Antalya is where the Mediterranean stays swimmable longest. The sea here holds its heat into late October, which is why the region’s season runs from April to November while most of Europe’s has shut. Behind the coast the Taurus mountains rise almost immediately, and between the two sits a strip of resort that has been built with unusual ambition.
It is also, quietly, one of the densest concentrations of Greek and Roman ruins anywhere. Aspendos has the best-preserved Roman theatre in the world. Perge has a colonnaded street you can walk the length of. Both are half an hour from the hotels, which is a combination very few beach destinations can offer.
Belek or Side
| Resort | Nearest ruins | Known for |
|---|---|---|
| Belek | Aspendos, Perge | Golf courses and large resort hotels in pine forest |
| Side | Side’s own temple, Aspendos | A Roman town centre you can walk into from the beach |
Belek is purpose-built and set among pines, with the courses between the hotels. Side has an actual old town on a headland, with the Temple of Apollo at the end of it and restaurants wrapped around the ruins. Both are within forty minutes of Antalya airport.
Five Resorts Worth the Flight
Calista Luxury Resort
Set in pine forest at Belek, with a sprawling lagoon-style pool arranged for al fresco dining as much as swimming,an aquapark on siteand themed a la carte restaurants running through the Plus board. The round-the-clock catering is the detail that makes a long day at the beach stop needing planning.
Gloria Verde Resort
Also Belek, also pine forest, but beachfront and with two professional golf courses attached. Lagoon-style pools, an extensive spa and children’s facilities good enough that the golf and the family parts of a trip stop competing with each other.
The Land of Legends Nickelodeon Hotels and Resorts Antalya
Unlimited access to both Nickelodeon Land and the Land of Legends theme park is included, which reframes the whole booking — the park is the holiday and the hotel is attached to it. Themed rooms, character dining and soft drinks around the clock. There is nothing else like it on this coast and children do not forget it.
Barut Hemera
On a private stretch of Side’s historic coastline, with swim-up rooms and terraces with private whirlpools among the options, a spa, and restaurants that people book the hotel for. It manages serious children’s facilities without feeling like a family resort, which is a narrow line to walk.
Royal Alhambra Palace
Beachfront at Side with lush gardens, an on-site funfair and an entertainment programme that carries the evenings. The most straightforwardly fun of the five, and the one that suits a mixed group of ages best. Amongthe resorts along this coastit is the dependable middle.
The Ruins, Realistically
Aspendos is the one to prioritise. The theatre seats seven thousand and is still used for performances, with the stage wall intact — which almost no Roman theatre has. Go in the morning before the stone heats.
Perge is larger and emptier: a stadium, baths, and a colonnaded main street with the water channel still running down the middle. Side’s own temple sits at the tip of the headland and is best at sunset, when it is free and full of people who worked that out. None needs more than half a day, and a hotel excursion desk will usually arrange all three.
When the Sea Is Warmest
June through September is reliably hot, with July and August reaching the point where the middle of the day belongs indoors. The sweet spot is May and late September into October: air in the high twenties, sea still warm from the summer, and the ruins walkable without suffering. Winter is mild but the big resorts close.
Flight time from the UK is around four hours, anda package to the Turkish coasttypically folds in the transfer, which here is worth having given the distances between resorts.
What to Book
Belek for golf and scale, Side if you want Roman stone at the end of your street.Jet2holidaysruns the shoulder months as well as high summer, which is when this stretch of Mediterranean is at its finest. Seasonal timing is a regular subject at2minuteread.