Favorite Family Vacation

By gnegelfamilyMay 22, 2025

For spring break in 2024, I was eager to go somewhere new and expand our experiences beyond Europe and the United States so I looked into where it would be warm and a reasonably priced plane ride away. And I came upon Antalya, Turkey. We booked our flights, found a great place to stay right in the old town and were off! It turned out to be one of our favorite vacations ever. The people were so kind, the food was delicious and we did all sorts of really fun activities. A great family destination!

Tip: We did learn to shop around a bit when booking tours/day trips because the hotels will pressure you into buying some right when you land before you really know what things should cost.

We arrived late in the evening so after checking in, getting a quick dinner and having our first Turkish ice cream experience, we went to bed. The next morning, after a delicious homemade breakfast from the hotel, we started exploring the old town. It is a beautiful mix of ancient architecture (Hadrian’s Gate), quaint streets, and colourful buildings. So charming!

We walked all the way to the Kecili Park viewing platform where we marvelled at the beauty!

Then we continued walking around the harbour to the Kaleici Panoramic Elevator where we were treated to even more beautiful views. We then continued to walk, this time back towards the old town but a different route, which brought us by Tekeli Mehmet Paşa Cami.

Then we stumbled upon a street fair in honour of Ramadan where the kids rode some rides and we got to try some delicious local food. What a fun first day!

The next day we spent some time figuring out the local bus system and made our way over to Lower Duden Waterfall. We walked along a little river from the bus stop on the main road to the park with the waterfall. Afterwards we hopped on another bus to Lara Beach, a nice sandy beach with a restaurant right on the beach where we could hang out. Then we made our way back to old town via bus and walking where we were rewarded with some beautiful views. On our way back, we stopped again at the fair where some of us played (despite getting a bit big for these types of rides!) and some of us ate dinner. Olivia and Hannah opted for pizza instead. Another great day learning a bit more about Turkey.

The following day Steffen stayed at the apartment to work so the girls and I headed out to explore. We took the public bus again (it was so easy to figure out!) and found Antalya Migros Shopping Center with a Starbucks (always important) and then walked over to the Antalya Aquarium. We started our visit with the Oceanride cinema, then fed the fish with baby bottles and finished our visit with a walk through the world’s biggest tunnel aquarium! We learned a lot and had fun. From there we walked down to the beach and then over to a small amusement park that was completely empty. We still got to have some fun on the (super hot and a little scary) ferris wheel and other rides. Afterwards we headed back to the mall for haircuts and pedicures. I really enjoy a day where we ramble and see what the place has to offer!

Something Steffen and I very much wanted to experience in Turkey was a traditional Turkish bath (Hammam) so we found this one in the old town. We went over to make an appointment, and they let us know that the kids could get massages as well. So we signed the whole family up! Steffen and I got the whole program– Turkish bath, foam massage and then a 1 hour medical and hot stone massage which was all fantastic and such a cool experience! The girls had mixed reactions to their massages. 🙂 But Steffen and loved it so much, we immediately made appointments for later in the week. The rest of the day we spent exploring town, enjoying their favorite cookies and having a delicious meal at Luna Garden, a place we loved so much we visited a few times during our stay.

The next day we went on our first excursion and it was a huge hit! We went on a jeep safari into the Taurus Mountains with a stop at a traditional tea house, a stop at a beautiful lookout and lunch at a fish hatchery. Everyone had so much fun! This was the first time (in visiting 27 countries with kids!) that we had signed up for a tour and we were really impressed with the tour company.

The next day we were back to our usual travelling: public transportation and a lot of walking! We spent some time at the Flamingo Lounge beach club at the beach park on the western side of town and then made our way to an unforgettable experience: a cooking class in the home of a local family that I found through Airbnb experiences. It was so special! They were so welcoming and taught us so much about their culture. We did the cooking class in their apartment, and the girls enjoyed playing with their two daughters, despite the language barriers, bonding over puzzles and gymnastics.

The next day was Sunday and we took a fabulous boat trip! It was us and another group on a small yacht with perfect weather, delicious food and the most relaxing atmosphere ever. Since it was early spring, the water was a bit cold for swimming but that didn’t stop the girls (especially Hannah) though the jellyfish did slow them down. All in all, we all agreed we could have stayed out another few hours! For dinner we found an amazing family-run restaurant, Dikkat Et, a short walk from our hotel. We ended up going back there a couple of times, too!

Our next all day tour was not as much of a success but we still got to experience another side of Turkey. We loaded into the big bus in the morning and headed to a boat ride along the Manavgat River to the Mediterranean Sea, where a few brave souls jumped in the water. From there we drove to the Manavgat Waterfalls for some beautiful views, and then shopping in a bazaar which was interesting and overwhelming! The girls made a few purchases before we moved on to ice cream and a rest. 🙂 It wasn’t as fun as the safari tour, as relaxing as the boat trip or as interesting as the cooking class, but we did have some good times together.