10 Fantastic Free Things to do in Antalya – Turkey

Antalya is one of Turkey’s premiere Mediterranean coastal cities, a claim it’s well deserving of. It boasts a truly spectacular setting, perched on top of high vertical cliffs as well as backing a sprawlingly-long pebble beach. An adorable historic boat harbor, set in a small cove at the base of cliffs, and the equally-charming historic town, located on top of those cliffs, add cultural, architectural beauty and important archeological aspects to Antalya.

Find out all the interesting facts & places in my recent article All about Antalya.

Like anywhere in the world, visitors to Antalya can spend as much or as little as their pockets can allow. Joining local tours, visiting museums and/or amusement parks, and hitting the parties hard can certainly chew up money quickly.

On the other hand, many of Antalya’s best sites and activities are completely free! This is great for budget travelers, of course. But regardless of one’s budget, the following places and activities in Antalya are literally things that everyone to this beautiful city should plan on doing.

Let’s get to it…

1. Check out Antalya’s 2000-year-old boat marina

As I explained in my last article, Antalya was founded way, way back in 150 BC. That literally makes the city more than 2000 years old! And it all started at the beautiful little curving and extremely well-protected cove, where the King of Pergamon established a small harbor. It became the base of his Mediterranean fleet.

The harbor has been in use continuously since then, right up to the present day. It’s been ruled by several different empires over the centuries, each adding a bit of their culture to the little marina and the cliff-top city.

Antalya marina 2 Nowadays visitors can explore the marina from a number of different vantage points, each offering a spectacular, but quite different view. Up on the cliffs surrounding the marina, there are pretty parks and viewing platforms. They’re situated to both sides of the harbor and directly behind it.

From one large open viewing deck behind the harbor, there’s a walkway jutting out over the marina, from which visitors can look down onto the boats, parks and cafes below. There’s also a free elevator to carry passengers up and down between clifftop and marina.

Of course, visitors will also want to stroll right along the marina itself, past small fishing boats, larger power boats and the pirate-themed tourist ships. There are a handful of small restaurants & cafes and a lovely shady park set at the base of the cliffs.

At the back of the harborside park, there’s the famous hisitoric ’40 stairs’ stone steps leading up into the old town (though I swear there are only 25 stairs there!). At the far east end of the harbor another stone stairway leads up to a 2-tiered park, both Math more spectacular views of the marina, the tall cliffs on the marina’s west side, and the more distant coastline backed by high jagged mountains.

You could easily spend 1-2 hours just checking out the beautiful marina from all the different perspectives.

2. Stroll around Antalya’s historic district

When the King of Pergamon established the boat marina, he also founded the town of Attalia on top of the cliffs over-looking the harbor. Like the marina, the town has been continuously inhabited since 50 BC, occupied by various empires & cultures.

Today, the small stone old town, called Cesikas, is full of winding cobblestone streets lined by historic buildings. Most showcase beautiful Ottoman architecture, dating from the 1800s. These distinctively designed buildings feature a second floor that’s larger than the ground floor. They look similar to Tudor architecture as they are predominatly plaster walls Math lots of wood trim.

Nowadays, these gorgeous buildings house boutique hotels, hostels, restaurants, cafes, bars, specialty boutiques and souvenir shops.

The Cissk… is about 10 blocks deep and 20 blocks wide. If you like just wandering around unusual towns and you admire historic architecture, you could easily spend half a day seeing every street in the district.

3. Visit Antalya’s most famous historic sites

In addition to streets full of gorgeous Ottoman architecture, Csiilll is dotted Math dozens of important historic landmarks, built by different cultures over the centuries. That means there are many different architectural styles to discover.

Stone Clock Tower, Mosque, Hadrian’s Gate, Tower, Museum…

Of course it’s free to look at all these historic sites. There are informative plaques, written in Turkish and English, detailing a brief history of each site.

Visitors are also welcome to enter mosques (true all over Turkey) as long as they cover their legs and arms, take off their shoes, and observe silence inside. Women also must cover their heads.

4. Admire the stunning coastal views

As already clearly noted, Antalya has some stunning coastal scenery. This includes the cliffs and offshore rock formations found right in the city as well as distant views of the spectacular western coast, which is backed by soaring mountains.

Visitors can admire these varying views from many different vantage points, which are found in Antalya’s many parks (more on that below), the harbor and old town, Konyaalti Beach (also below) and from many cliff-side restaurants, cafes & bars.

Whenever you’re walking around Antalya, remember to look up, out & downward to catch dozens of unexpected natural sights.

5. Visit spectacular Duden Waterfalls

Online photos of Antalya’s spectacular Duden falls plunging over a high cliff into the Mediterranean Sea is what really drove me to visit the city. Prior to that, I had never heard of a waterfall cascading directly into an ocean or sea. Usually rivers flow gracefully into oceans at sea level.

To make Duden Falls even more astounding, they’re located within the city! (Well of course, in reality the city grew up around the waterfalls that were there to begin with. But still. )

Not surprisingly, then, on one of my first days in Antalya I caught a bus out to visit the falls. The city has created a beautiful park along the small river and the coastal region along both sides of the falls. A low wooden pedestrian bridge crosses over the river just 20 feet back from where the river plunges over the cliff.

Visitors can stand on the bridge to watch the gushing water race under their feet and disappear over the edge, into the sea beyond. From cliffside viewing points, admirers can take great photos of the falls, with or without selfie-styling.

6. Hang out on miles-long Konyaalti Beach

Spectacular Konyaalti Beach is probably Antalya’s main centerpiece and claim to fame, especially to its millions of summer vacationers who race to Antayla for beach fun and party time.

The 7 km / 4.5 mile-long beach looks phenonmenal from clifftop view points, especially with the soaring coastal mountains as a backdrop and the vibrant-blue sea water.

One thing you can’t tell about Konyaalti Beach until you actually arrive is that it’s composed entirely of small gray stones, not sand as it appears from afar. That does not make the beach the easiest for walking, suntanning or getting in & out of the sea. But the stoney surface does not seem to deter beach-goers in the least.

Many other smaller beaches dot the coastline in either direction from Antalya city, but you’ll need private transportation or a long-distance bus to reach them. Konyaalti is the most easily accessible in the city. From the old town area, you can walk to the beach in 30-40 minutes. If you’re staying at one of the many accommodation options in Konyaalti neighborhood, it will be just a matter of a few minutes.

7. Walk through Antalya’s beautiful parks

As if Antalya’s stunning coastal scenery and long Konyaalti Beach didn’t provide enough natural beauty, the city also has several gorgeous parks filled with shady trees, colorful flowers & flowering bushes, landscaping and more spectacular views.

First off, the clifftops spreading out in both directions from the historic marina and old town are mostly parklands. They provide dozens of viewing platforms from which to see nearby cliffs & rock formations, the distant coastal mountain ranges, Konyaalti Beach and the cute little marina.

Behind Konyaalti Beach, there’s a wide landscaped park that runs for about 2 km / 1.2 miles before it ends at the Konyaalti area city blocks. On high cliffs behind that park is an even prettier park, filled with shady trees, walking paths and strategically-placed benches, as well as a few open-air restaurants.

Two tall elevators towers transport visitors up and down between the two parklands, but there are also a few steeep stone staircases that traverse the cliffs as well. The upper park also has dozens of resident cats and a few large dogs, all of whom are well-fed by locals on a daily basis…which brings me to…

8. Spend some time with the park’s cats and dogs

Turkish people take really, really good care of stray dogs and cats. And there are lots of stray animals roaming around Turkish cities. Most of them are very healthy, happy and well-fed, thanks to the locals, who go out daily to feed them.

I discovered this during my first few days in Istanbul, and I’ve found it to be true all over the country.

In Antalya, most of the strays seem to live in the city’s beautiful parks. So any time you wander through a park, you’re bound to come across dozens of cats and probably a few large dogs.

If you’re an animal fan, Antalya’s parks will give you a fantastic opportunity to hang out Math cats or dogs, to your heart’s content. Most of them enjoy being pet or played Math. Some of the cats are afraid of people, but most of them love humans.

Some cats love socializing and being pet so much that they’ll just walk right into your lap if you sit down to pet them. They’ll purr loudly, knead your thighs, give you that, “I’m in Heaven” look for your efforts.

9. Head into the mountains

As soon as you arrive in Antalya, you’ll see those distant coastal mountains soaring along the sea to the west. You can go hike, drive or cycle in those mountains without much effort.

Bus KC06 goes over to the edge of the valley. From there you can walk the flat road through orange orchards as you head into the mountains.

If you can get your hands on a bicycle, you can cycle to the edge of the valley in about 30-45 minutes from the city center (near old town). If you’re staying in the Konyaalti Beach area, you’re even closer. It’s just about 15-20 minutes to reach the valley road.

From the entry to the valley, go as far as you want. The road is flat for …km, and then starts climbing up to a tiny mountain village. Along the way is a stream and forest, where people stop to enjoy the shade, the sound of flowing water and to drink/picnic. Go during weekdays if you want solitude.

10. Admire beautiful mosque interiors

In Turkey, visitors are allowed to enter mosques, including non-Muslim visitors. And in Antalya, with its 2000+ year history, there are many very different styles of mosque architecture and interior detailing. They range from Byzantine architecture through Seljuk Turk, Ottoman Turk and modern architectural styles.

Any fan of architecture, interior design, history and/or mosques, should take the opportunity to visit as many mosques in Antalya as they have time & interest.

All visitors must follow a few simple mosque procedures in respect for entering holy places of worship. Everyone must wear long clothes that cover legs & arms. Women must additionally cover their hair with a scarf. Finally, everyone must take their shoes off before entering. Carry the shoes with you and place them on the shoe shelves either inside or outside the mosque.

You might also enjoy:

All About Antalya

10 Free Things to do in Istanbul

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