Things to do in Belek

Belek is not an old town that grew. It was pine forest and dune until the 1980s, when the state opened the coast to hotel building. What stands there now was drawn on a plan.

A resort assembled from scratch

The layout is a single strip: sand on one side, a service road on the other, and gated hotels between them.

• No centre. There is no old quarter and no promenade to wander, so evenings happen inside the hotel or in a taxi.
• The beach. Wide, dark sand with a shelf that drops away quickly a few metres out.
• Turtles. This is one of Turkey's main loggerhead nesting beaches, which is why beach lighting is restricted in summer.
• Land of Legends. The theme park at the western end, sold both as a day ticket and as an evening show.

Golf, and why the season is inverted

Around fifteen courses sit in the pines along a seventeen-kilometre stretch, which is the densest cluster in Turkey.

That is the point of them. They stay playable from October to May, when daytime sits in the high teens and low twenties. July on a fairway at 35C is another sport.

What lies behind the hotels

The Taurus foothills start almost at once, and the ancient cities of the plain are closer from here than from anywhere else.

• Aspendos. The best-preserved Roman theatre in Asia Minor, built by the architect Zeno under Marcus Aurelius, and still used for opera in summer.
• Kursunlu. A waterfall in a wooded gorge twenty minutes inland, with a short shaded walk.
• Green Canyon. The reservoir behind the Oymapinar dam, a flat-water boat day rather than a rapids one.
• Buggy and quad. Two-hour runs up the forest tracks, booked for the morning before the dust and heat build.

Practical

• The airport. Antalya is about thirty-five minutes away, the shortest transfer on the coast.
• Summer. July and August run near 35C and humid, with the sea about 29C and no breeze inland.
• Getting out. The resorts are spread out and there is little to walk to, so budget for taxis or book transfers with the tour.
• At night. Keep off the sand after dark in nesting season and leave torches switched off.
• Tipping. Around ten per cent still applies in all-inclusive hotels, in cash and in lira.
• Aspendos. Performance nights fill the theatre, so check the festival calendar before booking a daytime visit.