Cool ancient-ancient history to mooch around, super-pretty beaches and swanky-themed resorts promise to make your Antalya holiday on the Turkish Riviera truly sun-believable.
As the golden gateway to the glitzy Turkish Riviera, Antalya has bagged some of Türkiye’s most beautiful beaches. Promising raki-clear waters and a mix of sandy and pebbly shores, Antalya holidays get beach-bucket-list status whether you want to ride the banana boats, go parasailing or sip caipirinhas in a chic cabana by a blue lagoon.
Older than Midas himself, Antalya has more ancient ruins than the History Channel. See the Roman theatre in Aspendos, explore the Ancient City of Perge and visit Kaleiçi Old Town, with its narrow cobblestone streets and pretty Roman harbour. Want to go further back in time? Head to the Palaeolithic Karain Cave where the prehistoric bones of elephants, hippos and bears have been found – even early humans lived here and made tools (outside the cave, they weren’t Neanderthals… oh, they were).
An Antalya holiday is not always about sipping cocktails on a balmy beach (or is it?). It has the Taurus Mountains all around you, so pack your kit for a swim in the Düden Waterfalls, explore the pine forest or take a hike among the millennia-old cedar trees in the Ciglikara Nature Reserve.
Antalya’s nightlife is a box of Turkish delight – sometimes sticky, often sweet and always a delightful surprise. Whether it’s cocktails on a rooftop bar in Belek - a.k.a the Turkish Beverly Hills – ice-cold beers on Lara Beach or hitting Club Inferno in the city centre, there’s plenty of dance ‘til dawn action on your holiday to Antalya.
Antalya’s golfing hits a hole-in-one. Antalya’s Belek is Turkey's golfing capital and has a whopping 14 courses right up close and personal with each other. With their backdrop of the Mediterranean and the Taurus Mountains, the greens are so lush, you might be forgiven for wondering if they’ve been Photoshopped in real life.
Best for... Beach-loving historians with a taste for cocktails🍹
Go... Scuba diving around the underwater museum in Side 🤿
You have to... Ride the Hyper Coaster at the Land of Legends 🎢

Delphin Imperial Hotel
4.8
Excellent
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Ela Excellence Resort Belek
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Cornelia Diamond Golf Resort & Spa
4.7
Excellent
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Aska Lara Resort & Spa
4.9
Excellent
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Currency
Turkish Lira
Language
Turkish
Time difference
GMT +2
Cost of a beer
10 TL
3-course meal
45 TL
Flight time
3.5 hrs
Squeezing out more than 300 days of sizzling sunshine a year, Antalya is the hot sauce of holidays, especially between June and September. If you want extra chilli, the Turkish Riviera is toastiest in July and August, when the mercury can reach an eye-watering 38C.
For cheap Antalya holidays still warm enough to swim and go sleeveless, book in May or October, when the temperatures hover around a delicious 22C. There are plenty of beach loungers to go around too. For winter sun, November and February are cheaper still but take a pack-a-mac. Rain happens.
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£312 ppPrices from
£231 pp