The exact age bands and what each child pays
Our flagship is the full-day Side Jeep Safari into the Taurus Mountains: eight hours, hotel pickup and drop-off from Side and the surrounding resort areas, and lunch at a lakeside restaurant by Green Canyon included in the price. It is priced in three bands, per person, in euros.
We do not publish a minimum age beyond these bands, and we will not invent one. A baby sits in the price list at zero euros — the real question is whether a full day on unsealed mountain tracks suits your baby, and that is a judgement only you can make. What we can be exact about is the money and the age boundaries, and if you are weighing up several tours the price page sets out the child and infant rates in full.
- Infant 0-3 years: free on the Side jeep safari
- Child 4-12 years: EUR 10
- Adult 13 years and over: EUR 20
- Paid in euros on the day of the tour — no card is taken online, no deposit
- Free cancellation up to 24 hours before departure
Which of our jeep safaris takes which age
The age rules are not identical across the range, and this is where most family bookings go wrong. The Side flagship and the Alanya day use the same bands — free to 3, child from 4 to 12 — at different prices. The night safari is the strict one: the evening trip for ages 12 and up does not take younger children at all. The rafting combos add a river to the equation and their own age note.
Read the line that matches the tour you actually want, not the one that sounds closest.
- Side Jeep Safari, Taurus Mountains (8 hours): 0-3 free, 4-12 EUR 10, 13+ EUR 20
- Alanya Jeep Safari to the Dim River (8 hours, pickup across the Alanya area from Kestel to Okurcalar, runs April-November): 0-3 free, 4-12 EUR 17, 13+ EUR 30
- Side Rafting and Jeep Safari combo (7 hours): adult EUR 28, child EUR 17. The tour's own rule counts guests aged 4-11 as a child, and rafting is not recommended under 4
- Rafting and jeep combos from Evrenseki, Kumköy or Manavgat (9 hours): adult EUR 40, child EUR 24
- Side Night Jeep Safari with dinner and catamaran cruise (5 hours, EUR 35, early June to mid-November): designed for guests aged 12 and over, not suitable for younger children
The water fights are the part children come home talking about
Summer departures on the jeep safari include water fights between the jeeps in the convoy. The Alanya Dim River day runs the same summer tradition. It is the single most child-friendly thing on the programme and it is worth planning for rather than being surprised by: everyone in an open-top jeep gets wet, not only the child who started it.
Winter is a different tour, and what children should wear changes with it: out of season the jeeps run covered and there are no water games at all. If soaking your children is the point of the day, book a summer departure; if you would rather they stayed dry, the winter version exists and we will say so plainly.
What the day actually looks like from a child's seat
If you have not read the day through yet, start with the main guide; here we walk the same day from a child's seat. Pickup is in the morning, after breakfast time, at the main entrance gate of your hotel. The convoy is made up of open-top 4x4 jeeps carrying eight to ten guests each with a professional driver, so the day is spent in a small group rather than a coachload. The first stop comes where the asphalt ends, at an old Roman bridge.
From there the day is a string of short stops rather than one long drive: orange, lemon and pomegranate orchards, cotton and sesame fields, ancient Roman aqueducts, a panoramic viewpoint over Green Lake, and the village of Oymapınar for a swim stop with freshly made Turkish pancakes and a drink. There is a photo stop at Oymapınar Dam, a viewpoint above Green Canyon, lunch at the lakeside restaurant, and a village mosque visit with the guide. A Manavgat Waterfall stop on the return is programme-dependent — we will not promise it — and its entrance fee is paid on site. Return to the hotel is late afternoon.
The optional extras children ask for
Three things on the day cost extra and all three are the kind of thing a child will point at. The one-hour Green Lake boat trip after lunch is EUR 5 per person. There are mini zoo tickets during the village break. And if the programme takes in Manavgat Waterfall on the way home, the entrance is paid at the gate.
Drinks are not included, and photos and videos taken by the tour team are charged separately. Carry a small amount of cash in euros per person and you will not have a conversation about it in front of the children.
What to pack when you are bringing children
The packing list follows from three facts about the day: the jeeps are open-top in summer, there is a swim stop at Oymapınar village, and the convoy plays water games. Everything else is comfort.
- Swimwear and a towel for the swim stop
- A full change of dry clothes per child if you are travelling in summer
- Sun protection — an open jeep gives you sun, wind and dust on the tracks
- A waterproof bag or pouch for phones and documents
- Cash in euros for the boat trip, mini zoo, waterfall entrance and drinks
The honest limits before you book
This is an eight-hour day and parts of the route are genuinely bumpy. If anyone in your group has a back or neck problem, tell the team before boarding rather than after the first track. Nothing about the terrain changes for children — a five-year-old and a fifty-year-old take the same jolts. If the tracks are what worries you rather than the ages, read how the driving and the vehicles work before you decide.
Two things we deliberately do not guarantee: seeing nomadic Yörük families in the foothills, which is a chance rather than a scheduled stop, and the Manavgat Waterfall visit, which depends on the day's programme. If a child has been promised a waterfall, promise them the Green Canyon viewpoint and the swim instead — those are in the plan.
Booking for a family, in your own language
Guiding runs in English, German and Russian as well as Turkish, so a child's question usually gets answered in the family's own language. You can book the family day out without paying anything today: no card details online, no deposit, and the whole family total is handed over in euros on the day of the tour.
A worked example, because families ask for one. Two adults, a nine-year-old and a four-year-old on the Side jeep safari is EUR 20 + EUR 20 + EUR 10 + EUR 10, so EUR 60 for the day, handed over on the day itself. The free band stops at three, so a four-year-old is charged the child rate. If plans change, cancel free of charge up to 24 hours before departure.