9 Best Beaches in Antalya, Turkey

Turkey is one of my favorite countries, full stop. I try to get back at least once a year, and it's rarely for the same reason twice— sometimes it's the food, sometimes it's a hammam that leaves me feeling reborn, and sometimes it's purely the beaches.

Antalya might be one of the more touristy spots on the Turkish Riviera, but there's a very good reason for that. The coastline here does a lot of heavy lifting: turquoise water, pine forests rolling straight down to the sand, ancient ruins poking out of coves, and mountains that turn a deep, dusty pink at sunset.

So here are nine of my favorite beaches in and around Antalya, plus a few ideas for what to do once you've had your fill of sunbathing.

Konyaaltı is Antalya's main city beach, and it's the one most people end up at first simply because it's so close to the center.

It stretches for several kilometers along the western edge of town, with the Taurus Mountains rising behind it in a way that makes even a quick dip feel like a scenic outing. The shore here is pebble rather than sand, so pack water shoes if your feet are precious about that sort of thing.

What I like best is the promenade running the length of it, packed with cafes where you can watch the sun drop behind the mountains with a glass of something cold—a much better use of golden hour than fighting for a sunbed.

East of the city, Lara is Antalya's answer to a proper resort beach: soft golden sand for around 12 kilometers, most of it open to the public even with the luxury hotels lining the back of it.

The water eases in gradually, which makes it a favorite for families and for anyone who'd rather not brace themselves before swimming. It's also the spot for water sports, from jet skiing to parasailing, if you fancy a bit of adrenaline between sunbathing sessions.

Combine a morning here with a visit to the Lower Düden Waterfalls nearby, where the river tips straight off a cliff into the sea—a dramatic bit of coastal scenery that most people staying at Lara never bother to walk five minutes to see.

Tucked beneath the Old Town of Kaleiçi, right by the Old Harbor, Mermerli is small, historic, and a world away from the resort strips further along the coast.

You reach it via a set of steps cut down through the old city walls, and once you're on the sand you've got Ottoman-era buildings rising above you and fishing boats bobbing in the harbor beside you.

There's a small entrance fee, which keeps the crowds more manageable than you'd expect somewhere this central. Afterwards, don't just head straight back to your hotel—wander the cobbled lanes of Kaleiçi for a Turkish coffee and let the espresso-strength history sink in properly.

Phaselis isn't really one beach so much as three, tucked between the ruins of an ancient port city that once traded across the whole Mediterranean.

You can walk the old marble street straight from the ruins to the water, past collapsed columns and the remains of an aqueduct, before finding a patch of sand or pebble to call your own for the afternoon.

Each of the three bays has a slightly different feel, so it's worth wandering between them rather than settling on the first one you reach. Bring your snorkel gear if you have it, since the water around the submerged bits of ruin near the shoreline is where the real curiosity lies.

Çıralı is what happens when a beach town decides not to build any high-rises, and it's better for it. The beach is wide, undeveloped, and backed by forested mountains rather than hotel blocks, and it doubles as a nesting site for loggerhead sea turtles, so certain stretches are protected and best left undisturbed after dark in season.

The real reason to come, though, is just behind it: the Chimaera, a cluster of small flames that burn continuously out of the rocky hillside and have done, by most accounts, for thousands of years. Time your beach day so you can walk up and see the flames once it's fully dark, when they're at their most striking.

At the end of a forested valley, past the ruins of the ancient Lycian city of Olympos, this beach feels different from anywhere else on this list. Swimming here means wading past broken columns and collapsed city walls that have been slowly swallowed by sand and undergrowth, so the ruins and the coastline blur into one another in a way that's pretty rare.

The wider area has become known for its treehouse-style guesthouses, if you fancy staying a night rather than just passing through.

Arrive early enough to explore the ruins before the day heats up, then reward yourself with a swim once you're done clambering over 2,000-year-old stonework.

Kaputaş is one of the most photographed beaches in Turkey, and once you've seen it you'll understand why.

A narrow canyon meets the Mediterranean here, and the water that pours through it is an almost unreasonable shade of blue, framed by towering cliffs on both sides. There's no road access down, just a steep staircase of a couple hundred steps, which keeps the beach small and the facilities to little more than sun loungers and the odd pop-up bar.

It's a good leg workout to get back up, so pace yourself and stop halfway for the view. If you time your visit for early morning, you'll get the place close to yourself before the tour buses arrive.

At around 18 kilometers long, Patara is the longest beach in Turkey, and it's wide enough that it rarely feels crowded even when it's busy.

Behind the dunes lie the ruins of the ancient city of Patara, once a major port and reputedly the birthplace of Saint Nicholas, so you can easily fold a bit of history into your beach day without much extra effort.

Like Çıralı, this stretch is a protected nesting site for loggerhead turtles, and it closes after sunset from May to October to keep them undisturbed. Bring plenty of water, since the beach is so exposed and open that natural shelter is in short supply.

A little further around the coast in Alanya, Cleopatra Beach comes with the sort of backstory that's impossible not to repeat to anyone who'll listen: local lore has it that Cleopatra herself once sailed in and swam here, and that the fine, pale sand was shipped in specially for her visit from Egypt.

Whether or not you believe a word of it, the beach itself is especially lovely, backed by the dramatic Alanya Castle rising on the headland above. Climb up to the castle in the late afternoon for a view over the whole curve of coastline, then come back down for a swim while the light's still doing something flattering to the water.

Once you've worked your way through the sand, Antalya has plenty to fill the rest of a trip. Aspendos, a short drive from the city, has one of the best-preserved Roman theaters anywhere in the world, and it's still used for performances today.

For something more active, Köprülü Canyon runs whitewater rafting trips through striking scenery, and it makes for a different day out if you need a break from lying still.

Boat trips along the coastline are everywhere, whether that's a simple gulet cruise past the cliffs and hidden coves or a full day out to somewhere like Suluada, an uninhabited island with water so clear it's earned the nickname the Maldives of Turkey.

And if you haven't had a Turkish bath yet, do it here rather than anywhere else—a good scrub and massage at a traditional hammam is the ideal way to end a week spent mostly horizontal on various beaches.