The Kursunlu Waterfalls – Antalya – Turkey

Antalya has several waterfalls in its surrounding, some are best admired from the sea and others are little gem hidden in nature. The Kursunlu Waterfalls are one of those. It is less than 20 km from Antalya and is located in the midst of a gorgeous pine forest.

When we decided to hit the road and head to Cappadocia, we first stopped at the Kursunlu Waterfalls. It was June and the heat was already pretty intense for us. The waterfalls seemed like a nice way to cool off, at least in my opinion.

Mr A wasn’t as convinced as I was about the requirement of this stop, and I had to negotiate to make it happen. He felt the road to Cappadocia was too long to stop 20 km after starting the trip (not completely wrong!). In addition we weren’t quite sure of the exact location. I had done my best to locate on the map, but road signs were lacking a bit on the last turns. Annoyance was slightly building up!!

But all tension dissipated when we arrived at the entrance of the Park as the surrounding somehow let us to foresee a pleasant little venture.

I actually had not expected to see a formal organization around the waterfalls. I was kind of thinking it was just going to be a sign, a path and the falls and true be told maybe not even a sign! Instead, we arrived on a parking lot which had already quite a few cars, a huge wooden gate and an entrance fee to pay, several little shops selling ice-cream, pomegranate juice, tea, souvenirs, and crepes and a well maintained path to the falls.

We headed straight to the falls to enjoy the charming sight. The falls weren’t very impressive as they get thinner and thinner as the summer settles in but they were still very pleasant to watch and the environment very relaxing. The whole surrounding is perfectly charming and somehow feels out of place as it can look like a Monet painting at times….

Come along….

Marvelous emerald color

Loads and loads of fish. Too many for me to swim!

After a bit of time looking at the waterfalls, we walked to the other side of the pool which lies at the feat of the falls. A lot of people seems to just stop at the falls so the other side was instantly quieter. We just sat there, listening to the sound of the water, feeling the sunshine, watching the flickering light through the trees and just generally enjoying the moment.

We then continued on the path which follows the river. It goes around and takes you bake where you came from but it seems that you could continue walking further if you wanted to.

Monet inspiration for the water Lily pond?!

This last picture is my very favorite picture. Whimsical, confusing… I find the reflections, the mix of floating flowers and underwater plants just charming! If you like it too, check out my profile on Society6. I really wanted to oder the iPhone case for myself and although I still haven’t done so, I think it would look fab!

We finally headed back up and were greeted again by the all the sellers who had welcomed us when we arrived. We didn’t resist this time and decided to try the Gözleme that 2 women were making right there. Gözleme are sort of filled crepes, and those were the best we ate during our stay in Turkey.

It was then time to leave as before heading to Goreme, we had to stop at the ancient cities of Perge and Aspendos.

The Technical Bits:

I didn’t really find an official website. This page has great info.

A word of advise: Don’t fully trust your GPS, buy a good map…. I’ll tell you our misadventure on our way to Cappadocia soon…