Kemer

Kemer is a tourist resort in Lycia on the Mediterranean coast of Turkey, about 40 km southwest of Antalya. It's the largest of a string of resort villages, with a total population in 2022 of 49,383.

Understand
The Lycian coast here is rugged and hemmed in by mountains. In ancient times a string of little ports developed, linked by sea as there was no road access. That limited their value commercially and militarily, so they never grew large. They were also vulnerable to pirate raids, and mostly abandoned in the Byzantine era.

The area only developed from the 1960s when the coastal highway D400 was blasted and tunnelled through the hills. That put Kemer within an hour of Antalya airport, and larger passenger jets plus promotion of Turkish tourism led to a boom. There is nowadays a well-developed tourist strip, which north to south encompasses Beldibi, Göynük, Kemer itself, Kiriş, Çamyuva and Tekirova. Arslanbucak and Kuzdere are residential districts inland from Kemer. Çıralı the southernmost village is part of this municipality but described on a separate page as Olympos.

The Kemer strip has many west European tourists but in the 2020s mostly caters to Russians, to the extent that hotel and restaurant staff are more likely to know Russian than English.

Get in
For long-distance routes by air, bus or car see Antalya. From the airport take the bus (from both terminals) or tram (from T1) downtown to Antalya bus station. Or a taxi might be €50.

Bus TA08 runs from Antalya bus station every 30 min to Kemer, Çamyuva, Phaselis and Tekirova. In 2023 the fare is about 40 TL.

Bus TA07 runs from Antalya bus station every 15 min to Beldibi, Göynük and Kemer.

Buses going further south to Kumluca, Demra, and Kaş don't come into Kemer, but can be stopped on D400 at the intersection by the Otogar.

the bus station is 1 km west of town centre at the intersection with D400. It's reasonably clean.

By road follow directions to Antalya then join D400, the divided highway south along the coast.

Get around
See above for buses TA07 and 08 from Antalya. Others you might use, all starting from Kemer Marina, are Bus 5 to Arslanbucak, Bus 4 to Kuzdere and Bus 1 to Kiriş beach.

Yellow taxis are common. The fare is about 10 TL flagfall plus 10 TL per km.

See

 * at the north end of that village contains rock paintings of unknown date. You're unlikely to find it open.
 * Çamdağ Tunnel burrows through the headland by the cave, and gives access to a secluded shingle beach.
 * (Saat Kulesi) is the focal point of the main village - all local buses stop here. There's a cafe beneath and a little park surrounding. East lies a hotel quarter and Kemer's main beach, which is narrow, shingly, and sardine-packed with sun loungers.
 * Kemer harbour is a modern marina. The "folklore open-air museum" on the east point is just a few waxworks, not worth paying to see.
 * east of the marina is sand and shingle.
 * the hill south of Kemer is best ascended by taking the lane Mustafa Ertuğrul Cd then the summit track, though there are steeper direct trails from south or north. There's a telecoms station on top.
 * south of the hill has a long shingle beach. The north end is called Kiriş.
 * ("Paradise Bay") is a secluded cove reached by a track from the loop of road towards Phaselis.
 * meaning "three islands" are rocky uninhabited islets about 3 km offshore. Boat trips often visit for snorkeling and diving.
 * meaning "three islands" are rocky uninhabited islets about 3 km offshore. Boat trips often visit for snorkeling and diving.
 * meaning "three islands" are rocky uninhabited islets about 3 km offshore. Boat trips often visit for snorkeling and diving.

Inland

 * is the jumbled remains of a hilltop city. Very little is known about it, except that it was inhabited from Hellenistic times and abandoned in the 8th century. You need a guide for the three-hour ascent with no clear trail.
 * (Ikiz Kayalar) are outcrops rearing up on the hillside south of Kuzdere.
 * is a scenic gorge at the point where the road west from Kemer hairpins up the slope towards Gedelme. There's a Roman bridge and pools you can dip in.
 * is just a few scrappy walls of a 9th century fortress, Byzantine era. It may have been a secure warehouse for grain rather than a military outpost. The giant sycamore nearby is thought to be 2500 years old.
 * is the ruined acropolis of an ancient city, curiously not mentioned in classical texts, but its large bath-house and several churches indicate its former importance. It's reached by rough tracks and is free to explore 24 hours.
 * is the ruined acropolis of an ancient city, curiously not mentioned in classical texts, but its large bath-house and several churches indicate its former importance. It's reached by rough tracks and is free to explore 24 hours.

Do

 * Hiking trails include Çalıştepe, Tekirova to Çamyuva, Tahtalı summit, and Mount Chimaera to Ulupınar.
 * Lycian Way is a 540 km way-marked hiking trail from Fethiye to Geyikbayırı in the hills above Antalya.


 * Boat trips for sightseeing or fishing putter out from the marina.
 * Scuba diving centres are Octopus, Aqua Age and Diving Kemer all in Kemer, and DiveEx in Tekirova. The Turkish Med is good for beginners, and there's a couple of shipwrecks and caverns nearby, but limited marine life.
 * Kemer Dolphinpark on Moonlight Beach by the marina is a sad little tourist-trap. The "aquapark" nearby is just a shop.
 * Land of Legends theme park is plugged by several hotels as offering free entry with their hotel package. But it's east of Antalya in Belek, so it's a long day out even with a complementary shuttle.
 * Land of Legends theme park is plugged by several hotels as offering free entry with their hotel package. But it's east of Antalya in Belek, so it's a long day out even with a complementary shuttle.
 * Land of Legends theme park is plugged by several hotels as offering free entry with their hotel package. But it's east of Antalya in Belek, so it's a long day out even with a complementary shuttle.

Buy
Lots of convenience stores open daily. The main concentration around Kemer clocktower includes Oscar, Sok, A101, Migros and Carrefour.

Drink

 * Most cafes serve beer.
 * Night clubs are clustered at the north end of Kemer beach: Aura, Kristall and Inferno. They're open Apr-Oct daily 10:30-04:00, so you need to enjoy raucous pop music if your accommodation is nearby, but they close down in winter.

Connect
Kemer and the coast road have 4G from all Turkish carriers. As of June 2023, 5G has not rolled out in Turkey.

Go next

 * Olympos a few km south is an ancient port, better preserved than Phaselis.
 * Antalya north is a big modern city and most visitors just transit the airport, but it has several antiquities in its old quarter.
 * Belek further east is a golf resort.
 * Side has extensive ruins of a Roman city.