Avsallar or Incekum: Which Alanya Beach Suits You
Published 2026-09-16. Conditions described are typical and never guaranteed.
The verdict first
Here is the honest twist before you plan a single morning: Avsallar Beach and Incekum Beach are not two rival shores at all. They sit in the same wide bay on the green, natural west of the Alanya coast, and Avsallar runs straight into the Incekum cove at the headland. Locals and honest guides treat them as one long stretch. So the real question is not which bay to visit, but which end of it to plant your towel on, and that answer flips with who you are travelling with and what you want from the day.
If you want the softest sand and the gentlest shallows this side of the coast, walk to the Incekum cove: the name itself means fine sand, and the seabed shelves so slowly that the water stays shallow a long way out. If you want the fuller resort backdrop with hotels, cafes and watersports on the shore, plus that famous pine forest camp behind you for a shaded lunch, the wider Avsallar town shore is your base. Both are free public beaches. Both are backed by pine. The differences are matters of degree, and this guide is about getting those degrees right.
Short version: Incekum for the calmest, greenest, most child friendly swim. Avsallar for the same bay with more services and a bigger resort footprint at your back.
Who each beach suits
Choose Incekum if you have small children or you swim slowly
The cove at the headland is the naturalist's pick on this coast, and it earns the title by being calm and green rather than by being a scene. The sand is soft and golden, and it shelves very gently into shallow, warm, typically clear water. For a toddler taking first steps into the sea, or an adult who prefers to wade rather than plunge, that slow shelf is the whole point. A pine forest backs the bay with genuine natural shade and picnic spots, so you are not marooned under a paid parasol at midday. There are showers, changing cabins, cafes and sunbed hire on hand too, which is more than you get on the quiet outlying stretches.
The catch is honest and worth saying: this is not a private hideaway in July and August. The resorts at Avsallar fill, and the shallow water is exactly what draws families, so the peak weeks are busy. Even then, the length of the beach and the trees behind it spread people out far more than the compact central sands do. Come in May, June or September, or arrive early in the morning, and you get the calmest, greenest version of the day.
Choose Avsallar if you want the resort shore and the forest together
The wider Avsallar shore is the long golden sand stretch of the resort town, roughly twenty five kilometres west of central Alanya, beyond Konakli. The sand here is fine and golden and among the gentlest underfoot on the whole coast, and the bay shelves slowly so the water typically stays shallow and calm through the warm months. What sets Avsallar apart from the open resort beaches with no greenery at their back is the large pine forest behind the sand, with the Incekum forest camp area offering shaded picnic spots, camping and day use beneath the trees. That is a rare thing: cool shade and the smell of pine right over the shore.
Practically, the Avsallar side gives you hotels, cafes and watersports along the shore. If your ideal day is a morning swim in the shallow bay with the family, then the cool of the pine forest for lunch and a rest from the sun, this is the base that delivers it. Sunbeds and parasols are hired in season, often through the hotels, at rates that vary by operator and are to be confirmed, so treat any figure you are quoted as a seasonal, operator specific price rather than a fixed one.
Sand, water, facilities and crowd, side by side
Sand
Both ends share the same soft, fine, golden character, which is why so many people talk about them as a single beach. If you are being fussy about the very finest sand and the gentlest shelf, the Incekum cove edges it, because that is the specific pocket the name celebrates. On the broader Avsallar shore the sand is still soft and fine, just spread along a longer resort front. Neither is a pebble beach, so if you had beach shoes packed for stones you can leave them off here. For contrast, the mixed golden sand and pebble at Kargicak Beach further east is a different proposition entirely and does call for beach shoes.
Water
This is where the two feel most alike. Both shelve gently into water that is typically shallow, warm and calm in the warm months, with brief wind possible on changeable days. That gentle entry is the shared headline. Because the shelf is so slow, the sea stays shallow well out from the sand, which suits children and new swimmers on a calm day. One binding caveat applies to both: conditions here are typical and never guaranteed, seasonal lifeguard cover is reported on stretches but not guaranteed, and there is no swimming safety promise. Watch children closely in the shallows regardless of which end you pick.
Facilities
The Avsallar side leans more resort, with hotels, cafes and watersports strung along the shore, so it is the easier base if you want food, hire and services within a short walk of your towel. The Incekum cove is well served in its own right, with showers, changing cabins, cafes and sunbed hire, plus the forest behind for shaded picnics. In truth, because the two run together, a family can base on one and drift to the other across a day without much thought. The forest is the shared asset: shade you do not have to pay for, which is a real luxury on a hot afternoon.
Crowd
Neither escapes high summer. July and August are the family heavy peak across the whole bay, and Avsallar as a resort town fills accordingly. The difference is how the crowd sits: the long shore and the trees disperse people better than the tight central beaches. If your priority is space and quiet, the calmest, greenest days come in the shoulder months, and the quieter end of the cove under the pines is the spot to aim for. Our notes on timing a visit back up the May, June and September call for the warm sea with kinder crowds.
When the other one wins
Say you have booked an Avsallar hotel and pictured lazy days on the town shore. The moment your group includes a nervous small swimmer, the answer flips: walk to the Incekum cove for the gentlest shallows and let the town shore be your lunch and services base. It is a five minute reframing, not a different trip.
Now flip it the other way. If you have come for the fine sand cove but you want more cafes, watersports and a livelier resort front around you, the wider Avsallar stretch wins on the day, and you simply keep the forest camp in mind for shade. The condition that decides it is almost never the sea, which behaves much the same across the bay; it is your appetite for services versus seclusion, and how confident your swimmers are.
And if this whole western bay feels too far from the sights, that is the signal to look elsewhere entirely rather than force it. Central Alanya answers with the pale Blue Flag sweep of Cleopatra Beach below the castle, or the compact strip beside the cave at Damlatas Beach, both with everything in town on the doorstep. For a fuller trade off between the green west and the central sands, our comparison of the western bay against Cleopatra and the piece weighing Avsallar against the central Damlatas strip both go deeper.
The honest overrated warning
The one thing to guard against is treating these as two separate must do beaches and burning a day trying to compare them on the ground. They are one bay. Pick your base by group and mood, use the forest for free shade, and let the tide of the day carry you between the resort shore and the fine sand cove. Families and slow travellers who want nature over scene will be happiest here, and our family beach notes and the case for quieter shores away from the centre both point the same way.
Book a beach club day in Alanya
If you would rather secure loungers, service and a fixed spot for the day, browse the Alanya beach clubs and enquire directly about availability, and start planning the wider trip from the Alanya hub.