Nearest Airport to Kas, Turkey: Dalaman or Antalya? Distances, Driving Times, Prices and Which to Choose (2026)

The closest airport to Kas is Dalaman (DLM) in Mugla province: about 150 km and 2 hours 30 minutes by road. Antalya (AYT) is about 200 km away, roughly 3 hours. The gap is around 50 km and 40 minutes each way.

Our own route pages measure 148 km from Dalaman and 202 km from Antalya on the actual road, and independent routing engines give 155 km and 200 km, so plan with the ranges above rather than a single number.

Prices are per vehicle, not per person: a VIP Mercedes Vito for up to 6 passengers. The name-board meeting, flight tracking and all road tolls are included, and there is no night surcharge. For four people that works out at €37.75 each from Dalaman and €44.25 each from Antalya.

There is no third option, because no other airport sits near Kas. Fixed prices for both routes are on www.get4s.com/en/transfers/dalaman-kas-transfer and www.get4s.com/en/transfers/antalya-kas-transfer.

Dalaman wins on the ground and Antalya wins in the air, and that is the whole decision.

Dalaman is the shorter drive by about 50 km, the transfer is €26 cheaper, and in summer it receives direct holiday flights from the UK, Germany, the Netherlands and Scandinavia, so many visitors land there without connecting at all. Its weakness is the calendar: Dalaman is a seasonal airport, busiest from April to October, and in the winter months a large part of those European routes simply stops.

Antalya is one of Turkey's largest airports and operates year round, with more airlines, more destinations and far more arrival times to choose from. If you travel between November and March, if you need a specific arrival hour, if you are connecting through Istanbul and the Antalya schedule suits you better, or if the Antalya fare is clearly cheaper, Antalya is the sensible choice even with the longer drive.

Compare total cost, not the ticket alone. The transfer difference is €26 per vehicle, so with four people that is €6.50 each: if Antalya tickets are more than €6.50 per person cheaper, Antalya wins overall. With two people the same €26 becomes €13 each. Either way the ground gap is small enough that the fare and the schedule, not the transfer, settle it. Pick the flight first, then fix the ground leg; prices for every Dalaman route are on www.get4s.com/en/transfers/dalaman-transfer.

If your trip includes Kalkan, Dalaman becomes the obvious airport. Kalkan is 27 km west of Kas, about 30 minutes along the coast, and it is 125 km from Dalaman against roughly 225 km from Antalya. The Dalaman to Kalkan transfer is €125: www.get4s.com/en/transfers/dalaman-kalkan-transfer.

The same logic covers everything on the western side of the coast. Patara is about 40 km from Kas and Kaputas beach 20 km, both on the Kas to Kalkan road, which means they sit between Kas and Dalaman rather than between Kas and Antalya. Fethiye is about 105 km from Kas and only 55 km from Dalaman.

Eastward the picture barely shifts: Ucagiz and the Kekova sunken city are about 32 km from Kas towards Antalya, and Antalya city centre is about 183 km away. Nothing on the eastern side is close enough to make Antalya Airport the shorter option for a hotel in Kas.

Splitting a week between Kalkan and Kas? Fly into Dalaman both ways. The two towns are half an hour apart, so one airport serves both and you never drive the long leg twice. What to see and where to stay: www.get4s.com/en/regions/kas.

The D400 between Dalaman and Kas is a good road that happens to bend a lot. Out of Dalaman the first half is flat and fast, through Ortaca and the Esen plain. The last 50 km, from Kinik through Kalkan down to Kas, runs along the cliffs in continuous curves. From Antalya the demanding part is longer: the mountain section after Kemer and the stretches around Finike and Demre are narrow in places and slower than the distance suggests.

If anyone in the car gets motion sick, that matters more than forty minutes of driving time. Take the front seat, keep your eyes on the road ahead rather than on a phone, eat something light instead of nothing at all, keep a window cracked, and take any medication about 30 minutes before departure. Your driver will stop whenever you ask, and there are plenty of safe pull-ins looking out over the sea.

Night driving is fine but slower. Long sections are unlit, the bends are tight and livestock on the verge is not unusual, so a driver who knows the road is worth more after dark than during the day. Add 15 to 20 minutes to the times above for a late arrival. The fare does not change: there is no night surcharge, and the first 60 minutes of waiting after landing are free.

A Mercedes Vito seats 6, but 6 adults with 6 large suitcases is tight. With a full group and a full load, say so when you book and we will send a Sprinter or a 16 seat minibus instead, still at a fixed price per vehicle. Surfboards, golf bags, pushchairs and diving gear all need to be mentioned in advance rather than discovered in the car park.

Child seats and boosters are free on request on every route, including the long Antalya run, but the request has to arrive beforehand: there is no way to produce one in the arrivals hall. For a 2 hour 30 minute or 3 hour drive with a toddler, plan one stop, bring water and a snack, and remember that the curvy final hour is the hardest part of the trip for small children.

Kas itself asks a question of larger vehicles. The old town lanes are narrow and steep, and the Cukurbag peninsula road is narrow too, with sharp turns and little room to pass. A Vito gets closer to the door than a coach; where even that cannot reach, the driver stops at the nearest accessible point and helps with the bags. If your hotel sent arrival notes, forward them with the booking.

Most visitors do not. Kas town is walkable end to end: the harbour, the market, the restaurants and the small beaches near the centre are all a few minutes apart, and parking in the centre in summer is genuinely difficult.

A car earns its keep only if you plan to roam. Kaputas is 20 km away, Patara about 40 km, Ucagiz and Kekova about 32 km, and your own car turns all of that into a free schedule. In season the local minibuses, the dolmus, run the Kas to Kalkan and Kas to Patara corridors through the day, and boat trips reach Kekova and the bays with no driving at all. Fares change by season and route, so check at the stop on the day rather than trusting an old figure online.

One pattern works well: arrive on an airport transfer, hire a car for one or two days in the middle of the week, then transfer back out. You avoid driving an unfamiliar car on an unfamiliar mountain road straight off a flight, and you still get a couple of independent days. Booking takes a couple of minutes at www.get4s.com/en/booking.