Lara is Antalya's own beach: a long stretch of sand east of the city, minutes from the airport, lined with the palace-style mega-resorts that run the same all-inclusive playbook as Belek with a real city at the door. Konyaaltı, on the west side of town, is the other city beach, pebble rather than sand and set under the Beydağları mountains, with the harbour and the old town of Kaleiçi between the two. Pick this coast for the shortest transfer in Turkey and for having somewhere to go in the evening.
- Airport
- Antalya (AYT), Lara resorts 10–20 min, Konyaaltı 30–40 min
- The beaches
- Lara and Kundu (sand, east of the city)
- Konyaaltı (pebble, west of it)
- Best for
- Short transfers, big-resort value with a city attached, the old town
- Season
- April–October
- May–June and September–October are the sweet spots
- Weather risk
- None tropical
- hot, dry summers and wet winters
Where Lara & Antalya splits
The resort areas are not interchangeable. What each one is actually for.
Lara & Kundu
The sand side, east of the city and closest to the airport: the palace resorts of Kundu, each themed and enormous, and Lara's long beach beside them. Pick it for the shortest transfer in Turkey and for Belek-style scale at Lara's prices.
Start with Concorde De Luxe Resort, five-star.
Konyaaltı
The pebble side, west of the harbour under the mountains: a long promenade beach, the city's museums and parks behind it, and cooler evenings. Pick it for the setting and for being in Antalya rather than beside it.
Start with Susesi Luxury Resort, five-star.
Where the Lara & Antalya resorts are
11 resorts mapped stars are five-star properties
When to visit Lara & Antalya
Climate normals for Antalya, and our verdict on each month.
| Measure | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Average daily high | 59°F15°C | 60°F16°C | 64°F18°C | 70°F21°C | 78°F26°C | 86°F30°C | 93°F34°C | 93°F34°C | 88°F31°C | 80°F27°C | 70°F21°C | 62°F17°C |
| Rainfall | 8.6″ | 5.7″ | 3.5″ | 1.6″ | 1.1″ | 0.3″ | 0.1″ | 0.1″ | 0.5″ | 3.3″ | 6.3″ | 10.4″ |
| Verdict | Off-peak | Shoulder | Shoulder | Good | Prime | Prime | Good | Good | Prime | Prime | Off-peak | Off-peak |
May to June and September to October, with warm sea and days under the August heat. July and August regularly top 90°F, which the pool complexes are built for. Winters are impressively wet, and the city's museums and the old town are what a winter visit is for.
Sweet spot. May–June and September–October; July–August regularly tops 90°F; rainy season runs November–February.
Storm risk. No tropical systems: bone-dry, hot summers, and wet winters that the old town and the museums are for.
Figures are long-term climate normals for Antalya, good for planning. They are not a forecast.
Lara or Konyaaltı?
Lara is the resort answer: sand, a ten-minute airport run, and Kundu's themed palace hotels, which are built at Belek scale with a dozen restaurants, huge pool complexes and a plan that covers most of it. Konyaaltı is the city answer: a long pebble beach with a promenade, the Antalya museum and Kaleiçi's old harbour a short ride away, and the mountains rising straight behind the sand. Both are Antalya, which is the point of this coast: unlike Belek or Kemer, there is a real city within twenty minutes of every resort.
Lara's beach is sand and shelves gently; Konyaaltı's is pebble and drops off faster, which the swimmers like and small children do not. Water shoes settle it.
Beyond the resort
Kaleiçi, Antalya's walled old town, with its Roman harbour and Hadrian's Gate, is the evening out that Belek cannot offer. The Düden waterfalls drop straight into the sea at the edge of Lara. Perge and Aspendos are half an hour east, and the Antalya museum holds the statues found there. The cable car up Tünektepe above Konyaaltı is the view of the whole bay.
The best all-inclusive resorts in Lara & Antalya
The Lara & Antalya properties we would actually book.
Where to stay in Lara & Antalya
The resort areas we cover, and which properties sit in each.
Resort chains in Lara & Antalya
The brands operating here. The ones we rank in full link through to the chain, what its plan really covers, and every resort of theirs we track.
Lara & Antalya, head to head
Price, flights, sand, food and safety, compared honestly.
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Frequently asked questions
Lara or Belek for an all-inclusive?
Lara for the shortest transfer, the city on the doorstep and the same style of mega-resort at a slightly lower price; Belek for the pine forest, the golf and the very biggest, most lavish properties, with no town at all. Our ranking below orders every Lara and Antalya resort in our catalog by real guest data.
Is Konyaaltı beach sand?
No, pebble, with a long promenade and clear water; Lara, on the other side of the city, is the sand beach. Konyaaltı's setting under the mountains is the reason to choose it, and water shoes make the pebbles a non-issue.