Things to do in Kemer

Kemer is the green end of this coast. The Bey mountains come down almost to the water, the slopes are pine, and the beaches are pebble rather than sand. The sea off them is noticeably clearer.

The town under Tahtali

Kemer itself is small and organised around a marina, with the mountain doing most of the work.

• Tahtali. 2,365 metres straight behind the town, with snow on it into spring and the coast laid out below.
• The cable car. Four and a third kilometres to the summit in about ten minutes, one of the longest single spans anywhere.
• The beaches. Pebble and steep, which keeps the water clear and makes swim shoes worth packing.
• Yoruk Park. A reconstructed nomad camp on the headland, more useful than it sounds for understanding the yayla.

Phaselis and the canyon

South of town the Lycian coast begins, and the ruins there sit on the beach rather than above it.

Phaselis was founded by Rhodian colonists in 690 BC and traded from three harbours at once. An aqueduct runs through the pines to the shore, and a gate went up for Hadrian's visit in 129 AD. Goynuk Canyon inland is waded, not walked.

What Kemer is a base for

The town sells fewer things than it reaches, and most of what is booked here leaves it for the day.

• Evening cruises. Out of the marina with dinner aboard, two to three hours, back after dark.
• Coves by boat. Daytime trips work the bays towards Phaselis and Tekirova with swimming stops.
• Pamukkale and Lake Salda. One very long day inland, leaving before dawn.
• Cappadocia. Two days and one night, by overnight coach or by air.

Practical

• Temperature. July and August run a degree or two below Antalya thanks to the mountains, around 33C, with the sea warm from June into November.
• The airport. Antalya is roughly fifty minutes north on a winding coast road, not a fast one.
• Canyon days. Goynuk is four kilometres of gorge, cold in any month, and you finish wet to the waist in shoes that fasten.
• Wind. The cable car stops in strong wind and the summit can be twenty degrees below the beach.
• Season. May to October is the working season; several boats and stalls simply close outside it.
• Money. Cash in lira is better in town than at the hotels, and tipping is about ten per cent.