Çıralı (Yanartaş – Chimera) is a district of Antalya where is the most touristic places of Turkey and every year around 10 millions of people visited this wonderful holiday destination. There are hundreds of places to spend your holiday in Antalya’s long seaside shore, but in this specific post, you will find detailed information about Çıralı and Chimaera (Yanartaş).
Where is Çıralı and How to Go There?
Çıralı is located about 80 km south-west of the Antalya city centre. If you come to Antalya with a plane, you will land Antalya Airport, which is located. There multiple flights to Antalya per day from major cities of Turkey and international hubs. If you didn’t arrange a private transfer, you need to the Antalya Coach Terminal to go Çıralı. You can take a taxi to go to the coach station but using public transportation could be more cheap and efficient, plus you will find a small city tour with these options—their buses and tram line that you can use to reach the coach station. On Antalya, you can use your credit card as a public transport card, but it should have contactless payment options.
From Antalya coach station you need to take the small buses goes to the Kumluca-Kaş directions. “Çiçek Tur” or “Antalya Tur” buses (there are other firms of course) will work you probably. Ticket prices are fixed and should be around 15-20 TL. Drivers probably don’t know English, but it is not a problem when you tell them Çıralı they will know where to stop for you.
Small buses will drop-off you at the Çıralı junction on the Antalya-Kemer-Kumluca main road (D-400). If you didn’t arrange a private transfer or taxis, you have to drop off on there. On the Çıralı junction, especially in the summer, you will find a dolmuş (Turkish name of tiny buses for 10-12 people). You will pay around 10 TL for the trip, and it will take around 20 minutes to reach the last stop. Along the route, you can drop-off on several stops, of course. You will use these buses to reach the Çıralı junction again anytime. These buses call “dolmuş (dolmush)” by locals.
Enjoying the Çıralı
Çıralı Beach
On Çıralı, there is a beach more than 2500 meters long. Çıralı Beach shore is mostly gravel, and they could be boiling, especially in summer. Be aware of this before you will plan to walk by the shore, especially at noon. You will rent sunbeds and umbrellas along the beach but also bring your own stuff. There are several markets near the seaside. It is important to be careful during the summer because heat will rise over 40°C. Heat prostration will be a problem. Also, the prices on the market at Çıralı will be little higher than the usual. It’s better to bring your own sun lotions and stuff with you. Çıralı beach is also the location for Caretta Caretta’s spawning ground. During their spawning period, you won’t be allowed to swim or use the beach after 10.00 pm during the night. The officials will be there to protect the eggs.
Where to Stay At Çıralı?
When you wrote Çıralı on booking.com, you will find tons of places to stay. You will find a very cheap option like camping with your or rental tent to high luxury boutique hotels. In Çıralı there is no five-star big and enormous hotels which make this place special for the people. You won’t find any building more than 2 storey building. I stayed on Baraka House, and Palm Konak Otel, both of them, were nice, especially BarakOra House. That was the view while writing this post. Orange, lime and palm lime trees, cicadas are the member of the Çıralı nature. You can find my two favourite places below. Both of them are very nice and guest-friendly places.
- Bakara House (Separate wooden houses)
- Kimera Hotel (Separate wooden houses, pool, luxury services such as SPA, Hamam and sauna)
Chimaera (Yanartaş)
During the ancient times, long long ago sailors were passing along the Mediterranean coast by watching the bright flames on Çıralı hills, Chimaera or Yanartaş in Turkish. Chimaera is the place of the battle between Chimaera Dragon and the Bellerophon. Bellerophon used the glorious Pegasus to fight with the Chimaera and chase it to until the seaside of Çıralı and kill him on there. With its last breath Chimaera spit the last fire and those fire still burning between the rocks today. Chimaera is one of the most symbolic places on Anatolia. On the south side of the Yanar Dere Valley, a natural gas deposit is burning for 2500 years. It would help if you walked through rough-stone road for about 2 km, which will take about 1 hour. Visiting Chimeaer during the evening during the sundown will be a stunning experience. There is an admission fee to the ancient site. There are few parking spaces and information kiosk on the spot. Site is open 24-hours which make it visit easy. Around the flames, there are no services like water, snack, etc.
Çıralı To-Do List
- Swim both midnight and sunrise
- Try to see Caretta Caretta
- Take a walk along the whole shore
- Visit the Olympos Ancient Site
- Visit the Chimera (Yanartaş)
Please your experience about Çıralı and its vicinity and leave your comments to improve this post. You can also use embedded map given below to get an idea about places to mention on the post.
Çıralı (Yanartaş) FAQs
Çıralı is about 80 km away from the Antalya city centre. Çıralı beach is very close to the Kemer. You can take look to the route from Antalya to Çıralı from here.
Çıralı beach mostly consists of gravel and a bit of granular sand. Gravel could be very hot during the day. So it is better to wear slippers or sea shoes. In total, Çıralı beach is more than 2 km long with various facilities for the visitor.
It is possible to see them hatch during the summer but you need to go down to the beach after midnight during the moonlight. There are official during nights to protect the sea turtles (Caretta Caretta) for the whole summer. You need to follow their advises to not disturb the turtles.
Yanartas (Chimera) is about 3 km away from the Cıralı. You may walk to the entrance of the national park but you have to walk to the fires. It will take around 1 km. So you need to take food and water with you because there are no facilities at the top.
Definitely yes! Burning stone creates a magical atmosphere especially during the evening and it is an unforgettable experience watching sundown at this place.
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