14 Days in Antalya: A Family Itinerary from the Coast to Kaş

Two weeks is enough time to see a genuinely wide slice of this coast with children in tow, but only if the itinerary resists the urge to move every day or two. This plan bases the family in a small number of hotels, keeps most drives under an hour, and builds in full rest days with no packing or checkout — particularly after the longer stretches. It runs from the beach resorts around Antalya through Kemer and the ancient sites at Olympos, then east to Side and Alanya, before an optional final push toward Kaş and Patara for families who want a taste of the quieter Lycian coast.

How this itinerary is paced

The route deliberately avoids the classic mistake of a new hotel every night. Instead it groups the fortnight into four bases: Antalya/Belek, Kemer, Side/Alanya, and (optionally) Kaş. Each base gets at least one full day with no driving at all, which matters more with young children than with adults — a pool morning or a slow breakfast resets everyone before the next activity day.

Base	Nights	Longest single drive
Antalya & Belek	5	About 40 minutes (airport to Belek)
Kemer & Olympos/Çıralı	3	About 1 hour
Side & Alanya	3	About 1 hour
Kaş (optional extension)	3	About 3.5 hours from Antalya

Families who prefer to skip the Kaş extension can simply add two or three extra nights around Belek and Side instead — the plan works either way, and the first eleven days stand on their own as a complete, easier two-week trip.

Day 1: Arrive and settle in near Lara

Land at Antalya Airport (AYT) and head straight to a hotel near Lara Beach, roughly 15-20 minutes from the terminal — the shortest possible transfer after a flight with children. Keep the first afternoon unstructured: a swim, an early dinner, and an early night to absorb the time difference. There’s no need to sightsee on arrival day.

Day 2: Lara Beach and the Lower Düden Falls

Spend the morning at Lara Beach, then drive the short distance to the Düden Waterfalls — specifically the Lower Düden falls, where the river drops into the sea and can be viewed from a cliffside park. Note that Antalya actually has two separate Düden sites, an upper inland park and this coastal lower one; they are not the same waterfall, and the lower falls suit an easy family visit far better than a longer inland excursion.

Day 3: Antalya old town, Kaleiçi

Give the day to Kaleiçi, Antalya’s walkable old town and harbour, with narrow lanes, an Ottoman-era core, and plenty of shaded cafés to break up walking with young children. The Kaleiçi old town guide is useful for planning which lanes and viewpoints suit a family pace rather than a full historic walking tour.

Day 4: Relocate to Belek and a boat afternoon

Move to Belek, about 30-40 minutes from central Antalya — a resort area built around golf and large family hotels, generally calmer and more child-oriented than central Antalya. In the afternoon, consider a gentle river boat trip past waterfall viewpoints with lunch included, an easy introduction to the coastline that doesn’t demand much of small children beyond sitting still on deck.

Day 5: The Land of Legends

A full day at The Land of Legends, the large theme park near Belek combining rides, an aquarium and a water park under one ticket. This is best treated as a single dedicated day rather than a half-day add-on — queues and the size of the park make it a poor fit for combining with anything else, and children generally want the whole day there anyway.

Day 6: Rest day in Belek

No driving, no ticketed sites — a full pool or beach day at the hotel in Belek. After a theme-park day this kind of pause matters more than it looks on paper; it’s the difference between a fortnight that feels relaxed and one that feels like a checklist.

Day 7: Relocate to Kemer

Drive to Kemer, about an hour from Belek along the coast road. Settle into the hotel and keep the rest of the day easy — a walk around the marina, an early dinner. Kemer’s beach and harbour front are easy to explore on foot without needing a car again that evening.

Day 8: Phaselis and a boat trip

Phaselis combines Roman and Byzantine ruins directly on a pine-backed bay with three separate beaches on the same site, which makes it an unusually good match for families — ruins in the morning, swimming right afterward, no separate transfer needed. Alternatively, book a full-day boat trip along the Kemer coast with lunch included for a day that needs no walking at all. The Kemer day trips guide lays out both options side by side.

Day 9: Olympos and Çıralı

Drive to Olympos, a riverside ancient-city site a short walk from the beach village of the same name, with a laid-back, low-rise feel that suits an unhurried family day. If energy allows in the evening, the Chimaera (Yanartaş) — natural gas seeping through rock and burning continuously at the surface, not volcanic activity — is a short walk from a car park a few kilometres away and is far more striking after dark, though it’s an optional add-on rather than a must for very young children given the evening timing.

Day 10: Relocate to Side

Move on to Side, roughly 1-1.5 hours from Kemer depending on the route. Side’s old town sits on a small peninsula built directly among Roman ruins, including a waterfront temple, and much of it can be explored freely on foot — genuinely rare for a Roman site and a good match for children who tire of formal, fenced ruins.

Day 11: Manavgat or a canyon boat trip

Choose between the gentle, low-drama Manavgat Waterfall — a wide, low river waterfall better suited to a relaxed boat trip and picnic than to hiking — or a canyon and cave boat excursion from Side for families wanting something a bit more adventurous without a long transfer. Either works as a half-day, leaving the afternoon free.

Day 12: Alanya Castle and Cleopatra Beach

Drive to Alanya, about an hour from Side, for the hilltop Alanya Castle and Cleopatra Beach directly below it. Local tradition links the beach’s fine sand to Cleopatra herself, though this is legend rather than verified history — worth mentioning to older children as a story, not a fact. The castle involves a walk or a short ride up, so plan the visit for a cooler part of the day with younger kids.

Day 13: Rest day, or the start of the Kaş extension

This is the natural point either to add a full rest day in Alanya or Side before flying home, or — for families comfortable with a longer transfer — to begin the optional Kaş extension. If continuing on, treat today as a travel day only: the drive from this stretch of coast to Kaş runs roughly 3-3.5 hours from Antalya and correspondingly long from Alanya or Side, on winding mountain roads that take noticeably longer than the map distance suggests. Arrive, check in, and do nothing else — no sightseeing on a day that’s already a long drive with children in the car.

Day 14 (or extension Day 14-16): Kaş rest day, then Patara

If the Kaş extension is in play, follow the long transfer day with a full rest day in Kaş itself — low-key, walkable, with no driving required. On the following day, visit Patara for its ruined city and one of the region’s longest beaches.

It’s worth being clear about one thing in advance: reaching Patara’s beach involves a walk across loose sand from the car park, which is genuinely difficult with a stroller and awkward with very young children who tire quickly on uneven ground — it is not a beach with easy, flat pushchair access, and no amount of route-planning changes that. Families with toddlers may prefer to enjoy the ruins and skip the full beach walk, or split the group so one adult stays closer to the car park.

For families ending the trip in Kaş rather than looping back, an airport transfer back to Antalya (see the airport transfers guide) takes the same 3-3.5 hours in reverse — worth booking as a private transfer rather than adding a rental-car drop-off to an already long final travel day.

Antalya family road trip: frequently asked questions

Is 14 days too long for a family trip to the Antalya region?

Not if the pace is kept slow, which is the whole design of this itinerary. Four bases across two weeks, with full rest days built in, avoid the packing-and-driving fatigue that a daily-move itinerary would cause with children.

Do we need a car for this whole itinerary?

A car (or private transfers) makes the coastal relocations between Antalya/Belek, Kemer, Side/Alanya and the optional Kaş extension far easier, since these areas aren’t well connected by fast public transport. Within each base, most sights are reachable on foot or by short local transfer.

Can we skip the Kaş and Patara extension and still have a full two weeks?

Yes. The first eleven days from Antalya through Belek, Kemer and Side/Alanya form a complete itinerary on their own; simply add two or three extra rest or beach nights around Belek or Side instead of continuing to Kaş.

Is Patara beach stroller-friendly?

No — reaching the beach itself involves walking across loose sand from the car park, which is difficult with a stroller and tiring for young children. Plan for carrying a child or splitting the group if a full stroller-accessible beach day matters more than seeing Patara specifically.

How long is the drive to Kaş, and is it worth it with young children?

Around 3-3.5 hours from Antalya on winding mountain roads, longer than flat-road driving speeds would suggest. It suits families comfortable with one long travel day each way and who follow it with a genuine rest day in Kaş, rather than families wanting to avoid long car journeys altogether.

What’s the best base for families who want to stay closer to the airport?

Antalya and Belek sit closest to Antalya Airport (AYT), roughly 15-40 minutes away, making them the easiest choice for the first and last nights of the trip regardless of how much of the rest of the itinerary is used.

Should we buy the regional museum pass for a family trip like this?

The Müze Kart / MuseumPass Mediterranean can be worth it if the itinerary includes several paid ancient sites such as Aspendos, Perge or Alanya Castle within its validity window — compare the pass price against individual entries for the specific sites this itinerary actually visits before buying.