Antalya which challenges for centuries, the hot sun, the blue beaches and the verdant forests is known as the ” Turkish Riviera ” because it hosts all these beautiful landscapes. It is not only the Mediterranean but one of the perfect beauty tourism paradises of our country. Every moment you spend in this city, every second is the reason for happiness. With its temperate climate, warm-blooded people, rivers, beaches with blue flags, antique cities, bays and bougainvillaea-laden streets, this place is fascinating to you. Every corner of Antalya was enviably created.
This unique Mediterranean city is one of the cities in which many of you think that you are planning to settle in a retirement, buying a house with a garden and dreaming of growing vegetables and fruits. Who knows, perhaps one day your dreams become true and settled in this city decorated with palm trees and orange trees. But until then, when you go to Antalya in every holiday, read the careful guide prepared for you and have the chance to see every corner of the city.
Places to Visit in Antalya
Kaleiçi
Antalya’s most popular, attracting the most tourists. With its colorful market, houses with plum trees, elegant restaurants, lovely souvenir shops and breathtaking scenery. History redolent houses with bay window are usually arranged upwards from the harbor. You will not notice how time passes when you are walking in Kaleiçi. Especially you pass out in the shops where colorful accessories, souvenirs and local clothes are in. Do not go back without buying a small gift for your loved ones.
Konyaaltı Beach
The Konyaalti Beach for miles long is one of the most popular and colorful beaches in the Antalya. Konyaaltı is a public beach is in intense interest because of its blue sea, long sandy beach, airy atmosphere by domestic and foreign tourists. If you are coming to this beautiful city of the Mediterranean, do not go back to without relieving tiredness of the years in the blue water of Konyaalti Beach.
Düden Waterfall
One of the enchanting beauties of the Mediterranean. It attracts to its visitors with the affluent waters. It’s 7 miles away from the center. The waterfall is a paradise of nature. Local and foreign tourists fill here to see this unique beauty of the waterfall and the beauties around it. There is also a cave right next to it and it seems that this cave completes the beauty of the waterfall. Düden Waterfall is such a special formation that it gives life to every place where water passes.
Kent Forest
The Antalya City Forest is attracting attention with its greenery, which offers the spectacular beauty of Antalya with a wonderful view from the top. The view from the Kepez district to the Sican Island and taking your breath away will be engraved in your memory.
The Ancient City of Termessos
The ancient city of Termessos is located 30 km away from the center. When you go for the first time, it would take you a long journey back in time. It is certainly one of the places I recommend you to visit on your travel. When you see this place, it attracts you with a peaceful atmosphere and untouched nature. It is one of the most important properties of the ancient city of Termessos that it is combined with numerous plant and animal species and produces in a rare synthesis. It is located in a mountainous and rough zone. There are many cisterns still visible in various parts of the city. Due to its historical and natural richness, it is included in the national park.
Other Places, We Recommend to Put to the List of Places to Visit in Antalya
They are Lara Beach, Cleopatra Beach, Dim Cave, Gömbe Plateau, Aspendos Theater, Suna İnan Kıraç Kaleiçi Museum, Beldibi Cave, Bezirgan Plateau and Manavgat Waterfall.
Things to do in Antalya
Boat Tours
When you go to Antalya and do not return without visiting the magnificent bays of the region and blue-flagged beaches. You can get a chance to see many of the nearby unspoiled beauties with boat tours departing from the center of Antalya or its districts. During the travel, you will be accompanied by the Mediterranean warmth wind, the vast blue, the sound of boats and the clean air. You do not want to finish your daily travel. While participating in the boat tour, be sure to take your camera for taking pictures of all the beauties you see. Then you will regret it.
Diving
If you want to explore the magical underwater of the Mediterranean, then Antalya and its surroundings are a perfect place. Kaş, which especially exceeds the borders of the country and welcomes thousands of diving enthusiasts every year, is waiting for you with all the beauties. If you want to meet the blue and turquoise color of the silent world and travel to the depths, you should try diving.
Rafting
If you want to add color and adrenaline to your holiday, then Manavgat Köprüçay is the address you are looking for. Rafting can be a good option if you want to experience a different experience, be nested with nature and spend a day that you will not forget.
Sightseeing Tour
We recommend that you first visit Kaleiçi on your Antalya holiday, lost in the streets surrounded by bay window-houses and take plenty of photos. You can shop abundantly in Kaleiçi, which attracts with its unique landscape as much as its historical texture. When you get tired, you can rest in one of the cute cafes.
ATV Adventure
The activities in Antalya does not end with writing or telling, but we made a list of the most interesting and beautiful activities for you. One of these activities is ATV tour. Between Göynük and Beldibi, located on foothills of Beydağları, it will be a wonderful experience to explore with 15 kilometers of parkour with ATV which is a breathtaking natural wonder.
Watersports, photo tours, hiking, cycling, paragliding, shopping and village tours are among the other colorful activities in the region.
What can you eat and drink in Antalya?
Antalya Cuisine, which has rich cultural delicious attracts you with healthy and tasteful dishes. Various fresh fishes, vegetable foods, salads and other cultural dishes appeal to your belly and eyes. Especially, there are many restaurants which proper both your taste and your budget in the center of Antalya. Believe me, you will have difficulty to choose them.
It is very different and delicious that we are used the taste of octopus, calamari, and mussel in Antalya where the deep blue sea surrounds.
Some of the regional tastes that we recommend you to during your holiday in Antalya; sac kavurma (diced lamb fried on iron plate), hibeş (spread of tahin, cumin, red pepper flakes and lemon juice ), tandoor kebab , taratorlu piyaz (nut and garlic sauce with haricot bean salad) , humus, şakşuka (dried fried aubergines in tomato garlic sauce), Turkish pancake varieties, zucchini cintmesi, palize and piyaz-tahin. Antalya is also a petitgrain paradise that there are many local jams. Petitgrain, lemon, grapefruit, orange, bergamot are the most delicious ones.
What can you buy in Antalya?
Antalya is a place where you are highly pleased for shopping. Especially Kaleiçi, which I have written every opportunity since the beginning of the article, is a place where you can buy souvenirs and even you will go under among the options.
The souvenirs you can buy from this lovely Mediterranean city are; Yoruk famous hand knotted carpets, Mediterranean special jams, (petit grain, bergamot, orange) magnets, colorful jewelry, linen dresses, printed Antalya cloth bags and booklets showing the beauty of every corner of the city will surely attract your attention.
Where can you accommodate in Antalya?
There are hundreds of hotels you can stay in Antalya, one of the most beautiful holiday destinations of our country. You can accommodate at luxurious and comfortable facilities, as well as boutiques and very charming facilities closest to the sea. Kaleici, Lara, Konyaaltı, Kemer, Kaş, Alanya and Belek are the most famous places you can stay in Antalya. If you are thinking of a hotel close to the sea, you can choose Konyaaltı, Lara, Belek, and Kemer. In the center, if you are interested in a kind of boutique hotel, you can also check out the hotels in the Kaleiçi region.