2 Days in Antalya: Ruins and Coast
Two days from Antalya is enough for the closest ancient sites, no overnight away required. Day 1 runs the Pamphylia loop: Perge, Aspendos and Side. Day 2 climbs to Termessos in the morning and finishes at Olympos and the Chimaera flames after dark. Both nights you sleep back in your Antalya hotel. Want more time for Pamukkale or Kas, see the 3 day or 7 day versions of this route, or stay entirely in town with the 2 day Antalya city itinerary .
Book these before you go:
- Check Antalya hotel rates on Booking.com , especially in July and August when the resort strip fills fast
- Book a Perge, Aspendos and Side day tour if you are not renting a car; self-driving the loop is straightforward but a tour removes the logistics on a short trip
- Book a harbour sunset boat cruise for your first evening back in Kaleici
| Day | Focus | Distance / drive time from Antalya |
|---|---|---|
| Day 1 | Perge, Aspendos, Side | 18 to 76km, 20 min to 1hr15 |
| Day 2 | Termessos, Olympos and the Chimaera | 37 to 85km, 40 min to 1hr30 |
Day 1: Perge, Aspendos and Side
Start at Perge (18km, 20 to 30 minutes), the closest ruin site and genuinely underrated: a 600-metre colonnaded street, a 12,000-seat stadium, and an agora with a round central fountain. Entry fees here are reported anywhere from 100 to 300 TRY depending on the source, so verify at the gate rather than trust a number online.
Push on to Aspendos (47km, 40 to 45 minutes total from Antalya), the best-preserved Roman theatre anywhere and still an active concert venue every September during the Aspendos Opera and Ballet Festival . Entry runs about 700 TRY (roughly USD15/EUR13), free with the Mediterranean Museum Pass if you already bought one.
Finish at Side (76km, just over an hour), a working beach town built directly around its own Roman ruins. The Temple of Apollo on the harbour point at sunset is the single best photo on this whole route. Eat here before driving back; Side’s waterfront restaurants are less rushed than anything in central Kaleici. Return to Antalya for the night.
Day 2: Termessos and the Chimaera at Olympos
Leave early for Termessos (37 to 39km, 40 to 45 minutes), a mountaintop ruin inside a national park that Alexander the Great besieged and then simply moved on from, he never took it. The walk up from the car park is steep and entirely without shade, and the gate reportedly closes mid-afternoon, so this is not a leisurely-morning site. Real shoes, water, and an early start are not optional.
In the afternoon, head south via Kemer to Olympos (80 to 85km, about 1.5 hours), where beach and ruins actually sit together, a genuinely rare combination on this coast. Have dinner in Cirali, then walk up after dark to the Chimaera, natural gas vents that have burned continuously for millennia and are the mythological basis for the word chimera. Go after dark deliberately; in daylight the flames are barely visible against the rock.
Do you need a rental car for this loop?
Only if you want to set your own pace at Termessos, where tour buses do not go and the shade-free climb rewards an early, unhurried start. For Perge, Aspendos and Side, a car saves maybe an hour over an organized day tour, not enough to matter if you would rather not deal with Turkish highway signage on your first trip.
What is the biggest mistake on this route?
Trying to add Side’s beach time on top of its ruins on day one. The Pamphylia loop already covers 76km of driving and three separate sites; treating Side as a swim stop too turns a full day into a rushed one. Pick ruins or beach at Side, not both, and save the actual swimming for Olympos on day two, where it is built into the plan already.
Two days is tight but honest: it covers the two closest, highest-value legs of the Turkish Riviera without pretending Pamukkale or Kas fit in without an overnight. Cross-check entry fees before you go; Turkey’s official tourism site and the sites themselves are more current than any blog post, this one included.