Antalya to Cappadocia by Private Driver: Over the Taurus to the Valleys

Our Antalya to Cappadocia private driver service collects you from your hotel on the coast, or straight from Antalya Airport, and drives you inland to the valleys in your own car. By road, Nevşehir lies about 533 km from the center of Antalya. You can cover it in one full day through Konya, or take two and see a lake, a wooden mosque and a canyon on the way.

Still deciding between a flight and the road? Our Antalya to Cappadocia guide weighs them up. Here, we explain the drive itself and how we plan it for you.

From the beach to the plateau

Behind Antalya, the road climbs straight into the Taurus Mountains. Once over them, you drive out onto the high plateau of central Anatolia, and the rest of the way runs across it. We plan a tea break about every two hours, and your driver stops wherever you ask.

Antalya to Cappadocia by private driver: one day or two

The direct day, with lunch in Konya

Konya sits about 310 km from Antalya, a little past the middle of the drive. Over lunch, you can step into the Mevlana Museum and stand at the tomb of Rumi, built in 1274. Then about 223 km remain to Nevşehir, and you reach your hotel in the evening.

Two days by Lake Beyşehir

For an easier pace, we take the road by Beyşehir, about 178 km from Antalya. Lake Beyşehir is the largest freshwater lake in the country, and a national park since 1993. On its shore stands the Eşrefoğlu Mosque of 1296 to 1299, where 48 wooden columns carry the ceiling; UNESCO listed it in 2023 with four other wooden mosques of Anatolia. From there, Konya is about 97 km on, and you spend the night in the city.

Into Cappadocia through the Ihlara Valley

On the second day, we leave the main road at Aksaray, about 147 km from Konya. The Ihlara Valley, a canyon about 14 km long cut by the Melendiz stream, lies inside the borders of Cappadocia, with painted rock churches along its walls. At its northern end, Selime Monastery is one of the largest rock-cut religious complexes of the region. Then about 94 km bring you to Nevşehir, so you enter the valleys from the west.

If ancient history pulls harder than the canyon, we can also take a detour of about 50 km from Konya to Çumra for Çatalhöyük. Its oldest Neolithic layers go back to about 7400 BC, and it has been on the World Heritage List since 2012.

Your driver, and a guide in your language

Your driver speaks English and handles the car, the timing and the bags. By Turkish law, however, only licensed guides may guide visitors, so the driver does not lead the visits. For the museum, the mosque or the canyon, a licensed guide in your language can ride with you, for the full drive or just one visit. We have guides for every language our guests ask for.

The car, child seats and wheelchair space

• The vehicle: a Mercedes Vito VIP or similar when you are a couple or a family, and a Mercedes Sprinter or similar when the group grows. See our vehicles page.
• Children: send us their ages, and the right child seats are in the car before you leave.
• Wheelchairs: our vans have room for a wheelchair, and the driver helps you in and out; read accessible travel for the rest of the trip.
• A second driver: on the direct day, we can add one, so nobody drives the whole distance alone.

What shapes the cost of your Antalya to Cappadocia private driver

There is no fixed fare for this drive. We price it from your plan, and you have our quote within 24 hours. These are the parts that move it:

• the route: the direct day, or two days with a night in Konya;
• the size of the vehicle for your group and your luggage;
• a licensed guide in your language, and for how many stops;
• your pick-up point, at a hotel on the coast or at Antalya Airport;
• the hotel in Konya, if you would like us to book it.

From Cappadocia back to Antalya with a private driver

The road works in reverse, too: from Cappadocia, we drive you down to Antalya by the same routes. If you would rather join a guided journey with the hotels and visits planned, our Cappadocia tour from Antalya in 3 days follows the same road. For a plain ride from the airport to your beach hotel, see our Antalya airport transfer.

We are a licensed Istanbul agency, TÜRSAB No. 4744, and we plan drives like this one across the whole country. Our guests rate us 5.0 on Tripadvisor · 12 reviews (opens in a new tab).

Tell us where you are staying in Antalya, how many of you are traveling and whether you want the lake or the straight road. We then shape the drive over the mountains around you.