Things to Do in Antalya Between Dental Visits
You are here for treatment, not a holiday - but you will have six nights and a good deal of daylight between appointments. This is what is actually within reach of the clinic, arranged by how much of you the dentistry has taken that day.
Your clinician gives you the aftercare that applies to your treatment, and it beats anything on this page. Where the two disagree, they are right.
The first 48 hours
Straight after surgery you will not want to do much, and there are things you should not do at all. Your clinician gives you the list that applies to your treatment, and it beats anything on this page - but as a rule the first two days rule out the sea, the sun in the middle of the day, alcohol, and anything you have to bite.
What is left is better than it sounds. The Lara seafront is a flat walk with somewhere to sit every hundred yards, and the point of the first two days is a slow hour outside rather than an itinerary.
Ten minutes from the chair
The Lara beachfront. A long promenade above the sand, cafés the whole way along, and the cliffs at the eastern end. Flat, shaded in stretches, and you can turn round whenever you have had enough.
Lower Düden Falls. The waterfall drops straight off the cliff into the sea a short drive from Lara. Ten minutes of looking, no walking to speak of, and the most photographed thing in Antalya that does not require a day.
A hammam, carefully. Turkish baths are everywhere and are exactly the wrong idea in the days after oral surgery - heat and swelling do not mix. Ask your clinician when it is sensible, and it is often later in the week than you would like.
A half-day, when you are up to it
Kaleiçi, the old town. Ottoman houses, Hadrian's Gate, a Roman harbour at the bottom of the hill and a great many cats. It is cobbled and it is steep in places, so it is a better third-day plan than a first-day one. Go late afternoon when the light is on the harbour.
Antalya Museum. One of the best archaeological collections in Türkiye, and unusually it is mostly indoors, air-conditioned and flat - which in August, four days after implant surgery, is a genuine argument for it.
Konyaaltı beach and the cliff park. The other side of the city, a pebble beach under the mountains, and a park along the clifftop with the Beydağları behind it.
Worth the drive
Aspendos. Forty-five minutes east. The best-preserved Roman theatre anywhere, still standing to its full height and still used for performances. Under an hour on site if you want.
Side. An hour east. A Greek and Roman town on a headland, with the temple of Apollo on the water at the end of it. Busy in summer; worth it out of season.
Perge. Twenty minutes. A Roman city with a colonnaded street you can walk the length of. Quieter than Aspendos and rarely crowded.
Termessos. An hour, and the exception to everything else on this list: a mountain-top ruin reached by a proper climb. Save it for a trip when you have not had surgery.
Eating, with a sore mouth
The honest problem with Antalya in a treatment week is that the food is very good and for a few days you cannot have most of it. Soups are the answer - mercimek lentil soup is on every menu and is warm, soft and cheap. So is sütlaç, a baked rice pudding, and yoghurt with almost anything.
Avoid what you would expect to avoid: crusty bread, nuts, the sesame on a simit, anything at the temperature of a fresh pide. And leave the Turkish coffee a few days - hot, and the grounds get everywhere.
Getting about
Taxis are metered and cheap by UK standards, and every hotel will call one. Uber operates in Antalya and mostly summons a licensed taxi. The tram runs along the coast into the centre and out to the museum, and costs very little with an Antalyakart from any kiosk.
Money. Cards are taken almost everywhere. Keep some lira for the tram, small cafés and the market. Data is worth sorting before you fly - a Turkish eSIM is a few pounds and saves roaming charges for the week.
Language. English is widely spoken in Lara and the hotel strip, less so in the old town, and not at all in a village. Nobody minds you trying.
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