International Antalya Piano Festival: Dates, Tickets & Venue (Antalya)

A piano season after the beach season

Antalya changes in late November. The sunbed rows along Konyaaltı thin out and many resort hotels close for winter. The city’s own life comes back to the front: students, office workers, tea gardens on the cliffs above the old harbour.

The International Antalya Piano Festival fills these evenings with classical piano. It is listed for November 26 to December 12, 2026, a run of about two and a half weeks. You can build a short city break around one recital, or stay long enough to catch several.

Dates, programme and the official source

The dates above are the announced window. Concert-by-concert details sit with the organisers, not with guides like this one, and that includes:

• the exact concert dates and start times
• the performers and repertoire for each night
• the hall or halls in use
• ticket channels and seating plans

Confirm timing and tickets on the official festival site or with the organisers directly. Check the specific evening you want before you book flights, because a festival this long rarely has a concert every single night.

Finding the hall and getting around

Antalya Airport (AYT) sits east of the centre. Taxis, airport shuttles and the AntRay tram link it to the city. Inside the centre the tram is the easy way to move between the old town and the newer districts to the west.

Once you know your venue, plan the trip home before you go. A recital that finishes late can leave you looking for a taxi on a quiet street. Most visitors stay either in Kaleiçi, the walled old town, or along the Lara and Konyaaltı coasts. Kaleiçi puts you within walking distance of the tram, the harbour and plenty of evening food.

Concert-night etiquette in Antalya

A classical recital here runs the way it does in Vienna or London. A few habits make the evening smoother:

• Arrive early. Doors close once the music starts, and latecomers usually wait for a break between pieces.
• Hold your applause until the end of a whole work rather than clapping between movements. Watch the pianist’s hands; they lift from the keys and stay up when a piece is really over.
• Phones off, not on silent. Photography and recording during the performance are normally not allowed. Take your photos of the stage before the lights go down.
• Dress is smart-casual. Turkish audiences at evening concerts tend to dress up a little, so a jacket fits right in.

For tickets, use only the channel the official site names. Resold tickets at the door are a risk you don’t need. In the city, cards are widely accepted in restaurants and shops, and a few Turkish lira in cash helps with taxis and tea gardens.

Filling the days between recitals

Late autumn suits sightseeing in Antalya. The summer heat has gone, and the archaeological sites are pleasant to walk around in the middle of the day.

• Hadrian’s Gate (Üç Kapılar): the triple-arched Roman gateway at the edge of Kaleiçi, built for the emperor’s visit in the 2nd century.
• Kaleiçi lanes and the Old Harbour: Ottoman-era houses with wooden bay windows, the fluted Yivli Minare and the marina below the walls.
• Antalya Museum: one of Turkey’s major archaeological collections, with sculpture from nearby Perge.
• Düden Waterfalls: the lower falls drop straight off a cliff into the sea near Lara.
• Perge and Aspendos: day trips east of the city. Aspendos has one of the best-preserved Roman theatres anywhere.

Packing for a Mediterranean December

Daytime temperatures in late November and early December are usually mild. They are often comfortable enough to walk the old town in a light layer. Evenings get noticeably cooler, and this is also the start of the rainy season.

Pack a warm layer for the walk back from a concert and a compact umbrella. Bring shoes that can cope with Kaleiçi’s polished, sloping stone lanes when they’re wet. Hotel prices in the city tend to drop in the off-season. Compare places in the centre against the coastal resorts, because some of the big beach hotels close for the winter.