Antalya Airport to Sorgun, door to hotel gate

Most of the Side coast is open beach with hotels in a row behind it. Sorgun is different. Here a belt of pine forest runs along the shore east of the old town, and the hotels sit inside it, each in its own clearing, with shaded paths leading down to the sand. The air smells of resin on a hot afternoon, and the buildings are mostly hidden from one another by the trees.

The resorts here are big ones: wide grounds, several pools, room blocks spread out over a long distance from reception. People come for that self-contained holiday, and many barely leave the hotel gates for a week. Those who do are within easy reach of three very different places — Side’s ruins to the west, Manavgat town inland and the lake at Titreyengöl just beyond the forest to the east.

From the airport, the first fifty-odd kilometres are the same as for anywhere on this coast: the D400 east past Aksu, the Belek turning, Serik and the Aspendos junction. The car leaves the main road at the Side turn and heads towards the sea, then bears east before the old town. Soon the shops thin out, the road narrows a little, and the trees close in on both sides.

Each hotel has its own entrance off this forest road, normally with a barrier and a security cabin. The driver gives the guard your name and the hotel waves the car through to the main door, so you step out at reception rather than at the roadside. The whole trip is usually about 65 minutes — a few more than to Side itself, because of those last kilometres through the woods.

One of the pleasures of staying here is that you can reach ancient Side on foot. The beach curves west from the forest towards the peninsula, and a path runs along the shore behind the sand, under the trees for much of the way. Follow it and the columns of the Temple of Apollo slowly come into view at the end of the bay. From the hotels nearest the old town it is an easy walk; from those deeper in the forest, allow the best part of an hour.

In July and August, go early in the morning or in the last hours of the afternoon, take water, and wear something better than flip-flops for the sand. A sensible plan is to walk there for the sunset, have dinner by the harbour and then message us for a short ride back to the hotel gate, since the forest road is dark at night and not built for pedestrians.

1. 1Choose the timeWith a drive of a little over an hour and the airport’s screening at the terminal doors, leave Sorgun about three and a half hours before an international departure. On a summer Saturday, add another twenty minutes.
2. 2The evening beforeSettle the hotel bill and ask reception whether you can leave luggage there in the morning. In a large resort, the walk from a far room block to the lobby with suitcases can take longer than you expect.
3. 3At pickup timeThe driver waits at the main entrance or in the reception car park. If you are running late, a WhatsApp message is enough; there is no rush at the door.
4. 4At the airportYou are dropped at the departures entrance of your terminal and pay the agreed fare at the kerb, in cash or by card.

Manavgat is only a few minutes inland from Sorgun. From the riverside in town, boats run down the Manavgat river to the point where it meets the sea, and the wide, low waterfall lies about four kilometres north of the centre. Further inland are the rafting stretches of Köprülü Canyon and the turquoise reservoir known as the Green Lake, above the Oymapınar dam.

“Between pine needles and Roman stones, Sorgun is a good place to spend a week doing very little — and an easy one to leave when you feel like doing more.

We drive any of these on request, with the driver waiting for you or returning at an agreed hour. Prices are fixed when you book, just as for the airport run.