How to Take the Bus from Antalya to Çırali

Çıralı is a beautiful beach town about an hour and a half from Antalya’s city center. It is home to the famous Chimera (eternal flames) mountain, the historical city of Olympos, beautiful beaches, boat tours, and much more.

Renting a car is one of the easiest ways to get there, and the drive is an incredibly beautiful route that takes you all along the coast of Antalya. It is also nice to have a car while you are there, although the town itself is quite small and can be navigated by bike, local bus, or walking. A wonderful place to pick up a rental car in Antalya is Fırtına Otomotıv. They are very friendly, knowledgeable, and professional. Their prices are quite reasonable and they have a wide range of options for prices, number of seats, as well as manual and automatic. 

Taking a bus from the Antalya Otogar (bus station) is a very affordable option, with ticket prices usually ranging around 20-30 TL. These buses run frequently, so you don’t need to book ahead. It can seem a bit confusing if you don’t know what you are doing, but it is actually quite simple and straightforward. It does take a bit longer to get there, and from start to finish can be around 2 hours, including the time it takes to get to the otogar. The Antalya Otogar is located near Konyaalti, and is a place that any taxi or local bus driver will know how to get to. The VF02 bus will take you across the street from the bus station, and you can then take the overpass to get there.

Once you get there, you will head through the doors marked “Şehir İçi” which means within the province. After going through the metal detectors, there are counters to your right and left with different tour names on each of them. Find the counter marked either Antalya Tur or Çiçek Tur as they both have buses leaving for Çıralı every half an hour. Let the person at the counter know that you are wanting to go to Çıralı and they will point you in the right direction. You will get your ticket and pay for it once you are on the bus. Please make sure that you have your passport with you as they will ask for ID. The bus will drop you off at the top of the road that leads down into Çıralı and as it will drop you off on the far side of the road, you will have to cross over to the other side. There is a local town bus that picks up passengers from the top of the hill, and usually the bus driver will be in communication with the local bus, and it will sometimes be waiting there for passengers. If it isn’t there when you get off the big bus, it will come within 15-20 minutes. When you get on, tell the driver the name of your hotel and he will make sure to drop you off at the right place. The price for the local town bus is 10 TL. 

On the way back, make sure to be in communication with your hotel or camp site, as they will need to call the local bus to pick you up outside your accommodation. The bus comes every hour, and will drop you off at the same spot where you got on. Again, the bus drivers are usually in communication with each other and the large bus may be waiting at the top of the hill. If not, it will come in less than 20 minutes and to take you back to the Otogar. The frequency of buses makes it easy to take a spontaneous trip to the beautiful and historic beach town of Çıralı.

While you are there, there are a few ways that you can get around and you may need to think about this if you are staying on the far end of Çıralı. One of the easiest and most enjoyable options is to bike. A lot of hotels and pensions such as The Canada Hotel & Bungalows offer bicycles for their guests borrow.  There are also several bike rental spots downtown where all the restaurants and cafes are. There is a main road that runs along the beach all the way from the beginning of the Olympos ruins on the far west side down to Chimera (the eternal flames) on the east. The distance between them is about 5 kilometers in total and all restaurants, shops, cafes, hotels, pensions, and activities are somewhere in between. 

Another option is to walk, or catch the local bus from one side of town to another.