The mountains start where the resort stops
Almost everything a holiday in Side is built on is flat: the ruins, the sand, the harbour, the whole hotel belt on the coastal plain. The ridgeline you see from the beach is the other half of the same region — close enough to be a day out rather than an expedition.
That is worth understanding before you book anything in Side. This is not a long-haul excursion to another province, and not a coach tour with photo halts. It is eight hours in open 4x4s on tracks no rental car uses, running inland to Green Lake and the Oymapınar dam, then back down towards Manavgat. This page stays with the Side departure rather than re-explaining the product from scratch — that is what the long-form guide to jeep safaris here is for.
Pickup from a Side hotel: what actually happens
Hotel pickup and drop-off from Side and the surrounding resort areas are included in the price, both directions. The meeting point is the main entrance gate of your hotel, not the lobby and not reception — the jeeps run as a convoy and collect from the road.
We do not print a pickup time here, and you should be wary of any operator that does. It depends on where your hotel sits in the collection order and is confirmed after you book. The shape of the day is fixed: a morning start after breakfast time, a late-afternoon return. What the eight hours look like between those two points is set out stop by stop on its own page.
- Meet at the main entrance gate of your hotel
- Morning departure, after breakfast time; your exact time is confirmed after booking
- Pickup and drop-off included both ways, inside the tour price
- Eight to ten guests per jeep, with a professional driver
- Late-afternoon drop-off at the same gate
Where the asphalt ends
The first stop is an old Roman bridge, which is also where the asphalt gives out and the tracks begin. From there the route climbs through working farmland rather than scenery arranged for tourists: orange, lemon and pomegranate orchards, then cotton and sesame fields.
Higher up the convoy passes ancient Roman aqueducts, and in the foothills there is a chance of seeing nomadic Yörük families with their animals. We will not promise that one — they move, and no tour can schedule them.
Green Lake, the dam and the swim stop
The middle of the day is built around water: a panoramic viewpoint over Green Lake, a photo stop at the Oymapınar dam, and a viewpoint above Green Canyon itself — the gorge that gives the lake its colour and most guests their best photograph of the trip.
At Oymapınar village the convoy stops long enough to swim, and freshly made Turkish pancakes with a drink are served at the break. There is a small mini zoo at the same stop; those tickets are optional and paid separately. Lunch afterwards is at a lakeside restaurant by Green Canyon and is included — drinks are not.
One add-on is worth knowing in advance: the Green Lake boat trip, one hour on the water, EUR 5 per person, decided and paid on the day. It is optional in the real sense — the day works without it. For anyone deciding between a EUR 20 day and a EUR 25 one, we have the boat add-on explained on a page of its own.
The way back, and the honest answer about Manavgat Waterfall
On the return the guide takes the group into a traditional village mosque — usually the quietest and most interesting part of the day for guests who have only seen the resort side of Turkey.
Manavgat Waterfall is often sold elsewhere as a guaranteed stop. On our programme it depends on how the day runs — it happens on the way back when there is time, and the entrance fee is paid on site if it does. Reserve your seat in the convoy for the mountains, the canyon and the villages; treat the waterfall as a bonus.
What it costs from Side, and what you pay on the day
EUR 20 for an adult (13-99), EUR 10 for a child aged 4-12, free for infants aged 0-3. No card is taken online: the reservation is free, you pay in euros on the day, and cancellation is free up to 24 hours before departure.
- Included: the full-day safari in 8-10 seat 4x4s with professional drivers
- Included: hotel pickup and drop-off from Side and surrounding resort areas
- Included: lunch at a lakeside restaurant by Green Canyon
- Included: tour guiding throughout the day
- Not included: the optional 1-hour Green Lake boat trip, EUR 5 per person
- Not included: Manavgat Waterfall entrance, if that stop runs
- Not included: mini zoo tickets at the village break
- Not included: drinks, personal expenses, photos and videos from the tour team
Which part of the Side belt are you staying in?
The flagship safari collects from Side and the surrounding resort areas, so in Side old town and the hotels around it pickup is routine. Further along the belt — Çolaklı, Gündoğdu, Sorgun, Titreyengöl, Kızılağaç — tell us the hotel when you reserve: pickup there is arranged on request rather than assumed.
Pickups from neighbouring Kumköy, and from Evrenseki and Manavgat, run on their own schedule, but as rafting-and-jeep combination days rather than the standalone safari: nine hours, EUR 40 per adult, EUR 24 per child, transfer included.
Open-top in summer, covered in winter
In summer the jeeps are open-topped — the whole point, and the thing to dress for: sun, wind and dust. Summer departures include water fights between the jeeps, so bring a camera you are relaxed about getting wet. In winter the tour runs with covered jeeps and no water games.
The tracks are genuinely bumpy in places. That is not a warning against the tour; it is a reason to mention any back or neck problem before you board. Guiding runs in English, German and Russian, alongside Turkish. If you are still weighing up the alternatives — a quad, a buggy, a raft — the bumps and the dust are the honest place to start comparing.
Two other jeep days that leave from Side
If a full mountain day is not what you want, two other Side departures use the same jeeps. The night jeep safari is five hours at EUR 35 per person, with dinner on board a catamaran and a party cruise; it is for guests aged 12 and over and runs from early June to mid-November. The rafting and jeep combo from Side is seven hours at EUR 28 per adult and EUR 17 per child, adding roughly 12 km of river in Köprülü Canyon, with lunch and all safety equipment included. The full price list for all seven jeep days, combos included, sits on a separate page.
For most people with a week in Side, though, the eight-hour Taurus safari at EUR 20 earns its place: the cheapest full day of the three, and the only one of them with a swim, a village, a canyon and a lakeside lunch in it.