Five drives worth taking from Antalya

The real value of a rental car in Antalya begins the moment you leave the coast. All five of these are there-and-back day trips from the airport. Times are for normal traffic; add to them on a summer evening.

1. Aspendos and Köprülü Canyon

Aspendos is about 40 minutes from the airport. Its Roman theatre is among the best preserved anywhere, and it lives up to it: standing on the stage and realising someone in the back row can hear you is a genuinely odd experience. Go early — the stone gets fierce by afternoon.

From there you can carry on north to Köprülü Canyon, another hour, through pine forest that gets cooler as you climb. There is rafting in the canyon, but even if you skip it, driving over the Roman bridge is reason enough.

2. Side and Manavgat

Side is 55 minutes from the airport. The ancient city has grown into the modern town: the columns of the Temple of Apollo stand right at the water's edge, and it gets busy at sunset — deservedly.

Cars cannot enter Side's old lanes, so you park outside the centre. Twenty minutes north, Manavgat waterfall is not enormous, but its shade and the tea gardens around it rescue a hot afternoon.

3. Kemer, Olympos and Çıralı

This one runs west, and it is the best driving in the region. Past Konyaaltı the road is squeezed between the Beydağları and the sea: steep slopes on your right, the Mediterranean on your left.

Kemer is 40 minutes, Olympos and Çıralı about ninety. At Çıralı it is worth climbing to the Chimaera after dark — natural gas seeps from the rock and burns of its own accord, and you need darkness to see it properly. The walk is about half an hour over loose stone, so wear something sensible.

4. Into the Taurus

If you want out of the heat, head north into the mountains. The temperature drops noticeably as you climb — 38°C on the coast and 25°C on the plateau is an ordinary summer day.

The bends up there are tight and the altitude comes on fast. A higher driving position earns its keep. Fuel stations are not as frequent as on the coast, so fill up before you start climbing.

5. Perge and the Antalya Museum

For a shorter day: Perge is five minutes from Aksu and one of the largest ancient cities in the region. The colonnaded street, the stadium and the baths are all substantially standing.

Most of the sculpture found at Perge is now in the Antalya Museum, out at Konyaaltı near the city centre. Seeing both in one day works well, because it connects the ground to what came out of it.

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