What the day looks like, and why it dictates the kit
The Side Jeep Safari is a full day out: around eight hours from the morning pickup at your hotel entrance to a late-afternoon drop-off, in a convoy of open-top 4x4 jeeps carrying eight to ten guests each, with a professional driver at the wheel.
The asphalt ends at an old Roman bridge. From there the route climbs through orange, lemon and pomegranate orchards, cotton and sesame fields and ancient Roman aqueducts to a panoramic viewpoint over Green Lake, then a swim stop at Oymapınar village with freshly made Turkish pancakes, a photo stop at Oymapınar Dam, a viewpoint above Green Canyon and lunch at a lakeside restaurant.
So: open sky most of the day, dust off the tracks, one proper chance to be in the water. Pack for those three facts and you have packed correctly. If you would rather see the whole day laid out first, read the full guide before you pack.
Clothes: light, comfortable, nothing precious
Shorts or light trousers and a T-shirt cover it. Fabric matters more than usual: in summer the convoy runs water fights between the jeeps, and whatever you wear may finish the day soaked. Quick-drying sports material beats heavy cotton, which stays wet for hours. If you are not sure when the water fights happen, the walk-through of the day settles that before you pick an outfit.
Leave the white linen and the good holiday outfit in the room: dust settles on everything, though it washes out more easily than it photographs. A light long-sleeved top is worth carrying even in high summer, because in an open jeep at speed the wind is constant and sleeves save your shoulders.
Shoes: the thing guests most often get wrong
Flip-flops are a poor choice. You climb in and out of a high vehicle many times, walk on gravel and rock at the dam and the viewpoints, and the swim stop is a village spot by the water, not a groomed hotel beach. Trainers, or sandals with a heel strap and a grippy sole, are the sensible answer.
If you intend to swim, an old second pair you do not mind soaking saves the walk back to the jeep with wet feet. Whatever you pick has to stay on your foot on uneven ground. Dust, sun and bumpy tracks are the honest conditions of this day, so mention any back or neck problem before you board rather than after.
Swimwear, towel and a dry change of clothes
Put your swimwear on under your clothes before you leave the hotel. The stop at Oymapınar village is a swim and a Turkish pancake with a drink, not a spa afternoon, and arriving already changed means you spend the time in the water.
Bring your own towel: a thin travel towel packs smaller and dries faster than the one from your room. Add a full dry change including underwear, kept in a plastic or dry bag inside your rucksack, which also gives the wet set somewhere to go. Between the swim and the water games, the difference between a good and a miserable ride home is one spare T-shirt.
Sun, wind and dust: the small things that make the day
An open-top jeep gives you no shade at all, and you are in it, on and off, for eight hours. This is the part of the list people skip and regret by mid-afternoon.
- Sunscreen, on before pickup and reapplied after the swim stop, when it has washed off just as the sun peaks
- Sunglasses, as much for the dust and the wind as for the glare
- A hat that stays on: a cap you can turn backwards, or a brim with a chin cord. Loose wide brims are gone in seconds
- A scarf, buff or bandana to pull over nose and mouth on dry sections behind the jeep in front
- A small rucksack rather than a shoulder bag, so both hands are free climbing in and out
Your phone and camera
Between the swim stop, the optional boat trip and the water fights, a phone loose in a pocket is a phone at risk. A cheap waterproof pouch on a lanyard is the most useful thing you can buy before this tour: you can still shoot through the plastic, and you stop worrying.
It is worth it, because the photo stops are the good ones: the panoramic viewpoint over Green Lake, Oymapınar Dam and the viewpoint above Green Canyon. Photos and video taken by the tour team are a separate paid service, not part of the tour price.
How much cash to bring, and what it is for
Bring euros in cash, and a little more than you plan to spend. There is no prepayment and no card taken online: the tour is paid in euros on the day, and the extras on the spot.
The extras are the ones you choose. The one-hour Green Lake boat trip is EUR 5 per person, which takes an adult day from EUR 20 to EUR 25. The Manavgat Waterfall entrance and the mini zoo tickets at the village break are paid on site when the programme includes them, and drinks are yours too; lunch is not, because it is included. The price page sets the adult and child fares out next to those extras, which is the quickest way to work out how much cash to carry before you leave the hotel.
- Tour price on the day: 20 EUR per adult (13 and over), 10 EUR per child aged 4 to 12, free for infants aged 0 to 3
- Optional one-hour Green Lake boat trip: 5 EUR per person, paid on the day
- Manavgat Waterfall entrance, if the waterfall is on your programme, paid at the gate
- Mini zoo tickets during the village break, if you want to go in
- Drinks through the day and with lunch. Lunch is included in the price, drinks are not
- Photos and video from the tour team, if you want them
The village mosque stop
The guide takes the group into a traditional village mosque. If you want to go inside, clothing that covers shoulders and knees is the respectful choice, and shoes come off at the door, as in every mosque in Turkey.
That light scarf earns its place twice over: dust protection in the jeep in the morning, a head covering at the mosque later.
Summer, winter, and what to leave in your room
Summer and winter are two different packing lists. In summer the jeeps are open-topped and the convoy runs water fights, so assume you will get wet whether or not you swim. In winter the tour runs with covered jeeps and no water games, which shifts the priority from swimwear to a warm layer for the morning.
The rest is subtraction. Lunch at the lakeside restaurant is included, so leave the packed food, and your passport is not needed in the Taurus foothills. Anything you would hate to lose belongs in the hotel safe. Lay the bag out the night before. And if the day is still a plan rather than a booking, secure a place on the jeep safari first and pack second.
- Jewellery, watches and anything valuable you cannot afford to soak or drop
- Your passport and documents you do not need on the day
- White or delicate clothing, and the shoes you want to keep clean