Hi little turtle , I am off to Belek again this year and really would like to visit Cirali .Could you tell me what is the best way to get there from Belek.

Bluepeterno1

I would like to visit to, we will be in Dalyan for 2 months so plenty of time, do we first travel to Marmaris then on from there, or maybe get bus from Ortaga bus terminal ??
Going to Cappadocia for few days to, either diy or 3 day trip, anyone been ??

Hi bluepeterno1 & joan.pw,

thank you both for your replies...

bluepeterno1...for you to get to Cirali..there are 2 ways..either rent a car and drive the approximate time of 2 hours towards Antalya and then follow the D-400 highway southwest from Antalya towards Kas..Cirali is located about 80kms southwest of Antalya and 30 kms after the resort of Kemer.

Or take the dolmus from Belek to Antalya and change buses at the otogar ( bus station )..there are buses running about every 15-20 minutes in the summer months..about 30 minutes..in the winter..

From Antalya you can take "Antalya tur", "Cicek tour" or " Kumluca Seyhat" at the bus station..Cost is about 8 -10 liras per person and run from 6am until 8pm about every 1/2 hour. In the summer months they will run more frequently. Make sure you tell the driver to drop you off at the Cirali ( CHIR-ALI ) junction. Once you are at the Cirali junction there should be no problem to get the mini-bus service to the village center about 7 kms. Cost of mini-bus is around 5 YTL per person.

One note regarding the mini-buses into Cirali; if you are travelling alone or as 2 persons..once you are at the Cirali junction you can catch the mini-bus into the village ( 7kms ) but if there are no other passengers at that time one must wait until more arrive as they will not go down into the village with only 1 or 2 persons...for 5 liras each...they charge a private rate of 25 liras..for 1 person or 2 or 3 sharing this cost..

so if you can wait and more passengers arrive the cost is about 5 liras if not then unfortunately this is the cost ( 25 liras )

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joan.pw..The easiest way is to self drive.. As for directions you will drive along the coast road following the signs towards Antalya along the D-400 highway. First you will pass Dalaman, Fethiye, Kalkan, Kas, Kekova, then Demre ( St. Nicolas church), then Finike, then Kumluca and then after Kumluca drive about another 30 kms and then you will pass the Olympos juction. Keep on the main highway for about 1 km and then Cirali will be the next junction on the right hand side of the road. Keep a look out for the signs. Once on the village road follow the road about 7km down. At first the road will have a lot of turns winding it's way down into the village.

Or I am almost 100% sure you can take the Ortaca dolmus to Fethiye otogar and then transfer to the Antalya tur or Bati Antalya buses that run along the coast to Antalya..Fethiye bus station..then you can take the bus to Cirali..it will cost about 22-25 liras per person and the travel time is about 5 hours..these buses run about every half hour from the Fethiye bus station ( otogar )

again like I wrote above..Make sure you tell the driver to drop you off at the Cirali ( CHIR-ALI ) junction. Once you are at the Cirali junction there should be no problem to get the mini-bus service to the village center about 7 kms.

Joan..why not make a trip to Cirali first for a few nights and then off to Cappadocia for a few days..you can easily take the overnights buses that run from Antalya to either Goreme or Nevsehir..it take 9 hours from Antalya and the cost is about 45 liras per person..sorry you cannot fly direct from Antalya to the Cappadocia area..only expensive indirect flights..

the only low cost flights are from Izmir to Kayseri ..with Sun-Express..

hope you see you both in Cirali in the near future

Thanks for that ,little turtle . Seems straight forward enough .It will have to be dolmus ,as my sight is not good enough for driving abroad .I know where the bus station is in Antallya ,so that is a good start .
Kind Regards
Bluepeterno1

Hi bluepeterno1..

hope you get the chance this year to visit Cirali..and hope to see you there

Yesterday there was another article with referance to Cirali...I am also finding that over the past couple of years Cirali ( Çıralı ) has been getting more attention and is often mentioned by travel writers...and even more interesting they are writing more and more about places that are not catering to mass tourism or holidays packages within Turkey..

http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2009/apr/20/europe-budget-travel-short-haul-cheap?page=3

Been looking at Cirali, and wondering if anyone has any info etc. I know someone on HT has been there, but can't remember who, or when posted. Cheers.

Cirali has a great beach but not a lot more.One of our members owns a Hotel there and she is a better person to contribute.If it's a quite holiday that you are looking for then this is the place.Plus it has the Eternal Flame which you can visit but it's a good climb.Transfer is about 1 hour 45 minutes from Antalya Airport.

Ian

The best person to ask about Cirali is ht member caretta .If you search you will find quite a few posts from her ,or maybe the mods will merge for you .

Bluepeterno1

Merged with existing and very informative topic. Thanks bluepeterno1.

Darren

just wanted to thank the OP of this thread, very informative for us as we are planning to go 2011, we were going next year but had to change our plans and will be in dalyan. we really like peace and quiet with just a few quiet restaurants. can you recommend anywhere to stay ? will save this in my favourites... once again, thanks.

We stayed in Cirali at the end of September 2007 and were so enchanted we returned the following year.
The first year was very quiet as it was the end of the season, the second year was very busy as it was the last week of Ramadan when all the Turkish people come from the cities for a holiday.
It is a magical place, beautiful scenery, birds and butterflies, fabulous beach, reasonable choice of restaurants and lovely people. Plenty of opportunities to walk to the Chimera and ancient city of Olympus as well as longer treks on the Lycian way, one of my favourite destinations.

Thanks for that, it looks good. The only trouble is we're flying to Dalaman, but we're going to hire a car so we could stop off somewhere inbetween for a night or two to break up the journey. Booked flights for June & September, so we'll definately stay at Turunc like we always do for one of the holidays, then maybe try Cirali for the other.