In short
The Antalya Museum is closed — the single fact that breaks most itineraries for the city, and one that is still listed as a highlight almost everywhere. The other thing to settle before booking is that “Antalya” is two different holidays: city Antalya (Kaleiçi, Konyaaltı, tram, ancient sites within reach) and resort Antalya (Lara, Belek, Side, Kemer, Alanya — all-inclusive, sand, water parks). They are priced and lived differently.
Verified against the Ministry portal and operator sources, August 2026.
Disclosure: some links in this guide are affiliate links. If you book through one, we earn a small commission and you pay exactly the same price. We only link to services we would use ourselves, no brand pays for placement or for a favourable write-up, and every price in this article was researched independently.
Let us start with the thing no other guide will tell you, because it changes what a trip here looks like.
What is in this guide
The Antalya Museum is gone. Not closed for refurbishment — demolished. It shut on 16 July 2025 after being judged not earthquake-resistant, and its hundred thousand artefacts, including the Weary Herakles and the Elmalı coin hoard, are in storage. A rebuild is under way with a target of November 2026, which you should treat as a hope rather than a date. Every guide still listing it as the city’s cultural anchor is wrong.
That matters because Antalya is sold as two destinations under one name, and the museum was the strongest argument for one of them.
Verified: August 2026 · Rates: €1 = 55.55 TRY · $1 = 47.90 TRY (Central Bank of Türkiye, 17 August 2026)
Editor’s note
Start with a correction, because most other guides have this wrong. The Antalya Museum is not open. It closed on 16 July 2025 over earthquake safety, the building has since been demolished, the collection is in storage and a rebuild is targeted for late 2026. If a plan you have read allocates a morning to it, that plan was not checked this year.
The two Antalyas
| City Antalya | Resort Antalya | |
|---|---|---|
| Where | Kaleiçi, Konyaaltı, city centre | Lara, Belek, Side, Kemer, Alanya |
| What you get | Ottoman old town, cliffs, tram, real restaurants, ancient sites within reach | All-inclusive hotel, sand beach, water park, kids’ club |
| Typical night | ~₺2,300 (~€41) boutique in Kaleiçi | ₺8,000–18,000 (€145–325) mid to upper resort |
| Who it suits | Independent travellers, history, food, a base for day trips | Families, people who want to unpack once and stop deciding |
That price gap is the story. A restored-mansion boutique room in the old town averages something like a quarter to an eighth of a mid-tier resort night. They are not the same holiday and they are not competing products — but they are marketed under the same word, which is why people arrive expecting one and get the other.
A third Antalya exists and is usually mis-sold under the same banner: Çıralı, Olympos, Kaş and Kalkan. Low-rise pensions, turtle-nesting beaches, building restrictions, no all-inclusive anything. If that is what you want, do not book “Antalya” — book those places by name.
What changed for 2026
| What | Detail | Since |
|---|---|---|
| Antalya Museum | Demolished and closed. Rebuild targeted for November 2026 | 16 Jul 2025 |
| Accommodation tax halved | 2% → 1% (Presidential Decree 11263) | 1 May 2026, to 31 Dec |
| Service charges banned | *Servis* and *kuver* illegal at food and drink businesses. ₺3,973 fine per receipt | 30 Jan 2026 |
| Public transport transfers free | Aktarma went from ₺7.50 to free. Full fare ₺35 → ₺42 | March 2026 |
| Smoke-free beaches | Mandatory clean-air zones on all public and private beaches province-wide | 24 Jul 2026 |
| Marine tourism rules | Boat trips confined by licence type; anchoring banned at Kekova, Üçadalar, Phaselis, Cennet Koyu | 13 Jun 2026 |
| Coastal management | Ministry given authority over beach management to stop unauthorised shoreline occupation | 10 Aug 2026 |
Three of those are Antalya-specific circulars issued this summer and none of them appear in English-language coverage yet.
The service charge one is worth money to you. Since 30 January 2026 a restaurant cannot add *servis* or *kuver* to your bill, cannot charge for bread or meze you did not order, and cannot print “10% service will be added” on the menu. The fine is ₺3,973 per receipt — one Istanbul restaurant was fined ₺274,137 across 69 bills. If you see a service line in Antalya, it is illegal. Menu prices are final.
Getting there and in from the airport
Antalya Airport handled 19.2 million passengers in the first seven months of 2026 and now serves 165 destinations in 47 countries with 57 airlines. Direct flights run from Düsseldorf, Cologne, Hanover, Berlin, Stuttgart, Munich, Frankfurt, London Gatwick and Stansted, Manchester, Birmingham, Bristol, Vienna, Prague, Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Paris, Zürich and Geneva. From Istanbul it is about an hour and fifteen minutes with THY, AJet, Pegasus and SunExpress all competing.
The tram trap
Yes, there is an airport tram — and it does not serve the terminal you will land at.
The ANTRAY T1 line runs to the airport, and a stop opposite Arrivals opened in July 2025. But it serves Terminal 1 only. Terminal 2, the large international terminal where almost every foreign visitor arrives, is about 1.5 to 2 km away with no direct tram access. You have to shuttle between terminals first.
This single fact is missing from every English guide we checked, and it is why people stand at T2 looking for a tram stop that is not there.
| Option | Price | Note |
|---|---|---|
| ANTRAY tram / bus 600, 800 | ₺42 adult, ₺20 child | AntalyaKart mandatory — cash not accepted. T1 only |
| HAVAŞ shuttle | ₺220 adult, ₺110 child | |
| Taxi to Kaleiçi, 13 km | ₺900 | Same tariff 24 hours, no night surcharge |
To the resorts
Fixed taxi tariffs, including airport fee and tolls:
| Destination | Distance | Taxi | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| City centre / Kaleiçi | 13 km | ₺900 | ~25 min |
| Belek | 32 km | ₺1,900 | ~40 min |
| Kemer | 45 km | ₺2,650 | ~50 min |
| Side | 65 km | ₺3,700 | ~60 min |
| Alanya | 125 km | ₺7,000 | ~2 h |
HAVAŞ does not reliably serve the resort towns directly — you usually transfer via the city centre. If your hotel offers a transfer in the package, take it.
Getting around
Antalya’s transport got meaningfully cheaper in one specific way this year.
| Fare | Old | From March 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Full ticket | ₺35 | ₺42 |
| Student | ₺15 | ₺20 |
| Transfer (aktarma) | ₺7.50 | FREE |
| Contactless card, no AntalyaKart | — | ₺54 (includes ₺4 commission) |
Get an AntalyaKart. Paying by contactless bank card costs ₺54 instead of ₺42, and the tram does not take cash at all. Free transfers mean a tram-then-bus journey now costs one fare.
Taxis in the city: ₺50 opening, ₺50 per km, ₺200 minimum.
Car hire runs from about ₺2,040 a day at the airport — and here is a genuinely counterintuitive finding: renting at the airport is cheaper than renting in the resort towns. Side and Kundu start around ₺2,825 and Kaş around ₺5,038. That is the reverse of the usual advice.
Municipal coaches: Antalya–Kemer ₺170, Antalya–Alanya ₺410, Antalya–Kaş ₺485.
What to see, and what it costs
Foreign visitors pay in euros at Ministry of Culture sites.
| Site | Fee |
|---|---|
| Antalya Museum | CLOSED — demolished |
| Aspendos — the best-preserved Roman theatre anywhere | €15 |
| Perge | €11 |
| Side ancient city | €7 |
| Side Museum | €5 |
| Side combined | €10 |
| Side streets, harbour and the Temple of Apollo surroundings | FREE |
| Termessos | Disputed — see note |
| Olympos | €10 |
| Chimaera / Yanartaş — the eternal flames | ₺45, cash only |
| Phaselis | €10 |
| Myra, Demre | €13 |
| St Nicholas Church, Demre | €17 |
| Hadrian’s Gate, Hıdırlık Tower, Kaleiçi, Clock Tower, marina | FREE |
| Lower Düden waterfall | FREE — it falls off a 40 m cliff straight into the sea |
| Pamukkale / Hierapolis | €30 |
Two things guides get wrong. The Temple of Apollo at Side sits in open public space — the famous columns at sunset cost nothing. And Chimaera does not accept the Museum Pass; it is separately managed, ₺45, and the card machines frequently do not work. Bring cash.
Termessos we could not resolve. One 2026 Turkish source says ₺70, an older page says ₺10, and a lira price for foreigners is anomalous now that Ministry sites charge in euros. It is open daily 08:00 to 19:00 with the ticket office closing at 17:00. Check at the gate.
The Museum Pass Mediterranean, honestly
€90 for seven days, covering 40-plus sites across Antalya, Mersin, Adana and Denizli.
| Your itinerary | Separate cost | Verdict |
|---|---|---|
| Aspendos + Perge + Side + Phaselis + Olympos + Myra + St Nicholas | €86 | Pass loses by €4 |
| The above plus Pamukkale | €116 | Pass wins by €26 |
| Two half-day excursions from a resort | ~€25 | Pass loses badly |
It only pays if you include Pamukkale or clear eight sites in seven days. And note that Chimaera and the waterfalls are not covered, which erodes it further. For a resort guest doing a couple of trips, skip it.
Beaches
Antalya province holds 233 Blue Flag beaches — more than any city on earth, ahead of Crete’s 154. Turkey has 580 in total.
| Beach | Type | Access |
|---|---|---|
| Konyaaltı | City, pebble, mountains behind | Free public sections; sunbeds and clubs charged |
| Lara | Resort, sand | Free access points exist; premium clubs dominate |
| Kaputaş, near Kaş | Cove, turquoise, famous | ₺60 entry per person, ₺300 sunbed |
| Olympos | Ruins running into the sand | Via the site ticket, €10 |
| Çıralı | Quiet bay, turtle nesting | Free. Pensions not resorts, building restricted |
| Sunbed / club | Price |
|---|---|
| Kaputaş sunbed or umbrella | ₺300 each |
| Mid-range club, Konyaaltı | ₺300–600 per person per day |
| Luxury club, Lara or Belek | ₺800+, often partly redeemable against food and drink |
Kaputaş entry has gone ₺35 in 2024, ₺50 in 2025, ₺60 in 2026. The sunbed has gone ₺150 to ₺230 to ₺300 over the same period.
The counterpoint to the Blue Flag record, and Turkish officials are saying it out loud: plastic and microplastic pollution in Antalya bay is rising, and the warning is that visitors judge by what they see rather than by certification. A Blue Flag count is not the same thing as clear water.
New this summer: every beach in the province, public and private, must now operate designated smoking and non-smoking zones under Governorship Circular 2026/6 of 24 July. Non-smoking areas are placed near children’s play areas and accessible entrances, with wind direction taken into account. It is mandatory, not advisory.
Boat trips
| Trip | 2026 price |
|---|---|
| Kaleiçi harbour, 45 min | ₺300 |
| Kaleiçi harbour, 2 hours | ₺600 |
| Kemer day trip | ₺850–1,250 adult |
| Suluada from Antalya | ₺1,450 |
| Suluada from Kemer | ₺1,250 |
| Kekova sunken city, shared boat | ₺1,250–2,000 |
| Kekova private charter | ₺11,700+ |
Usually included: boat, crew, lunch, transfer from selected areas, insurance. Not included: alcohol, site entry fees.
A rule change worth knowing: since 13 June 2026, boats may not physically anchor at Kekova, Üçadalar, Phaselis or Cennet Koyu, and vessels can only operate the trip type their licence permits. Capacity limits, waste dumping and loud music are all now enforced with unannounced Coast Guard inspections. If an operator offers to drop anchor in one of those bays, they are offering to break the law.
Day trips
| Trip | What it is | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Pamukkale | White travertine terraces and Hierapolis. A long full day | €30 entry; Antique Pool extra |
| Kaş and Kekova | Boutique coastal town, sunken city by boat | ₺485 coach; boat ₺1,250–2,000 |
| Olympos + Chimaera | Ruins in the trees, then flames burning out of the mountainside | €10 + ₺45 cash |
| Köprülü Canyon rafting | ~2 hours on the river, lunch included | ₺799 standard, ₺1,099 with hotel transfer |
| Demre: Myra + St Nicholas | Rock tombs and the original Santa Claus | €13 + €17 |
Chimaera timing matters. Go about an hour before sunset: thirty minutes up in daylight, twenty back down after dark with the flames lit. Bring cash for the ₺45 and another ₺10–15 for the toilets.
Rafting at ₺799 includes equipment, guiding and lunch. Ages four and up; under five free, five to ten half price. Transfers must be arranged a day ahead.
When to go
| Month | Max °C | Sea °C | Rainy days |
|---|---|---|---|
| April | 20.7 | 16.9 | 6 |
| May | 25.8 | 20.1 | 4 |
| June | 31.8 | 23.7 | 2 |
| July | 35.9 | 26.8 | 1 |
| August | 35.5 | 28.1 | 0 |
| September | 31.0 | 26.8 | 2 |
| October | 24.7 | 24.2 | 4 |
| November | 18.8 | 21.1 | 6 |
| December | 13.8 | 18.5 | 10 |
| January | 12.0 | 16.8 | 10 |
Swimming season runs May to November. July and August are 35 to 36°C with effectively no rain — the sea reaches 28°C and so does the queue for everything.
October is the month nobody books and should. Air 24.7°C, sea still 24.2°C, four rainy days, and the resort prices have come off. September is nearly as good.
December and January are genuinely wet — 215 to 225 mm of rain — and much of the resort coast simply closes.
Practicalities
- Visas: US, UK, EU, Canadian and Australian ordinary passports are visa-free for 90 days in any 180. No e-visa. British National Overseas, British Subject and British Protected Person passports do need one.
- Money: €1 = 55.55 TRY, $1 = 47.90 TRY. Cards work almost everywhere; carry lira for the tram, Chimaera, beach entries and small cafés.
- Alcohol: retail sales are banned nationwide from 22:00 to 06:00. Bars, restaurants and hotel all-inclusive service are unaffected.
- Jellyfish: spring 2026 saw an unusual influx of very large jellyfish driven inshore by northerly winds, which marine biologists expected to clear before beach season. Low risk from August onward; worth checking if you travel in April or May.
- Tipping: 10 per cent is normal. Remember that a service charge on the bill is now illegal.
Frequently asked questions
Is the Antalya Museum open? No. It closed on 16 July 2025 and the building has been demolished as not earthquake-safe. A rebuild is under way with a stated target of November 2026, which should be treated as aspirational. Any guide listing it as open is out of date.
Should I stay in the city or at a resort? They are different holidays. Kaleiçi and the city centre suit independent travellers who want an old town, real restaurants and day trips to ancient sites, at roughly ₺2,300 a night. Lara, Belek, Side and Kemer suit families who want to unpack once, at ₺8,000–18,000. Do not book one expecting the other.
Does the airport tram work? Yes, but only to Terminal 1. Terminal 2, where most international flights arrive, is 1.5 to 2 km away with no tram. You must transfer between terminals first. The fare is ₺42 and requires an AntalyaKart — the tram does not take cash.
Is the Museum Pass Mediterranean worth €90? Only if you include Pamukkale or visit eight or more sites in seven days. Seven of the big Antalya sites total €86, just under the pass price. Chimaera and the waterfalls are not covered.
When is the best time to visit Antalya? October — 24.7°C air, 24.2°C sea, four rainy days and lower prices. September is nearly as good. July and August are hottest and busiest; December and January are wet and much of the coast closes.
Are Antalya’s beaches free? Public access exists at Konyaaltı and Lara and the constitutional right of access is being actively reasserted by an August 2026 decree. Sunbeds and beach clubs are charged, ₺300–800 a day. Kaputaş charges ₺60 just to enter.
Can restaurants add a service charge? No. Service charges and cover charges have been illegal since 30 January 2026, with a ₺3,973 fine per receipt. Menu prices are final and VAT-inclusive.
Do I need a visa for Turkey? Not on an ordinary US, UK, EU, Canadian or Australian passport — 90 days visa-free in any 180-day period, no e-visa required.
A note on our numbers
Tax rates, transport fares, the 2026 circulars and the museum closure were verified against Turkish government, municipal and Ministry sources in August 2026. Site admission fees in euros come from secondary Turkish sources because the Ministry’s own tariff pages are inaccessible to automated retrieval — verify at the gate. Where a figure was disputed, as with Termessos, we have said so rather than picking one.
Keep reading: The Best Things to Do in Antalya · The Perfect 4-Day Antalya Itinerary · Where to Stay in Antalya · How Much Does a Trip to Antalya Cost? · Istanbul Travel Guide 2026 · Cappadocia Travel Guide 2026
Where to book the things in this guide
Same price through our links as booking direct. We earn a small commission on ours, which is what funds the price-checking.
| What | Where | Honest verdict |
|---|---|---|
| Ancient site tickets — Aspendos, Perge, Side | Tiqets | Only useful in peak season. Everything here sells at the gate |
| Day trips — Pamukkale, Demre, Kekova | Klook · KKday | Worth it for Pamukkale and Demre, which are long drives. Not for Perge or Side |
| Boat trips — Kekova, Suluada | Klook | Compare against the harbour price, which is often lower |
| Airport transfer | Kiwitaxi | Only for the resorts. Taxis to Belek, Side and Alanya are ₺1,900–7,000. Code TPO5 = 5% off to 31 Dec 2026 |
| eSIM | Yesim | Worth it. Turkish airport SIM counters are expensive |
Five things we will talk you out of, and we earn nothing by doing so:
Do not book a tour to Perge, Aspendos or Side. They are 18, 47 and 65 km east on one road. A hire car from the airport is about ₺2,040 a day and you will see all three at your own pace, in the evening light, for less than two tour seats.
Do not pay anyone for the Temple of Apollo. The columns at sunset — the photograph the whole coast advertises — stand in free public space.
Do not buy the Museum Pass Mediterranean at €90 unless your trip includes Pamukkale or eight-plus sites in seven days. A four-day city itinerary uses about €46 of Ministry sites.
Do not take a taxi from the airport into the city if you are staying centrally. The tram is ₺42 with an AntalyaKart against ₺900 for a taxi. Just remember it serves Terminal 1 only.
Do not turn up at Chimaera without cash. ₺45, the Museum Pass is invalid there, and the card machine is usually broken.
Before you book
Two things worth arranging early. Flights into Antalya, which swing enormously between summer and winter. And a hire car if Termessos, Olympos or Side are on your list, since none of them has a useful bus and two days of car hire costs less than the equivalent tours.