Which of the two jeep safaris goes to the zoo
There are two full-day jeep safaris from Side, and they are the same day in almost every respect: eight hours, the same mountain route, the same 20 EUR per adult and 10 EUR per child aged 4 to 12, with infants aged 0 to 3 free. The full-day Side jeep safari with lunch and hotel pickup included is the classic one, and its route does not call at the zoo at any point. The second safari runs those same eight hours and adds the zoo stop, at the same price.
On that second route the zoo sits at the village break, where the convoy drops off the mountain tracks into Oymapınar for a swim stop and freshly made Turkish pancakes with a drink. The ticket is not part of the tour price: it is bought at the stop itself and paid on site, the way the Manavgat Waterfall entrance and the optional Green Lake boat trip are. This page is about that stop and about choosing between the two days; if what you actually want is the stop-by-stop walkthrough of the whole eight-hour day, the walkthrough page has it in order.
The lion cub, stated plainly
At the zoo stop, guests can have contact with a lion cub and be photographed with it. That is the whole reason the second route exists: the jeep safari whose route includes the zoo stop is the one to book if this is the day you want. What the zoo holds on any given day is the zoo's business and not ours, so we describe the stop and promise nothing about what you will find once you are inside.
We do not publish a ticket price for the zoo, because no price has been set for publication, and we would rather leave a figure unstated than estimate one. The ticket is bought at the stop and paid on site. Beyond that, this page describes the stop itself and nothing more: anything else about the park is outside what we can confirm, so we do not assert it in either direction.
If you would rather not see the animals at all
Then the answer is at the booking stage rather than at the break: book the classic Taurus route instead. It is the same eight hours, the same fare and the same lunch above the canyon, and the zoo is simply not on its programme, so there is nothing to decline on the day.
- Choose the classic Side jeep safari when you book — its route does not go to the zoo
- The fare is identical either way: 20 EUR per adult, 10 EUR per child aged 4 to 12, infants aged 0 to 3 free
- If you are already booked on the zoo route, tell your guide at the stop that you are staying outside — that is the whole procedure
- You wait at the same break as everyone else, at the same jeeps
- The Turkish pancakes with a drink, the swim stop and the traditional village mosque visit with the guide run for you exactly as they do for the rest of the group
What the middle of the day holds on either route
Around the animal stop, the two safaris are the same programme. One honest distinction first: what the fare promises in writing is the jeep day itself, the hotel pickup and drop-off, the guiding and the lunch at a lakeside restaurant by Green Canyon — the rest below is the day's route rather than a line-by-line commitment. These are the village stops that fill the middle of the jeep day, and they run whichever of the two you book:
- The swim stop at Oymapınar village
- Freshly made Turkish pancakes served with a drink
- A traditional village mosque visit with the guide
- A photo stop at the Oymapınar Dam
- A viewpoint above Green Canyon
- Lunch at a lakeside restaurant by Green Canyon, included in the fare
The items you settle on the day
Adults travel at 20 EUR and children aged 4 to 12 at 10 EUR on both safaris, with infants aged 0 to 3 free, and lunch, hotel transfer and guiding sit inside that fare. Everything below sits outside it — the first four apply to both routes, and the zoo ticket exists only on the zoo route:
- The optional 1-hour Green Lake boat trip after lunch, 5 EUR per person, which takes an adult's day to 25 EUR in total
- The Manavgat Waterfall entrance, if the day's programme includes that stop
- Drinks beyond the one served with the pancakes
- Photos and videos taken by the tour team
- On the zoo route only: the zoo ticket at the animal stop, bought there and paid on site
Animals you might see that have nothing to do with the zoo
Either way this is a mountain day rather than a wildlife tour, and we promise no sightings of any kind. The tracks run past orange, lemon and pomegranate orchards and out across cotton and sesame fields, and there is a chance of seeing nomadic Yörük families in the foothills — a chance, which is a different thing from a stop on the programme.
Nothing in the eight hours is built around finding animals in the Taurus mountains, and no part of either route is sold on that basis. The jeeps are driven by professional drivers, so there is no wandering off the track to go looking. If you would rather see what the day actually costs once the optional extras are added up, the price page sets the whole thing out line by line.
Deciding with children in the party
Children aged 4 to 12 travel at the child fare and infants aged 0 to 3 come free on both safaris, so for families the decision costs nothing either way — it is only a question of which day you want. Some families book the zoo route precisely for the cub photographs; others take the classic route and give the time to the swim and the pancakes. Same eight hours, same fare, one stop apart.
One practical note for parents on the zoo route: the ticket is bought on site, so whoever goes in pays there. For the wider picture of what the jeep day looks like with children in the vehicle, including seats, pace and the summer water fights between jeeps, the family page covers it properly.
Two jeep safaris, and the zoo is what separates them
The zoo is not an upgrade, an add-on or an optional extra bolted onto the classic tour. It is a route of its own, sold as its own full-day safari with its own booking button, at the same price as the classic one — and the classic day does not call there at all. Reading about the zoo does put you in front of a choice, and it is a choice between two jeep days rather than between two versions of one.
The reverse holds as well: the zoo route is not a longer or a reduced version of the classic day. Same eight hours, same jeeps, same lakeside lunch, same fare. One route includes a stop the other does not, and you say which you want at the moment you book.
Booking now, choosing your route
Reservation is free. There is no prepayment and no card taken online; you pay in euros on the day of the tour, and free cancellation stands up to 24 hours before departure. The one thing to settle in advance is which of the two safaris you want, and on the booking form that is a single choice.
If you want the village itself in more depth before you travel, the village above the lake and the dam below it have their own page, and it explains why the water in the canyon is a lake at all.