Despite its rather young existence as an international resort, Antalya has recently started to expand its transportation system. Hence, its being geologically embraced by the Mediterranean Sea at one side, while still being cuddled by the mountains at the other, enables tourists deciding on this vacation destination to choose between, either romantically cruising here or pragmatically flying from any destination worldwide.
It wouldn't be wrong to assume that Antalya is like a door opening itself to the Turkish Riviera for hundreds of tourists every day. The high capacity International Antalya Airport has to handle an authentic turmoil caused by the tourists worldwide arrived here either to enjoy the unique beauty of this mythological city, former house of Gods and Goddesses, and to set off further yet again to explore neighboring historical places like Kemer, Perge, Aspendos or Olympos. The most handy and reasonably priced way to travel remains the plane. The International Airport in Antalya provides for direct flights and charters that fly vacationers from all over the world. Nevertheless, apart from these, you can always choose to fly via Istanbul, and then take a bus to Antalya city.
Most of the tourists who come here are either from Germany or from Russia, exceeding considerably the number of the other international tourists traveling here. A scientific explanation of this phenomenon might be the fact that the cheapest flights from Europe to Antalya usually depart from Amsterdam, Belgium and Germany.
The Onur Airlines which is a domestic and international Turkish air travel company connecting Antalya to all big cities in Turkey and also international destinations, the Turkish Airlines, Thomas Cook, The Sun Express, or Condor are just a few of the airlines that do cheap flights from and to Europe (UK, Austria, Germany, Switzerland or Italy).
If you are traveling on your own and nobody is meeting you at the airport, you can either choose the quite pricey taxi up to your hotel or anywhere you want, or the Havas airport shuttle bus that will take you to the city centre. On your way back home, you can spare a few more moments to enjoy a fresh drink in one of the airport restaurants or cafe bars, or, to buy your loved one a gift from the airport's duty free shopping centre.
There are no ships or direct ferry services to take you to Antalya city. However, if you are fancying traveling by boat, then, you have to know that most tourists who come here, especially via Greece, the island of Rhodos, dock in Marmaris and then take the bus overland, to Antalya.
Should you be a more conventional tourist who misses the long gone days when people used to travel by train a lot more than they do these days, know that you too stand a chance of coming here and experiencing the mysticism and historical force of the ancient days. There is no regular railway service to Antalya city, so that, wherever you may be coming from, you need to buy a ticket on a passenger train to Istanbul. Once you are here, you need to buy a new ticket, for the Pamukkale Express that will take you from Istanbul to Burdur, with a stop in Dinar, where from you'll have to take a connecting bus (included in your ticket fee) to Burdur.
Depending on your financial resources, you can always choose from a coach car, which will also give you the opportunity to meet other tourists while enjoying the breathtaking landscape, or from a sleeper berth, if you want to catch up with your sleep. At this point, you have to remember getting off at Dinar where there will be a bus to take you to Burdur. One and a half hours are everything that stand between Burdur and Antalya, so, do make sure to catch one of the many minibuses for Antalya, your final destination.
Antalya is a destination that can be reached from everywhere in Turkey. The buses leaving from or getting to the Antalya Bus Station drive along the E87, D400, D650 routes.
The recent increase in the numbers of tourists have entailed to a common problem that the Turkish authorities are confronting themselves with every day: the underdeveloped inland infrastructure of roads and highways. However, efforts are being done to catch up with the tourist population boost.
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