Side excursions are easy to overdo. The old town, the long beaches and the Taurus Mountains are all within reach, and it is tempting to book something every day – and then fly home needing another holiday. A week usually works better with two or three tour days, spaced out with time on the beach and in the old town. Here is a sample seven-day plan, followed by tips on heat and timing and ideas for adapting it to your group.
How many tours fit into a week?
The Side tours come in two lengths. Full days – the jeep safari, the Green Canyon boat tour and rafting – last about seven to nine hours from pickup to drop-off. Half days – quad, buggy and horse riding – take three and a half to four hours and run in two or three groups a day, so the rest of the day stays yours. A relaxed week combines one half day with one or two full days and never puts two early starts back to back.
A sample week in Side
- Day 1 – Arrive and settle in. No tour today. Find your stretch of sand and, in the evening, stroll to the old town on its small peninsula to see the Apollo Temple and the ancient theatre.
- Day 2 – A morning off-road. Join the morning group of the Side Buggy Safari: pickup from 09:00, about 1.5–2 hours of driving on forest and river tracks along the Manavgat River, and back around 13:00 – dusty, muddy and still in time for the beach.
- Day 3 – Beach day. Nothing booked. Swim, read and let the dust settle.
- Day 4 – Into the mountains. The Side Jeep Safari runs from 09:00 to about 16:00, with village tea and gözleme, views over the Oymapınar Dam and down onto Green Canyon, and a long lunch-and-swim break on the lake shore. Would you rather spend the day on the water? Swap in the Side Green Canyon Boat Tour (08:30 to about 16:30): two to three hours afloat with swim stops, and lunch and the soft drinks on the boat included.
- Day 5 – Slow morning, evening ride (optional). Sleep in and, if you feel like it, join the sunset group of the Side Horse Riding Tour – pickup from 16:00, back around 19:30 – through pine forest and along a sandy beach in the evening light. No riding experience is needed.
- Day 6 – The river. The Side Rafting Tour leaves at 09:00 for Köprülü Canyon, about 1–1.5 hours away, and brings you back around 17:30 after about 14 km of class II–III rapids and lunch by the river.
- Day 7 – Pack and relax. Keep your last day free of tours; a fixed pickup time and a flight on the same day rarely mix well.
Three tour days, one optional evening ride and plenty of time for the sea.
Heat and timing
In high summer the middle of the day belongs to the shade and the water, and the plan follows that rhythm:
- Book half-day tours in the morning or late afternoon. The morning group of the buggy and quad tours rides in cooler air, and both horse riding groups avoid the midday heat.
- The full days are built around water: a swim in the lake on the jeep safari and the boat tour, the river itself on rafting day.
- On a boat the sun feels stronger. Wear a hat on deck and reapply sunscreen after every swim.
- Carry water on the half-day trips; drinks are not included on the off-road and riding tours.
- Rafting runs mainly April to October, plus a few November days if water and weather allow. In spring and autumn, pack a light jacket for a sunset ride.
Fitting in the old town and the beach
Side’s ruins and beaches combine naturally with the shorter tours. After a morning buggy ride the afternoon is free for the beach near your hotel – Kumköy, Sorgun, Çolaklı or Titreyengöl – and the evening for the old town. On the horse riding day it works the other way round: beach or pool in the morning, riding in the late afternoon. After a full day out, most people want a quiet dinner near the hotel, so save the walk among the Apollo Temple and the theatre for a rest day or a half day.
Adapting the plan for your group
- With young children: keep the jeep safari, which has child tickets from 3 and free places for infants aged 0–2, and replace rafting (from 7) with the boat tour, where babies and young children are welcome. Children from 7 can ride as passengers in a double buggy driven by a parent, and on the Side horse ride children can join from 6, with under-12s riding with an adult in the group. Our guide to safari tours with children has more ideas.
- Active couples and friends: take your own quad or buggy on day 2, and on day 6 choose Side Zipline & Rafting for a river zipline before or after the rapids.
- First-timers: the jeep safari is an easy introduction, as experienced drivers do all the driving; our Side jeep safari guide describes the day stop by stop.
- Changeable weather: rain can change the route of the quad and buggy tours, and heavy rain or thunderstorms move a horse ride to another day or cancel it free of charge. With free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead, you can simply shuffle the days.
Each tour takes a few minutes to book on the tour page or via WhatsApp, and you pay only on the tour day, in cash. Wherever you stay – Side town, Kumköy, Çolaklı, Sorgun, Titreyengöl, Evrenseki or Gündoğdu – the hotel transfer is free, and every option is on the Side Safari Tours page.
