phaselis

Founded in the 7th century BC by Rhodian colonists on a small peninsula, with three harbours, three agoras, two bath complexes, a theatre, city walls of the 3rd century BC and aqueduct arches, set among pine and cedar forest in Bey Dağları Sahil Milli Parkı. It is in Tekirova village, Kemer district.

Getting there: The culture portal says Phaselis can be reached by buses from Antalya to Kemer–Tekirova.

Distance

Published distances disagree. The Kemer District Governorate says it is reached about 1 km after turning south at km 57 of the Antalya–Kumluca highway; the Provincial Directorate's Phaselis page says 16 km from Kemer (Kemer is 57 km from Antalya Airport, DHMİ); its museums page uses a third marker, the 35th km of the Antalya–Finike coast road

06

Olympos and the Chimera (Yanartaş)

A Lycian League city founded in the 3rd century BC, taken from pirates by Rome in 78 BC, with a small theatre, a Byzantine church with fresco decoration, a temple gateway for Marcus Aurelius and Captain Eudomus's sarcophagus, hidden in forest inside Bey Dağları Sahil Milli Parkı. The Chimera, natural flames at Yanartaş, is several kilometres south-west of the ruins. The ruins carry a 7.5 km segment of the Lycian Way. On 21 September 2026 the Ministry showed the site open every day from 08:00 to 21:00 (ticket office to 20:30), with the address Yazır Mahallesi, Kumluca.

Getting there: The Provincial Directorate says the ruins are reached from either of two turnings south off the Antalya–Kumluca highway. No public-transport information was found.

Distance

Not published in the sources read; the Kemer District Governorate places Olympos and Yanartaş between Kemer and Adrasan

07

Kurşunlu Waterfall Nature Park

An 18 m waterfall in Aksu district (Fettahlı), where a canyon about 2 km long links seven small ponds by small cascades. The culture portal lists viewing terraces, play areas and a car park, and says the park first opened to visits in 1986 and was designated a nature park in 1991. GoTürkiye names Kurşunlu with Upper and Lower Düden, Manavgat and Uçansu as Antalya's best-known waterfalls.

Getting there: The culture portal says it can be reached by city transport. A distance from the centre could not be verified.

08

The Land of Legends theme park

A gated theme and water park in Kadriye, Serik district, part of a resort complex with hotels and a shopping street. One wristband covers seven lands: Waterfly, Adventure Land, Aqua Land, Dolphin Land, Masha and The Bear Land of Laughter, Nickelodeon Land and Tropic Lagoon. Every ride has its own height, age and supervision rule, from 100 cm at Traffic Trouble to 130 cm at the Hyper Coaster; outside food and drink are prohibited; children under 12 need a companion aged 18 or over; the operator says it offers no stroller service but lends wheelchairs free from the Information Desk; and wristbands are non-refundable. The park page showed 10:00–22:00 for the park and 10:00–18:30 on ride pages when read on 20 September 2026, with several units temporarily closed. Winter operation of the water lands was not verified.

Distance

Serik district; DHMİ lists Serik 30 km from Antalya Airport

Information last verified: September 21, 2026

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