Where to stay in Antalya

The old quarter inside the Roman and Seljuk walls: Ottoman timber houses turned into pensions and boutique hotels, Hadrian's Gate at one edge and the cliff above the harbour at the other. The lanes are mostly car-free and everything in the centre is a walk away; rooms by the harbour bars are loud on summer nights.

The modern centre just outside the walls, along Atatürk and Işıklar avenues: the clifftop Karaalioğlu Park, the tram, the bazaar streets and Turkish city life rather than a tourist strip. Rooms are cheaper than in Kaleiçi and the old town is five minutes on foot.

West of the centre along seven kilometres of pebble beach under the Beydağları mountains. Mid-range hotels and apartments sit behind a park-lined promenade, the Antalya Museum is at its eastern end and the old town is a tram or taxi ride away.

East of the city towards the airport: the sandy beach the centre lacks, four- and five-star hotels, and the Lower Düden falls dropping straight into the sea. Better swimming than Konyaaltı, further from Kaleiçi; you will use taxis.

Forty minutes east: long sandy beaches backed by pine forest, the all-inclusive resorts that made the coast famous and the championship golf courses between them. Built to be self-contained; Aspendos is close, the old town is a day out.

Forty-five minutes south-west, where the Taurus drops straight into the sea: boutique resorts, the Kemer marina for a yacht day, and Phaselis, Olympos and the Chimaera further down the coast.