Manavgat is not near the jeep safari. Manavgat is the jeep safari
Most excursion pages sell Manavgat as somewhere you are driven to for an afternoon. If you are already staying here, the geography works the other way round. The river running through town, the waterfall, the village of Oymapınar, the dam above it and the viewpoints over Green Canyon all sit inside this one district. The same tour seen from Side is sold down the coast as a full day out in the Taurus Mountains; from your hotel it is a day spent upstream of your own front door.
That has a practical consequence worth knowing before you book. Guests coming from resorts further along the coast have the coast road to cover before the day even begins; from Manavgat, the foothills start where the town stops. The district is a base for this tour, not a stop on somebody else's itinerary.
How pickup from a Manavgat hotel works
Round-trip transfer from Manavgat hotels is the first line of what the combo includes, not an extra bolted on at checkout. The meeting point is the main entrance gate of your hotel, so wait at the gate rather than in the lobby; the driver is working a collection run and cannot go looking for you. That run collects Manavgat only, so if your hotel address in fact reads Evrenseki, the neighbouring Evrenseki pickup is the one to book instead.
We do not publish pickup times, and you should treat any operator that does with suspicion. The time depends on where your hotel falls on that morning's run and it shifts through the season, which is why it is confirmed to you after the booking is in rather than guessed at on a web page. If you are in a rented apartment or a villa instead of a hotel with a gate, send a WhatsApp message and we will agree a pickup point a jeep can actually reach.
The Manavgat departure: nine hours of jeep and white water
The product built around Manavgat hotels is the nine-hour jeep and rafting day from Manavgat, at EUR 40 per adult and EUR 24 per child, with infants free. It pairs the off-road driving people come for with roughly 12 kilometres of white-water rafting, so it is the fuller day of the two if you only have one day free.
Drinks beyond what comes with lunch, photo and video service, the optional zipline and personal spending are not in the price. On age: children of 4 to 11 pay the child fare of EUR 24, infants of 0 to 3 travel free, and from 12 upwards it is the adult fare. Rafting is not recommended for children under four, so plan the day around that if you have a toddler with you. Those are the bands the booking form uses, so pick your ages there and book straight through.
- Round-trip transfer from your Manavgat hotel
- Off-road jeep safari through the Taurus Mountains
- Approximately 12 km of white-water rafting
- All safety gear
- Lunch
The standalone jeep safari, without the rafting
If you want the mountains without the river, the jeep-only day in the Taurus runs eight hours at EUR 20 per adult (13 and over), EUR 10 per child (4 to 12) and free for infants aged 0 to 3. The price covers the jeep itself, in 8 to 10 seat 4x4s with professional drivers, hotel pickup and drop-off, lunch at a lakeside restaurant by Green Canyon, and guiding through the day.
One honest caveat. That EUR 20 is the fare of the Side departure, which collects from Side and the surrounding resort areas. The operator confirms that jeep safari also departs from Manavgat, Kumköy and Evrenseki, but we are not going to print a standalone Manavgat figure we cannot stand behind. Send a WhatsApp with your hotel name and we will confirm pickup and price before you commit to anything. Nothing is taken from a card in the meantime, because nothing is prepaid at all.
What the standalone day actually covers
The route reads like a tour of your own district. Two items on it are optional and paid on the spot: the one-hour boat trip on Green Lake at EUR 5 per person, and the Manavgat Waterfall entrance. The waterfall is programme-dependent, meaning some days the convoy takes it in on the way back and some days it does not, and no page that wants your trust should promise it.
- Morning hotel pickup, after breakfast time
- A convoy of open-top 4x4 jeeps, 8 to 10 guests each
- The old Roman bridge, the first stop, where the asphalt ends
- Orange, lemon and pomegranate orchards, cotton and sesame fields
- Ancient Roman aqueducts
- A panoramic viewpoint over Green Lake
- Oymapınar village: swim stop, plus freshly made Turkish pancakes with a drink
- Photo stop at Oymapınar Dam
- The viewpoint above Green Canyon and lunch at a lakeside restaurant
- Optional one-hour Green Lake boat trip, EUR 5 per person
- A village mosque visit with the guide
- Manavgat Waterfall on the return, programme-dependent, entrance paid on site
- Late-afternoon return to your hotel
The night version, with dinner and a catamaran
There is a five-hour evening run at EUR 35 that ends on the water rather than in the mountains: jeep safari with a professional driver, hotel pickup and drop-off, dinner on board, a catamaran cruise with music and entertainment, and a guide. Drinks and the tour team's photos are extra. The Manavgat Waterfall is on the evening programme, again as the day's schedule allows, and there is a swim at Green Lake.
It is a grown-up evening rather than a family one. The tour is designed for guests aged 12 and over, guests are not permitted to drive the jeeps, and it is not suitable for people with mobility impairments. The season runs from early June to mid-November and pickup is late afternoon, with your hotel time confirmed after booking. Confirm your Manavgat hotel on WhatsApp when you book this one.
What to wear, and what the day asks of you
In summer the jeeps are open-topped, which means sun, wind and a certain amount of dust on the tracks, and it means water fights between vehicles. Bring a change of clothes and expect to get wet; a swimsuit and towel earn their place in the bag for the swim stop. In winter the jeeps are covered and the water games do not run.
The tracks are genuinely bumpy in places. If anyone in your group has back or neck problems, say so before boarding rather than halfway up the mountain. Guiding runs in English, German and Russian, plus Turkish. None of that is particular to Manavgat, and if you have never done an off-road day in Turkey, our main guide gathers everything a first-timer should read first into one page.
Paying, and changing your mind
Prices are in euros and nothing is taken online. No prepayment, no card details at booking: a reservation costs you nothing and holds your seats, and you pay in euros on the day of the tour. If the choice between EUR 40 with rafting and EUR 20 without is still open, the price page lays out what each fare includes, so you can compare the two prices side by side.
Cancellation is free up to 24 hours before departure on every tour on this site. Extras stay outside that: the Green Lake boat trip, the waterfall entrance and the mini zoo tickets at the village break are paid on site, only if you decide you want them.