Antalya is synonymous with sun and fun, and the holiday villages just couldn't resist the sandy beaches and plains ripe for development at the foot of the Toros Mountains. Several luxury four- and five-star playgrounds dot the coastline outward from Antalya's historic Kaleiçi area and marina, while miles and miles farther out, the several become literally hundreds. If what you're after is an all-inclusive resort that you never have to leave, a better option is to seek out one of the holiday villages in the newly popularized seaside stretches of Kemer and Belek, both about a half-hour to an hour's drive from Antalya. The advantages of staying farther out are mostly a matter of seclusion, as these properties tend to take up long stretches of privatized sandy beaches and hold you captive. A good compromise is in the four- and five-star hotels perched on the cliffs just outside of the city's nucleus. For those sitting on the fence, the arrival of Konyaalti's Antalya Beach Park, backed by several full-service five-star hotels, brings new meaning to the idea of a well-rounded Mediterranean holiday.
More attuned to the desires of the independent traveler are the hotels and pensions of Antalya proper, most notably in Kaleiçi, where hotels are housed in typical restored Ottoman homes of timber or stone. The traditional Ottoman house is built around a front and rear courtyard, so that all of these hotels have at least a pool of cozy dimensions and often a serene and fragrant garden. You can also access the beach easily from Kaleiçi, or walk down the steep streets and/or steps to the harbor and hop on a day boat.
