Kemer

What Kemer actually is

Kemer is where the Turkish coast stops being flat. South-west of Antalya the Beydağları massif comes down to the water and stays there for sixty kilometres, so instead of one continuous beach you get a string of coves, pine slopes, orange groves and small resort villages strung along a single road. The town of Kemer itself was planned in the 1980s as the service centre for all of this: a marina, a pedestrianised high street, a park on the headland and a pebble bay.

The difference from Belek or Side is not marginal, it is the whole point. The beaches here are pebble, not sand. The water is noticeably clearer and a degree or two cooler because the shelf drops away fast and mountain springs feed into it. The mountains sit to the west of the coast, which means the sun goes behind the ridge earlier than it does on the open plain, the beaches lose direct light in the late afternoon and the evenings genuinely cool down. In August, when Belek is thirty-eight degrees at midnight, Kemer is measurably more comfortable.

Kemer suits people who like being outdoors: snorkellers, walkers, cyclists, anyone who overheats easily, and families whose children are past the paddling stage. It does not suit somebody who has pictured soft golden sand and a shallow bay, because that is a different part of this coast.

Where to stay

Beldibi

The first resort strip south of Antalya, about 35 minutes from the airport. Pebble beach, big hotels stacked between the road and the sea, mountain shade from mid-afternoon. Convenient and slightly less scenic than what lies further south.

Göynük

A few kilometres on, best known for the canyon that starts a short drive inland, where a marked path runs up a narrowing gorge between rock walls. Good hotel gardens, quiet, and a beach that is quieter than the town.

Kemer town

The centre: marina, shops, restaurants, a long promenade, Moonlight bay and the Yörük ethnographic park on the headland. Choose this if you want to walk out to dinner and to have a shop that is not the hotel boutique. It is also the noisiest part of the district in July and August.

Çamyuva

Orange and citrus groves between the mountains and the sea, with large garden resorts and considerably less traffic than the centre. A good compromise between quiet and access.

Tekirova

The southern end and, for many people, the best of it: the largest garden resorts in the district, the clearest water and the ancient city of Phaselis effectively next door. Sixty minutes from the airport rather than forty-five, and nothing to walk to at night.

Hotel stock and what a budget really buys

Kemer is dominated by four and five-star all-inclusive hotels, most built between the mid-1990s and the late 2000s, many of them on generous plots with mature pine and citrus gardens. The land here is steep and the plots are old, so you get more greenery and more shade than at a new-build resort, and sometimes an older bathroom to go with it.

Our anchor starts around 55 EUR per person per night: a shoulder-season figure for two sharing a standard room in a good four-star on all-inclusive board. That sits deliberately between Alanya at 45 and Belek at 75, and the reasons are structural. Kemer is much closer to the airport than Alanya, which supports the price. But its beaches are pebble and mostly narrow, its hotels are older than Belek's and there is no golf, which caps it.

In July and August expect the four-star figure to roughly double. Tekirova and the larger five-star garden resorts run higher year-round. Bed and breakfast exists in Kemer town in a way it does not in Belek, which is worth knowing if you would rather eat on the promenade than at a buffet.

Getting there

Kemer is served by Antalya Airport (AYT), about 45 minutes away. The route runs around the bay past Antalya and Konyaaltı, then onto the coastal road that climbs over a shoulder of the mountains before dropping into Beldibi. It is a beautiful drive and a winding one, so if anybody in the party gets car-sick, sit them in the front and skip the meal on the plane.

Transfers inside Turkey we operate ourselves, with our own vehicles and drivers, and have done since 2016. The driver meets you inside arrivals with a name board, the price is quoted per vehicle rather than per person, and we track the flight. On this route in particular we send a vehicle sized for the luggage, because the road has no room for improvisation.

When to go

April. Around 21 to 23 degrees, sea near 18. The best month of the year for walking the Lycian Way sections above the coast. Too cold for most people to swim.

May. Mid to upper twenties, the sea becoming swimmable late in the month, the hillsides still green and the hotels quiet.

June. Around thirty, warm water, long evenings. The best all-round month if you also want to be active.

July and August. Low to mid thirties on the coast, which is a few degrees below the Antalya plain, and noticeably less humid. Beaches and the promenade are busy, and the mountain roads are hot at midday. Still the most comfortable of the four destinations in high summer.

September. Warm sea, high twenties to thirty, thinning crowds. Excellent.

October. Mid to high twenties, the sea comfortable into mid-month, hiking season reopening, prices falling.

November to March. Most hotels close. The mountains get snow, Tahtalı runs as a winter attraction, and a handful of hotels in Kemer town and Beldibi stay open for domestic weekend traffic.

Beaches, water and days out

Be clear-eyed about the beaches. They are pebble, small to medium stones, and the entry is steeper than on the sand coasts. Swim shoes make the difference between enjoying the water and complaining about it, and most hotels have a platform or a jetty precisely because of this. What you get in return is water clear enough to see the bottom at four metres, which is why Kemer has the best snorkelling and diving of the four destinations.

Phaselis, fifteen minutes south, is the standout half-day: a Lycian and Roman port city with three separate harbours, ruins running down to the water and coves you can swim from. Go early, take water and something to swim in.

The Olympos cable car climbs from near Tekirova to the summit of Tahtalı at 2,365 metres. The temperature at the top can be twenty degrees below the coast, so take a jacket even in August; on a clear day you see the whole gulf. Göynük canyon, the Ulupınar trout restaurants on the way south and the Yanartaş flames near Çıralı fill out the rest.

Kemer town itself has a walkable centre with restaurants, a marina, boat trips and a bazaar. It is more of a real town than Belek and less of one than Alanya.

Who should skip Kemer

Families whose children are small enough to want to paddle on soft flat sand should look at Side, Çolaklı or İncekum instead. Golfers belong in Belek. Anybody who wants a large modern five-star with a wide private sand beach should also be in Belek or Lara. If several people in the group are prone to travel sickness, the winding road is worth weighing. And if the plan is bar-hopping until dawn, Alanya does that better.

Getting a price

Send us your dates, the number of adults and children, whether you want all-inclusive or half-board, and roughly what you want to spend. A consultant prices it with our partner agencies, who issue the booking and voucher, and comes back with two or three options that genuinely fit, including a note on what the beach is actually like at each one. The quote is free, no payment is taken on this website, and we normally reply within one working day.