A Weekend of Antalya Day Trips
Two days is enough for the closest slice of Pamphylia without a rental car: Perge on day one, then Aspendos and Side combined into one long day two. This is the taster version; want more ruins, Kekova, or Pamukkale added on? Our 4 day and 7 day Antalya day-trip itineraries build outward from this same base.
| Day | Focus | Distance/drive time from Antalya |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Perge’s colonnaded street and stadium | 18km, 20 to 30 minutes |
| 2 | Aspendos theatre and Side’s harbor ruins | 47km / 76km, 40 to 45 min / just over 1 hour |
Book these before you go
- Book a Perge, Aspendos, and Side day tour , the easiest way to cover both days without driving yourself
- Check rates on Booking.com for a Kaleici or Lara base before the trip
- Reserve a discovercars.com rental if a self-drive day works better for your schedule
Day 1: Perge, the closest ancient city
Perge sits just 18km out, 20 to 30 minutes by car or a combination of dolmus and taxi, making it the obvious warm-up before tackling anything further. Walk the colonnaded main street, the Roman stadium, and the agora, entry runs somewhere between 100 and 300 TRY depending on the source (verify on site, figures here move fast). Head back into Antalya by early afternoon and use the rest of the day to settle into your base, whether that is Kaleici’s old-town lanes or Lara’s beach strip; either works as the home base for tomorrow’s longer day.
Day 2: Aspendos and Side, the Pamphylia double
Aspendos is 47km out, 40 to 45 minutes, and has the single best-preserved Roman theatre anywhere, still used for the Aspendos Opera and Ballet Festival most Septembers. Entry runs about 700 TRY (roughly $15, €13), check the current fee on the official museum listing before you go. Push on to Side, 76km total, just over an hour, a working beach town built directly around its own Roman ruins, the Temple of Apollo on the harbor point is the signature sunset shot and the town itself is largely free to walk. Turkey’s official tourism site has more on the wider Pamphylia coast if two days turns into a longer trip.
Is a rental car worth it for just these two days?
Not really. A taxi or a combined tour covers 18km to Perge and the Aspendos-Side loop without the hassle of parking at three separate sites in two days. A rental car earns its cost once an itinerary stretches past 4 days and starts adding Termessos or Olympos, where public transport options thin out fast.
Skip the big buffet dinner and eat where the Aspendos day tours stop for lunch, usually a small Pamphylia-town lokanta serving grilled meat and meze for 300 to 600 TRY a head. Confirm your Antalya hotel is walkable to a dolmus stop before booking; it makes tomorrow’s early Aspendos start far less painful.