Airline tickets from Chisinau to Antalya

Chisinau — Antalya: a quick look at the flight

This is one of the fastest holiday destinations from Moldova — the distance is just over 1,100 km, with about 2 hours in the air. Direct, non-stop flights are operated by FlyOne and Pegasus Airlines.

Airline	Flight type	Travel time	When to choose it
FlyOne	Direct	~2 hours	Fastest and simplest option
Pegasus Airlines	Direct	~2 hours	Alternative to FlyOne for the same dates
Turkish Airlines	Connecting via Istanbul	~4–5 hours including the layover	If you want a stopover in Istanbul or there are no seats on the direct flight

The price of a direct flight depends heavily on the month — the spread is almost double between the cheapest and most expensive periods:

From the airport to the city: how much it costs and how long it takes

Antalya Airport (AYT) is the second-busiest in Turkey after Istanbul, handling over 30 million passengers a year. It has two international terminals (T1 and T2, connected by a free shuttle every 20 minutes) and a separate terminal for domestic flights. It gets crowded in summer, especially in the evening when several charter flights land almost at the same time — expect possible queues at passport control.

The city centre is 13 km away. There are several ways to get there, and the price difference between them is significant:

Option	Price	Time	Comment
AntRay tram	30–45 ₺ (Antalyakart)	30–45 min	Runs roughly from 6:00 to 23:00; get off at Ismetpaşa for Kaleiçi
City bus 600 / 800	15–42 ₺	45–60 min	Antalyakart only, cash is not accepted
Havaş shuttle	160–220 ₺	35–45 min	Buy the ticket at the Havaş desk in the arrivals hall
Taxi	600–800 ₺ (≈12–15 €)	30–40 min	Only from the official queue at the terminal — confirm the fare beforehand
Pre-booked transfer	20–25 € fixed	30–40 min	Pickup by flight number; the only convenient option after 23:00

The Antalyakart card can be bought right at the airport or at kiosks around the city — the plastic card itself costs around 15–45 lira depending on where you buy it, the balance isn't refundable, but it will come in handy all holiday long for any public transport in the city.

If you're travelling in a large group or with children, a transfer often works out cheaper per person than a taxi. Travelling light and with no rush, the tram is the most relaxed option.

If your hotel isn't in Antalya itself: distances to nearby resorts

Many people book a hotel not in the city but in one of the resort towns in the province — it's worth knowing how long the ride from the airport takes in each case:

Resort	Distance from AYT	Travel time
Lara	~6–10 km	15–20 min
Belek	~33–43 km	30–50 min
Kemer	~45–55 km	40–55 min
Side	~57–60 km	1–1.5 hours
Alanya	~125 km	2–2.5 hours

There are no direct buses from the airport to Belek, Kemer, or Side — you'd have to change through the city or the bus station, so for the more distant resorts a pre-booked transfer or a taxi is usually more convenient than public transport.

Visa and documents

Moldovan citizens don't need a visa: a visa-free regime has been in place since 2014, and with a regular or biometric passport you can stay in Turkey for up to 90 days within any 180-day period.

A passport is mandatory, though — a national ID card is not accepted for entry. The formal requirement is that the passport remain valid for at least 60 days beyond the date of departure from Turkey, but in practice it's safer to allow a six-month margin: airlines and border officers sometimes apply this more strictly than the official minimum. A child, even an infant, needs their own biometric passport — including a child in a parent's passport, as used to be possible in some countries, is no longer an option in Moldova.

How much cash to bring

The official currency is the Turkish lira (TRY), and paying in lira is almost always more advantageous than paying directly in euros or dollars. Tourist cafés and shops will accept foreign cash, but at their own exchange rate — usually not in the tourist's favour. At markets and in shared minibuses, lira is the only option: cards aren't accepted and the seller sets the rate themselves. The simplest approach is to withdraw or exchange a small amount right after arrival and pay by card wherever possible after that — just check at the terminal that the charge goes through in lira rather than being converted on the spot by the bank: dynamic currency conversion is almost always a bad deal.

Category	Price	Approx. in €
Lunch at a lokanta (ready-made dishes)	150–250 ₺	3–5 €
Lunch/dinner at a tourist café	800–1,200 ₺ per person	15–22 €
Coffee	60–100 ₺	1–2 €
Mussels with rice (street cart)	200–300 ₺	4–5.5 €
City transport ride	15–45 ₺	0.3–0.8 €
Local SIM card with a month of data	~850 ₺	~15 €

All in, per person per day, excluding accommodation: from 25–35 € on a budget basis (lokantas, public transport, free beaches) up to 50–70 € with restaurants and taxi rides. Places further from the main tourist streets, where the menu isn't translated into English, are usually noticeably cheaper — that's where the locals themselves eat.

Tipping

Who	How much
Waiter at a café/restaurant	5–10% of the bill, if service isn't already included
Taxi driver	rounding up the fare; nothing extra is expected
Housekeeper, porter	a small amount in cash, optional
Tour guide	at your discretion, often decided by the group

Small things that make life easier on the ground

What	How it actually works
Power outlets	Type F (as in continental Europe), 230 V / 50 Hz — an adapter usually isn't needed
Tap water	Not drinkable (hard, limescale-heavy) — for drinking, use bottled water only, cheap and available everywhere
Emergency number	112 — a single number; the operator will connect you to police, ambulance, or fire services
Airport Wi-Fi	Free for 30 minutes via the terminals near baggage claim, requires a passport scan
Language	English is usually spoken at check-in desks and in tourist areas, often Russian too

When to fly: not just beach season

Antalya's swimming season lasts until mid-November — and it's precisely in November that flight prices from Chisinau hit their lowest, starting from 52 €. A rare coincidence: it's cheapest to fly exactly when you can still comfortably swim, while tourist numbers are already noticeably lower — the classic shoulder season.

January is an option for those not tied to the sea. Even in winter, the air temperature doesn't drop below +12 °C, the city is nearly empty of tourists, and Kaleiçi and the ancient theatre at Aspendos can be visited without queues. Tickets this month are also among the cheapest of the year.

February–March offer a combination that's hard to match elsewhere: the Saklıkent ski resort, just 45–50 km from Antalya, operates from 10 December to 10 April, and reliable snow holds through late winter. You can ski in the Taurus Mountains in the morning and be back on the coast for a seaside walk by afternoon — locals describe this period exactly that way: "skiing in the morning, the sea in the afternoon."

What to see — options for different interests

Antalya has plenty to offer even without the beach, but it's worth planning your route around what genuinely interests you:

• Old town and atmosphere. Kaleiçi is the quarter behind Hadrian's Gate, built almost two thousand years ago to mark the Roman emperor's visit. Narrow cobbled streets, Ottoman houses, and the old harbour with boats to the Düden Waterfalls — the ones where the river plunges straight into the sea from a cliff in the Lara area. In the evening the harbour promenade comes alive with live music and cafés overlooking the sunset.
• Antiquity, at a relaxed pace. Perge, 15 km from Serik, offers excavations, with some of the finds now in Antalya's Archaeological Museum. Aspendos is an ancient Roman-era theatre with acoustics so good that concerts and festivals are still held there today. Termessos, high in the mountains, suits those who don't mind a climb and want ruins with almost no tour groups.
• A beach day without leaving the city. Konyaaltı is a pebble beach with a view of the Taurus Mountains, while Lara is a sandy beach closer to the hotel district. They have quite different characters, so it's worth choosing based on your mood rather than heading out at random.
• A day outside the city. Routes to waterfalls and ancient cities are easy to put together without a tour group — by rental car or taxi, if you'd rather not work around a bus schedule.