Landing at Antalya Airport: your first hour, step by step

Antalya Airport is really several buildings sharing one runway system. International flights use Terminal 1 or Terminal 2, and flights from Istanbul, Ankara and other Turkish cities arrive at the separate domestic terminal. Which international terminal your plane uses depends on the airline and the day's allocation, and it is not always the one printed on last year's boarding pass. Your airline's app will show it on the day.

You do not need to work this out for your transfer. When you book with us we only ask for the flight number; the terminal comes with it, and the driver goes to the right hall. If you are flying in via Istanbul on a connecting ticket, tell us the last flight number — the one that actually lands in Antalya — because that is the one we track.

The first stop after the jet bridge or the airside bus is immigration. On a summer weekend, when charter flights from half of Europe touch down within the same hour, this is where most of your first hour goes. Queues of thirty to sixty minutes are not unusual at peak times; at two in the morning in November you may walk straight to a desk.

Entry rules for Türkiye differ by nationality and they do change. Many European passport holders currently enter without a visa for short stays, while some nationalities need an e-visa bought online before departure. Rather than rely on what a friend did a few years ago, check the current rules for your passport on the official Turkish e-visa website or your own government's travel advice page, and check how long your passport needs to remain valid after you arrive.

• Keep passports for the whole family in one hand, open at the photo page.
• If you hold an e-visa, have it printed or saved offline on your phone — the airport signal can be weak in the queue.
• Children travel on their own passports and go to the desk with you.

Waiting here costs you nothing with a booked transfer. We follow the landing time, not the moment you reach the hall, so a slow queue simply means the driver stands a little longer with your sign.

Past immigration, the screens in the baggage hall list each flight against a belt number. Trolleys are parked along the walls. Toilets and water fountains or vending machines are usually found here too, and this is a good moment to use them: once you walk through customs you are in the public hall, and from there it is about an hour in the car.

1. 1If a bag does not appearDo not leave the baggage hall. The lost-and-found or baggage-services desk is inside the reclaim area, and once you pass customs you cannot walk back in.
2. 2File a reportShow your boarding pass and baggage tag, describe the case, and give the full name and address of your hotel. Ask for a written reference number and keep it with your passport.
3. 3Tell your driverSend us a short WhatsApp message, or ask the desk staff to let you use their phone. The driver will wait while you finish the paperwork — this happens more often than people think, and nobody is in a hurry.

With your bags on the trolley, head for the exit. There is a green channel for nothing to declare and a red channel for goods that must be declared. Most holidaymakers walk through green; bags may be passed through a scanner at the exit. Then the doors open onto the arrivals hall.

The arrivals hall is public and loud: tour reps with clipboards, rental-car desks, families waiting for relatives. Walk a few steps clear of the doors, stop, and look along the barrier for the sign.

Our driver stands just beyond the customs exit holding a printed name sign with the name you booked under. If you booked in a partner's or a parent's name, look for that one. The driver takes the trolley, walks you to the car park and loads the luggage; nobody else in the hall needs to be spoken to.

“Your name on a sign at the barrier is the whole plan. Everything else — the landing time, the terminal, the delay — is our part of the job.

Three small errands are worth considering in the hall, and none of them is essential for getting to Side.

Phone and data. Mobile operators have kiosks in the arrivals area selling tourist SIM cards, and many travellers now buy an eSIM online before the trip, which you activate on landing without visiting any desk. Check whether your home tariff includes Türkiye before paying for either: many European plans do not, and roaming charges can be steep. The airport has Wi-Fi, though it may ask you to register before connecting, and the hotel will have its own.

Money. The local currency is the Turkish lira. There are ATMs and exchange offices in the hall, but airport exchange rates are generally less favourable than those in town, so change only what you need for the first day or two — a drink, a tip, a small purchase. You do not need lira for the transfer: our fare can be paid in euros, pounds or lira in cash, or by card.

• Choose to be charged in Turkish lira, not your home currency, if an ATM or card terminal offers a conversion — the machine's own rate is rarely the better one.
• Bank ATMs inside the terminal are a safer bet than standalone machines elsewhere.

Water and a snack. The kiosks in the hall sell bottled water; after a four-hour flight, a bottle each is a small kindness, especially with children in the back.

A large share of the charter flights into Antalya arrive late in the evening or in the small hours. At night, queues can be either much shorter or, when several flights land together, surprisingly long. Most of the kiosks stay open, though some exchange offices and shops close; it is worth having a little cash or a working card before you fly.

Our fares do not change after dark — the price confirmed when you booked is the price at four in the morning too, with no night supplement. The road is quieter, so the drive to Side is often a few minutes shorter, and children usually sleep from the first roundabout. Ask for the seats to be fitted in advance and you can lift them straight in.

From the airport car park the car joins the D400, the main coast road running east. You pass the edge of Aksu, the turn-off for Belek's golf hotels, the town of Serik and the junction for the Roman theatre at Aspendos. The Taurus Mountains stay on your left most of the way. Side is about 65 km from the terminal, roughly an hour; on summer Saturday afternoons, when many hotels change guests, allow twenty minutes more.

The fixed fare for a private Economy van to Side, Kumköy, Sorgun or Manavgat is €50 per vehicle, not per person, with child seats and all luggage included. You pay at the hotel door, in cash or by card, and the driver carries the cases to reception. By then the first hour is over — and the next thing to queue for is a sunbed.