Olympos Cable Car from Kemer: Is the Tahtalı Ticket Worth It?

The short answer

Yes, for most people staying in Kemer, but only on a clear day and only if you accept that the ride is the point. The Olympos Teleferik climbs Mount Tahtalı, which the Kemer municipality gives as 2,365 metres, “the highest point of the region near the sea”. At the top you get a view over the Mediterranean coast and the Beydağları mountains behind it. The ticket comes with no guided programme.

The ticket on GetYourGuide, the Olympos Cable Car ticket with optional pickup from Kemer and Antalya, costs €43 per person and has 4.7 stars from 407 reviews.

What you are buying

The listing describes a ticket for the cable car with the option of pickup from the Kemer and Antalya regions. Two things it does not settle for us: what exactly the €43 includes with and without pickup, and what the cancellation terms are. Both are on the booking page and change between options, so read them before paying.

Do not expect a tour. You ride up, walk around the top station area, ride down. Plan a few hours door to door, most of it spent getting there.

The ride and the hours

Sources disagree on the ride time. The municipality’s own page says 15 minutes from base to summit; a ticket reseller page gives ten. Treat it as a quarter of an hour at most each way.

For opening hours the municipality gives:

1 May to 31 October: 9 am to 7 pm, cabins every 30 minutes
1 November to 30 April: 10 am to 5 pm, cabins every hour

The same page puts the last departure from the summit at 7 pm in summer and 5 pm in winter. Another listing for a single date names an earlier last descent, so confirm the time of the last ride down on your voucher. Missing it is the one way this trip goes properly wrong.

The operator’s own timetable is shorter than the municipality’s: 9 am to 3 pm from November to March, 9 am to 5 pm in April, May and October, and 9 am to 6 pm from June to September, with the last ascent 30 minutes before closing. Treat the municipality’s hours as the upper limit and check the operator’s timetable (olymposteleferik.com) for your date.

When to go

Go on a clear day. The whole value of the ride is the view, and a cloud-covered summit gives you a grey window and a cold wait. Look at the sky over the mountains from your hotel in the morning, not at the weather app for the coast.

It will also be cooler at the top than on the beach. Take a layer, even in high summer. In the cooler months the shorter opening hours mean less margin for a late start.

Cable cars generally stop in strong wind, so ask at the base station or through the booking page if the weather looks unsettled. We have no figures for how often that happens here.

Getting there: pickup, taxi or your own car

The base station is about 30 minutes by car from the town centre, according to the municipality. That is the real cost of this trip: not the ticket, but the road.

Optional pickup in the ticket: the simplest option. Check the pickup window against the last descent.
Taxi: possible, but you then have a fixed return deadline at the base station and we have no reliable fares to quote.
Your own car: gives you the freedom to choose the day by the weather. You can compare rental cars for Kemer if you do not have one. Read the excess and deposit terms before booking, and check the pickup point against your arrival.

Who should skip it

Anyone uneasy with heights or enclosed cabins. There is no way to see the view without the ride.
Visitors with a very tight schedule. Half a day for one viewpoint is a lot of time.
Anyone expecting to walk the mountain. The municipality mentions trails of about four hours to Beycik village or six hours to Çukuryayla. Those are mountain hikes, not an add-on to a cable car trip.
Anyone who wants several sights in one day.

The alternative: a full day with the cable car as one stop

If you would rather combine it with a city, the full-day tour through Antalya old town, waterfalls and the Olympos cable car, with boat ride is the most-reviewed excursion on this site: 25 € per person, about nine hours, 4.5 stars from 3,319 reviews. It starts in Antalya or Kemer. You will see far more, but you spend much less time at the summit than with the dedicated ticket, and a long day on a coach is not for everyone.

For more excursions beyond the coast, see our day trips from Kemer and the wider things to do in Kemer.

Our recommendation

For most visitors: take the cable car ticket with pickup, choose a clear morning between May and October and bring a jacket. If your priority is seeing Antalya as well, the full-day tour is the better fit. If you are not sure about heights, choose neither.