Side, coast to canyon.
Emerald water at Green Canyon, a white-water morning on the Köprüçay, Roman columns on the point at Aspendos and the long boat day to the falls. What each tour is really like, what it costs, and where to book.
Seven we never talk anyone out of.
First visit or fifth, these carry the week: the emerald Green Canyon cruise, a raft down the Köprüçay before the heat, the theatre at Aspendos where a whisper still carries to the back row.
Rafting, Zipline, Jeep, Buggy and Quad Combo
Raft Köprülü Canyon rapids, fly a river zipline, then hit a buggy, quad, or jeep safari with lunch included near Side.
From $26 per person
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★ 4.7Crowd favouriteKöprülü Canyon Rafting Tour with LunchFrom $15636 reviews
★ 4.0Worth the early startFrom city of Side: Antalya Old City and Waterfall Day TripFrom $25496 reviews
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Water the colour of the postcard.
Jeeps ford the turquoise shallows on the way up, then the boat slips out across the still green reservoir under the Taurus. Swim stops in glass-clear water, lunch on board, and a slow drift back past the dam. This is the day people plan a whole Side week around.
Green Canyon, Köprülü or the open sea?
Side gives you three completely different days afloat, and most trips have room for two. Pick the one that sounds like you, and every option behind it is already reviewed and priced.
Emerald & still
The Green Canyon cruise
8 hours · from $28 · 2,090 reviews
Up to the Oymapınar reservoir, where the water sits glass-still and impossibly green between the pines. A wide, flat-decked boat, three or four swim stops, lunch served on board, and nothing to do but watch the Taurus slide past. The gentlest of the three, and the one everyone photographs.
Compare the Green Canyon days →
White water
The Köprülü raft
10 hours · from $14 · 1,545 reviews
The Köprüçay runs cold and quick through Köprülü Canyon, and the morning raft is pure grade-two fun: splashy, safe, guided, no experience needed. Most trips bolt on a buggy or zipline and lunch by the water. For the day you want your pulse up.
See the rafting trips →
Out to sea
The coast cruise
5 hours · from $42 · 111 reviews
A masted schooner out of Side harbour into the open Mediterranean: foam parties for the young crowd, quiet coves for everyone else, and swim ladders straight into the blue. Half a day or full, lunch usually thrown in. The easy sea day when the canyons can wait.
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Anatolia saves its best for after dark.
The lights come up over Land of Legends and the boat parade floats out across the water; Fire of Anatolia’s dancers hit full tilt at the ancient theatre; a floodlit temple older than the show glows on the point. Book the evening someone has already timed for you.
The sea is the main event.
Pirate schooners tacking along the Side coast, a dolphin-island morning, swim ladders straight into water you can see your toes through. Three ways to spend a day where the land runs out.
Where the tarmac ends.
Buggies through the pine dust, jeeps grinding up to a mountain village, quads to a waterfall you’d never find alone. Wear clothes you don’t mind handing back to the mud.
Rome never fully left the coast.
Apollo’s columns on the point at golden hour, the theatre at Aspendos where a coin dropped on stage still carries to the top row, Perge’s colonnaded street underfoot. The ancient world sits a short drive from your sun lounger, so go with someone who can read the stones.
Beach to mountain in an hour.
Each stretch of the region is its own day out. Green Canyon for the still emerald water. Manavgat for the river and the falls. Köprülü for the white water. Aspendos for the theatre.
Know what you’re after?
Twelve ways to spend a day around Side. Pick the one that sounds like yours and every option behind it is already reviewed and priced.
Beyond the resort, a full day out.
The coast road and the mountain passes open up half of Turkey’s south. Alanya’s castle, Antalya’s old town, Pamukkale’s white terraces and the cave at Altınbeşik are all a morning away, and the ride back is part of the ticket.
Three days, done right.
You can’t see all of Side’s coast and canyons in one trip; you can absolutely do the right three days. This is the order we’d hand a friend checking in tomorrow.
Day 1
The coast and the columns
Ancient Side in the cool of the morning: Apollo’s temple on the point, the theatre, the old harbour, then a lazy boat trip along the shore before the afternoon heat lands.
Plan day one →
Day 2
The emerald water day
Up to Oymapınar for the Green Canyon cruise: glass-still water under the Taurus, swim stops, lunch on board. Drop back through Manavgat for the river and the falls on the way home.
Plan day two →
Day 3
Into the mountains
The morning raft down the Köprüçay through Köprülü Canyon, lunch by the water, the old Roman bridge on the way out. Save a jeep or buggy safari for the afternoon if your legs hold.
Plan day three →
The newest reviews.
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