Lara, Belek, Side or Alanya — which part of the Antalya coast?
Lara for the biggest resorts closest to the airport. Belek for golf, greenery and the highest-end hotels. Side for Roman ruins and an actual town to walk into. Alanya for the lowest prices and the liveliest evenings.
"Turkey holidays" almost always means the Antalya coast — a 150 km stretch of the Turkish Riviera that carries the highest concentration of large all-inclusive resorts anywhere in the Mediterranean. But the resort areas along it are genuinely different, and the transfer time between them is the difference between a 20-minute drive and a two-hour one after a four-hour flight.
| Area | Transfer from Antalya airport | Beach | Character | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lara | ~20 min | Sand | Big modern resorts, close to Antalya city | Mid–high |
| Belek | ~35 min | Sand, pine backdrop | Golf, families, upmarket | High |
| Side | ~1 hr | Sand and shingle | Roman ruins, real town, walkable | Mid |
| Alanya / Türkler | ~2 hrs | Sand | Lively, best value, castle and nightlife | Low–mid |
Lara: the short transfer
Lara Beach sits just east of Antalya city, roughly twenty minutes from the airport. After a four-hour flight with children, that alone sells it.
It is a strip of large, modern, high-capacity resorts along a long sandy beach, and it is close enough to Antalya proper that the old town, Kaleiçi, is a cheap taxi ride away — Roman gate, harbour, restaurants, actual streets. That combination of "enormous resort" and "real city nearby" is unusual on this coast.
Our Lara property is the Aska Lara Resort & Spa, all inclusive.
Pick Lara if: you want minimum time on a coach, big-resort facilities, and the option of a city afternoon.
Belek: the polished one
Belek, about 35 minutes east, is the coast's upmarket end. It was developed later and more deliberately, set among pine forest, and it is the golf capital of Turkey — a cluster of championship courses that draw players all year.
The hotels are correspondingly grand: large grounds, serious spa facilities, well-run kids' clubs, and all-inclusive offers that stretch to à-la-carte restaurants rather than one buffet. The beaches are sandy and the resorts tend to have a lot of space between them and the road.
Our Belek property is Granada Luxury Belek, all inclusive.
Pick Belek if: you want the best facilities on this coast, you play golf, or you want a family resort with room to breathe.
Side: the one with something to look at
Side (say "SEE-deh") is about an hour from the airport, and it is the only one of these four where genuine antiquity is woven into the resort itself. There is a Roman theatre, the Temple of Apollo on the headland at the end of the peninsula, and a walkable old town of restaurants and shops built around and among the ruins.
That matters more than it sounds. On a two-week holiday, the ability to walk out of your hotel into somewhere that exists for reasons other than tourism is the difference between a good week and a slightly stir-crazy one.
Beaches split east and west of the peninsula — the west side is longer and sandier, the east has more shingle in places, so it is worth checking which side your hotel is on.
Our Side property is the Side Moon Palace Hotel, all inclusive.
Pick Side if: you want ruins and a real town within walking distance, at a sensible price.
Alanya and Türkler: the value end
Alanya is roughly two hours from Antalya airport, and that transfer is the price you pay for the best value on the coast. In exchange you get a lively resort town under a dramatic Seljuk castle, a long beach, and prices meaningfully below Belek for a similar standard of hotel.
It is the busiest of the four in the evening, with the most bars, shops and general noise. Some people want exactly that; families with young children often do not.
Our property here is the Eftalia Aqua Resort at Türkler, just west of Alanya — all inclusive, with a large water park, which is the usual reason families accept the longer transfer.
Pick Alanya if: budget is the main constraint, or you want evenings with some life in them.
Three things worth knowing before you choose
1. Transfer time is not a detail. A two-hour coach with several hotel stops after a delayed evening flight is a genuinely bad end to day one. If you are travelling with small children or anyone with mobility issues, weight this heavily.
2. All inclusive means different things at different price points. In Turkey it usually covers everything, but the range of what "everything" includes varies a lot. We break it down in what all inclusive actually includes in Turkey.
3. Season shapes the coast. Peak is July and August — hottest, busiest, dearest. May, June, September and early October give you 25–30°C, a warm sea and noticeably lower prices. Most resorts along this coast close or wind down from November to April.
The short version
- Shortest transfer, big resorts, city nearby → Lara
- Best facilities, golf, upmarket family → Belek
- Ruins, a walkable town, good balance → Side
- Best price, liveliest evenings → Alanya / Türkler
Tell us your dates, your budget and how old the children are, and we will tell you which of the four to be looking at. See Turkey holidays for what is currently available, all ATOL protected when sold with flights.